How to do well on Fallen

[WhiskeySix]

What follows is a recently declassified document straight from 12th HQ. It's one of our tactics & strategies compilations - put together from countless threads and discussions.

Squad Tactics:

- A squad should never have more than two medics on this map. If you have more than two then there will be too many people focusing on the medic role and not enough people focusing on taking out the enemy infantry.

- Assign roles to the medics. Have one stick close to the SL full time and the other hang with the rest of the infantry. The medic assigned to the SL should not hang around right next to him. Stay behind the SL about 15 meters or so...this way you don't both get taken out by the same nade launcher/rpg/nade. You should be actively scanning the environment to spot any potential threats to the squad leader. You should also notice where the squad leader is firing if he engages someone. He may fall but if you know where the threat is then you should be able to neutralize the contact before moving for a blind revive attempt.

- Spread out on defense. The key to not losing your flag is to never let an enemy sneak in unnoticed. A threat can not be neutralized unless it is spotted early with warning and the ability for a squad to group up and counterattack. Squad members should check their minimap and make sure they are spread out with eyes looking in different directions to put coverage on almost every entry point.

- Know when to back off and not get slaughtered. This is mostly a SL call but SMers should suggest this if they see a massive push heading toward the squad. Lots of times in this map multiple squads will push on the same flag. The defenders rarely are able to hold off these pushes and it is better to pull off and attack a flag they likely left.

- Use a spec ops in the squad with the primary role of c4 and nade flag detail. Due to the small cap radius this is a very effective role if performed correctly.

- Use smoke right when a flag will go neutral. Doing so before hand gives away your attack/incoming direction. Since a flag turning neutral immediately gives away your position then this is the best time for smoke. Throwing smoke when the defenders are moving to counter will take away their line of sight and not give them any idea of how many are on the flag. This should give you all the time you need to get the flag up.

- As a squad leader you should always be checking your map to see where a hole needs to be filled based on the other squads movements. Have all the squads almost formed a wall but there is one area that is not covered?...move there. Is there a flag undefended that will likely get hit shortly?...defend it. etc etc. Don't be a sheep....baaaaa

Individual Tactics:

- Move cautiously when attacking. Blindly rushing through all this vegetation NEVER works. With the accuracy of these weapons it is paramount that you see your enemy before they see you. Move cover to cover and always scanning for targets.

- Spot as much as possible. I don't know about others but this helps me immensly...this allows me to pinpoint an enemies location and track their movement by noting their movement on the minimap in relation to my in game movement.

- When on defense find the spot you want to cover and then park yourself crouched behind a tree or inside a bush. In this position you:

a) have cover to get behind
b) are not moving which is the number one way people find you
c) Are crouched low to the ground making yourself harder to see

Then scan the area constantly for targets. Use your ironsights/scope about half the time. You will notice targets quite a bit off in the distance and can enage them. It usually takes a bit for the enemy squad to figure out where the fire is coming from. By then half their squad may be dead.

- If unnoticed, wait to engage a target until he is moving toward/away from you or is stationary. Never give your position away on a target that is moving left to right...your gun will rarely hit such a moving target.

- Always use one shot mode on targets that are not directly around you. The accuracy of one shot mode will allow you to take quick successive shots and the enemy will be down before they even know what hit them. When using the tree defense method this is the mode your gun should be in.

- Permanently kill known squad leaders. Everyone should know most of their names by now. If you take down one of these names then make it a priority to take away the potential for a revive by putting extra bullets into their downed body. Doing this will cut off the head of the attacking squad and your chances of holding your flag increase dramatically.

- Watch downed infantry for potential revives. My favorite method with this is gernade launching a medic right when he revives someone. Its just too easy when the medic blindly runs in without checking his surroundings.

- Half of what makes certain players good is in their movement patterns and situational awareness. Where will the enemy be? Am I exposing myself heavily if I move in X pattern? Am I running around without care for potential enemy just to get quickly to my destination? Am I ready to engage a potential target as I move around structures? Think about these things...Fallen in particular highlights this.

- Use good fire discipline. The best way to lose engagements is to fire at the wrong time based on how your opponent is moving or where you are positioned in relation to them. This is especially true on maps like Fallen, where you can hide and your position is only compromised when you start to fire. Remember that basically in every situation when you are firing you have stopped and are not moving. Thus you are an easy target since you are stationary and PoE2 weapons are very lethal. So the problem is not them taking you down but that you did not take down your opponent when you had the jump on them. Getting to the point and using my amazing paint skills...bf2 is pretty quirky with hit detection. Because of this its really only worthwhile to shoot at your enemy when:

- Your enemy is stationary.
- Your enemy is moving toward you or away from you straight on.

- Your enemy is moving toward you or away from you at a slight angle.


When you have the element of surprise do NOT shoot at an opponent when:

- They are moving horizontally across your eyesight line in a straight line. You will rarely even hurt them.

- They are moving horizontally across your eyesight line at a hard angle that is still very close to the horizontal movement. You will be lucky to take them down.


Now for these don't shoot instances...that doesn't mean you just let them go. If you feel pretty safe for movements then reposition so you reach a line of sight on the enemy that gets you back to one of the situations above that works. Here is an example:





Also think about the don't shoot examples above and then use these movements patterns to your advantage if you need to survive. For example if you need to reload then just run horizontal for a bit or back and forth and then right when your ready to fire again stop, kneel and nail them.

Release the houuuuuuuuuunds!

[kilevvri1]

Wow, I can see now why this stuff was classified
All common sense but some stuff there is worth thinking about and trying to putting in to virtual world practice.

Thanks Whiskey


I kill you soon

[Lucky Shot]

Fallen is one of the few maps that I consistently score well on. Here are a couple key's for me.

1) Always know where the enemy will be attacking from. Keep an eye on the map and know that if you are the Crash Site and the enemy has the North Cabin, expect an attack from the north.

2) Read what your teammates are doing. Say you own the Crash Site and the enemy has the Trenches and Lumbermill. If 2-3 squads are attacking the Lumbermill, you can call off defense on that side and set your defense towards the Trenches. Keep an eye on your maps on those 3 squads and read how they move to determine what's going on. If they stop advancing, they have hit the enemy.

3) Place yourself behind friendlies and shoot over the top of them. The guys up front will collect the bullets from the enemy, shooting over them gives you a chance to take free shots at them, plus it puts an extra gun on one attacker creating a 2 on 1.

4) Don't wander away from your support. If your 50 meters from your squad, don't expect to get revived, timely assistance or even ammo although if your that far out your not going to run out of ammo before your death.

5) Manage the distance to encounters. By shooting over the top of friendlies and knowing the direction that they are coming from you create situations where the enemy sticks out. So set up the attackers so that they are beyond the grass draw distance, zoom using Iron Sights, and watch that foggy gray background for dark silhouettes that are often running towards you.

6) Move only when you have to, shoot when the enemy is distracted. The enemy will pickup the sound of your gunfire and hone in. Wait until you have friendlies firing and fire at the same time. Use fixed cover to help hide your silhouette such as trees, rocks, shrubs. Quick movement is easy to spot, however, its much tougher to find the guy who seems to be a tree.

7) When the enemy has you outnumbered 2-1, put an obstacle between you and one of them to make it a 1-1. So if two guys are pursuing you and you can place a rock or tree between you and one of them, do it and take out the second guy. Then you can go back to concentrating on the other. Eliminate the numerical advantage.

8) Spot the enemy so that you can track the enemy through the brush. Even dropping blind spots around an area allow you to pull the enemy out of the background.

9) If your team has bleed, let the enemy come to you. They have to move giving away their position, they have to stretch their squads and you have the advantage of cover. Attacking means you will be running into higher concentrations of enemy which is pointless.

10) Always heal up in between battles, always reload between fights (back off until another clip is in the gun).

Lucky Shot

[ProjectNA]

Great stuff Lucky, and 48/3 last night must mean it works ; )

I like SLing non-TGers on this map, as you can focus on stuff like this^^^

[Santa]

Youd be the victim there bommando.

Id love to see everyone in a server trying to do lucky shots 3rd tip

[icky]

Zing! It'd be like a train, but nobody would want to be the caboose!

[BaneII]

I think Lucky actually just posted "How to Do Well on Every Map."

[gator skywalker]

Originally Posted by Bommando

1. Hide in a shrubbery.
2. Wait for noobs.

Behold the knight who says ni. He requires you must return here with a shrubbery or else you will never pass through this wood alive! Heed the words of King Arthur when he says, "Those who hear them seldom live to tell the tale!"

[IMI-50AE]

Sure, the whole 'stay low and don't move too much' thing makes sense, so would you mind telling me why I'm constantly getting wasted when all I can see is FREAKING GRASS?!?! Love to know.

[WhiskeySix]

Originally Posted by IMI-50AE

Sure, the whole 'stay low and don't move too much' thing makes sense, so would you mind telling me why I'm constantly getting wasted when all I can see is FREAKING GRASS?!?! Love to know.

If you're looking at grass you're staying a little too low


Seriously though, it's all about knowing which area's are safe and which area's are hot. For example - if you're back is against the out-of-bounds line, you only have to worry about being shot from 180 degree's in front of you. If you then kneel with a big tree on your left, you cut your exposure to 90 degrees front/right. If you then realize that flag to your right is held by a friendly squad, you reduce your exposure even more - you can now expect to not be shot by someone you don't see... or... at least they'll shoot you from within your field of view. At this point, you can concentrate on being more observant of the horizon/bushes.

Just by positioning yourself so you won't be shot in the back/sides, you'll improve your K/D a LOT. You may not have quite as many kills as first since you're not charging in to a firefight - but you'll also die a lot less. The more you play with that "limit my exposure" mindset, the better you get at it and can keep yourself safe even while moving around quite a bit.

"Situational Awareness" FTW.

[IMI-50AE]

Well, it just seems that no matter what position I'm in I get shot. Maybe I suck at picking cover, but when I think I'm concealed, yep, I just got shot. Great.

[WhiskeySix]

also - keep in mind, grass only displays out to about 30m.... so don't hide in it.

[IMI-50AE]

Oh yeah, forgot about draw distance differences.

[Braidedheadman]

Originally Posted by WhiskeySix

Just by positioning yourself so you won't be shot in the back/sides, you'll improve your K/D a LOT. You may not have quite as many kills as first since you're not charging in to a firefight - but you'll also die a lot less. The more you play with that "limit my exposure" mindset, the better you get at it and can keep yourself safe even while moving around quite a bit.

"Situational Awareness" FTW.

I'd like to elaborate on this by saying that Whiskey'sbv advice here plays very well into defensive strategies. Furthermore, what people need to realize is that once your team has enough flags to cause the enemy to bleed tickets, going after "the next" flag is both unnecessary and, IMHO, irresponsible.

The reason I say that is because many people seem to carry the attitude that they must be out actively looking for frags at all times in order to either to achieve a win for their team or pump up their KDR. I'd like to suggest that this is in fact detrimental to one's team for the following reasons:

Firstly, if you look at armed conflicts throughout history, defenses from prepared, well supplied positions have often proven to be easier to maintain and more effective man-for-man than offense. Think of the Battle of Thermopylae, the Japanese defenses at Iwo Jima, the Vietnamese underground network of tunnels, and/or the German retreat through Europe back to Germany. One thing they all had in common was that they used prepared defensive positions to their advantage and exacted enormous casualties on their aggressors. Where the offensive side achieved victory (according to record), they were only able to pull it off because the defenders ran out of supplies in most cases (not unlike defending against a 200+ ticket lead in BF2 where defeat through attrition is inevitable).

In the case of the Vietnamese, ethical considerations for their actions and policies aside, not only did they essentially force a US withdrawal, they had also thrown out the French beforehand, they went on to crush the Cambodian Khmer Rouge after the US withdrawal, and later repulse a Chinese invasion in retaliation to boot. If nothing else, these people knew how to fight a defensive campaign on their own terms.

The point I'd like to draw for BF2 here is that once enough flags are captured to induce bleed, the whole team should take up a defensive posture. The enemy won't be looking to sit tight at their flags while their on bleed. So you can bet your bottom dollar that they'll be on their way and looking for you more earnestly than you would be for them.

Thus, rather than running out to hunt down frags, exposing their position in the process, most people should find that by letting the frags come to them, they will score higher and achieve a better KDR overall than they might otherwise. Let the enemy cover the distance between flags while on the offensive, which is to say while they bleed, but make them pay for every step through smart, defensive posturing.

It has been my experience that I encounter just as many or more enemy units in this manner while bunkered down somewhere near my flag in defense as I would out on the prowl on offense. Of the former, I have the advantage of situational awareness, cover, and concealment working to my advantage and my performance in markedly improved.

Finally, I'd like to conclude by illustrating the difference between assaulting a contested flag and harassing a strategically unimportant flag.

Assaulting contested flags is a given; you do what you gotta do in order to secure the battlefield against your enemy and gain a tactical advantage over them through bleed.

Harassing a strategically unimportant flag means that you approach to within, say, 80-100 yards, someplace out of "easy" visual range, and find either cover and/or concealment wherein you lie in wait to ambush your enemies as they come out of their flag area looking to take yours. On a map like Fallen where both cover and concealment are abundant, enemy units find themselves running headlong into hardened lines of fire just outside their door step. Enemy units taking hits may be able to spot and even identify their attackers but they won't be immediately visible to their comrades who are still coming out of the flag area, meaning that they too must enter the kill zone without a clear idea as to where their assailants might be hiding.

This strategy works beautifully when properly deployed in squads who understand the principle and better still when all squads "get it" and fall in to do their part, setting up defensive lines of fire clear across the map. In addition to ticket loss through bleed, by forcing enemy forces through a gauntlet of kill zones well in advance of the flags they need to take; the defenders having pushed the front lines forward to their enemy's very doorstep; not only is the bleed duration extended, but they incur heavier losses through casualties than they would if the defensive team (the team with bleed advantage) were actively trying to assault their last remaining flags - something that I feel are two mutually exclusive activities.

Thus, where harassment strategies such as this fall apart is when people go from simple harassment to full on assaults on flags that do not contribute to further bleed. They thin out the front line by exposing themselves to fire in full view of multiple enemies, get killed, and ultimately allow enough OPFOR to break through and capture flags behind defensive lines, ending both bleed and their defensive advantage.

Anecdotal proof of concept (read if you're interested in AAR-type stuff ):

I led a squad just last week, operating under this strategy. After we secured the North Cabin, I order my squad mates to spread out in a sweep pattern and take up defenses along the river. After successfully repelling repeated attacks, we slowly pushed the line forward all the way up to within ~80-100 yards of the Lumber Mill where we spread out and held position against all on comers (including Whiskey and his squad, if I recall correctly /pokes Whiskey). Sending my SMs up in advance of my position, they extracted heavy ticket casualties on the Ukraine aggressors trying to bust through to the North Cabin while I picked off the odd couple that managed to sneak past.

What was truly a delight to see was that the other German squads defending Crash Site and Trenches were taking up similar positions along the outskirts of South Cabin and areas in between. So effective was the harassment at that time that the Ukraine forces were being depleted at a rate sufficient to allow more aggressive squads to bust through into their ranks and flip both the South Cabin and Lumber Mill flags. With all five flags in tow, we tried to contain Ukraine to the woods immediately east of their UCB.

We might have had a good chance of it too but, alas, some sneaky runts made their way to the Crash Site and flipped the flag before defenders could react. Not wanting to lose our hold on the three "back flags" and potentially be outflanked by attacks from both the Ukr UCB and potentially the North Cabin, I decided to cede control of the Lumber Mill to the Ukraine and ordered my squad to fall back to the North Cabin to sweep and defend before resuming harassment of the Mill. It's a good thing too, as they managed to white out North Cabin before we could arrive. However, with most of Ukraine forces still occupied with the Mill and South Farm, dispatching the few that were at North Cabin was easy enough and we re-secured our position there.

With not much time left in the round and a healthy ticket lead over the Ukraine, I ordered the squad back into sweeping formations to push West across the river again. We met with stiff resistance, trading sides of the river bank with Ukr forces a couple of times before the round ended.

I downloaded the BR file thinking to make a video AAR of the whole scenario, but the beauty of it all was really in watching the over-head map and seeing all the defending squads set up forward lines of fire, creating kill zones just outside the Ukraine-held flags. Unfortunately, BR doesn't capture this as neatly as I'd like and I haven't quite figured out how best to edit the footage to show what was happening across the board (mostly because I suck at editing videos). It's a work in progress.

"... Against those skilled in defense, the enemy does not know where to attack."

--- Sun Tsu; The Art of War

[icky]

Originally Posted by IMI-50AE

Well, it just seems that no matter what position I'm in I get shot. Maybe I suck at picking cover, but when I think I'm concealed, yep, I just got shot. Great.

It happens to me too. Knowing the position of friendlies is the most important factor in avoiding being shot. Also try to stay aware of who is in a fight and who is dying. If a squad gets wiped out, you know that trouble is coming.