Tactic: the Metagame

[MrPaladin-TPF-]

Imagine if you would a game of poker, a game I'm sure your all familiar with... you are trying to beat your oponent within cetain rule restrictions... rules of the game include when you can bet... how many cards you can take... and also what set of cards beats another... above all these rules theres another game being played, its called the metagame... in poker the metagame is mostly seen when someone bluffs...

In a bluff situation a player knows they have a weak hand they will be beaten by most any hand, but they make a strong bet (within the common rules) that would make another player believe they have a strong hand thereby having their opponent make a poor judgement and fold their hand... That in part is the metagame, you stopped playing poker and you started playing your opponent....

The same can be applied to many online games (including BF2), each online game has a set of rules... rules such as which weapons/class you can select... how fast you can move... locational dammage when you shoot an enemy... above all these rules you have to understand that your playing against people... and people can be manipulated into making poor judgement decisions...

I was reminded of this recently in a game on 16 player Karkand... the rules were set for no commander, no armour, challenge only for the Square... so within those rules our squad managed to take the square and hold it til the map end... but where the metagame came in was something our opponents did to try to regain the flag (and it almost worked)

they (the enemy) had stopped playing the game a moment and they considered the people they were against... based on their experience they realised that when someone on their squad was spotted our squad would draw all our attention to them... so they had 2 squad members off to the far west of the flag drawing our attention, and we left in pursuit, leaving the flag unguarded... I notified our squad leader when I realised noone was covering the flag and 2 of us were ordered back to see 2 enemy on the flag!!! we were played... we did manage however to defend the flag, but their tactic had drawn our defence away... they had stopped playing the game and they played the players...

Consider this next time you play... when you consider your actions, consider them also in responce to the people you are playing, do they like to buzz in using a jeep... or do they prefer to parachute from the transport helo.... and knowing this what is the best way to stop it...

When attacking is it better to show your hand.... or to 'bluff' and turn your opponents attention elsewhere (hard to do with commander present tho, but not impossible)

This is a very hard lesson to learn, it's most often shown by experienced players who unfortunatly have learnt it because it has been done to them too often... but like I showed in my example match it's not impossible to train yourself in the back of your mind to try and work out why your enemy is doing what they are doing... and defeat them...

your playing against very smart players on this server, give them the credit they are due, and use smarter defences and offences by applying the metagame to your game...

[xTYBALTx]

Great post and +rep.

It does seem like every attack is unidirectional, and I'm intrigued to see what might happen if I tried something like this next time I SL. The approach you mention would work great in a TacticalMod scrimmage, where there's no UAV to frustrate a multidirectional attack.

[BHack]

True, this is somewhat difficult in the dynamic of BF2, however. Then again, I usually play in full server enviornments where you can be as slick as you want but there is always someone there to shoot you. In 6v6 small matches you can definitely play like this though.

[xTYBALTx]

I am thinking of Karkland's Suburb CP as my case study here. With a 6 man squad, you could send a two man team to the far north, through the buildings, to draw attention. Then have four men come up either one of the two other roads in a jeep (the two roads approaching from the S & SW and originating at the train wreck and square, respectively).

This kind of strategy wouldn't work if you're facing more than, say, eight foes at the Suburb CP, but it'd be interesting to see how it works out.

[perry]

Originally Posted by MrPaladin-TPF-

they had stopped playing the game and they played the players...

Know your enemy.

[MrPaladin-TPF-]

well the article doesn't just pertain to one type of tactic.... its about getting into your enemys head...

othersituations might include laying smoke at a location your headed away from... or drawing the nemy into a sniper type battle then leaving them cold as your team routes around them...

it baffles the enemy and if they dont have proper command or visual support they can get flanked quickly....

Also if you happen to know a particular player on the enemy team loves to pilto a chopper or drive the tank, get familiar with the prefered paths or what they do when they get locked up by a stinger, once you learn what they do you can adjust...

its sufficeive to say I rarly do the same thing twice in a game... and I try my darndest never to do it 3 times...

[MrPaladin-TPF-]

Originally Posted by perry

Know your enemy.

exactly I was waiting for someone else to say it tho

[DudeWheresMyAK47]

Bang on Mr Paladin - as an example;
Run like mad up to a tank, they will often think you are going to C4 it and jump out - then steal it.
Double bluff hehe

[MrPaladin-TPF-]

Done that on many occasions... even fooled them into thinking I was a spec ops when I was a medic!!
I then proceeded to hold the enemy apc for the rest of the game on karkand and having a 4 armour to 2 advantage paid off easily...

Anything you can do to have the enemy make a bad tactical desision will bode well for your team...