Okay, I'm back again with a review of the round of Snake Eyes two days ago that people have been referring to. So let's go to the videotape:

[media]http://www.excelsiorcapitalgroup.com/video/tg/poe2/Snake Eyes Failed USMC Assault.wmv[/media]
Download link

Now onto the critiques. While you may see your name in the video, don't take anything personally since I'm not calling out any names. I'm posting my views of what went wrong and why USMC wasn't successful in capturing a flag.

1. No artillery support. I don't know where they were shelling but it wasn't near the landing parties. You can see the Ukrainians had groups of defenders that could have been easily cleared with a well placed shot. It's hard to stress just how important arty support is on this map. Hopefully, this message can keep being pounded until it starts to sink in. Another problem I note on the server is that there are few people proficient with artillery. I can only think of a few people who do well with it. And by well meaning is that you can hit any target within 3 shots, even moving targets. Go practice.

2. Infantry not advancing. A common problem with most players. Players' default seems to be to stop, dig in, and take pot shots. Unfortunately, that doesn't gain you much and the enemy will eventually close and destroy you. And you can bet that if I'm on the Ukrainian arty, a shell will be soon dropping directly on top of your position. You're gonna die eventually so you might as well attempt to take some of the enemy with you instead of hiding. My squad was the only squad to make an advance, twice even, but we didn't get any backup. Everyone needs to support an advance.

3. The pacifist medic. These are the medics who never pullout their gun and only run around with paddles and medic packs. Many players believe that this is the "proper" way to play this kit. However, on this particular battlefield in this particular situation it doesn't get you very far. Running out and reviving in the open with numerous enemies attempting to kill you is suicide. Now if it's the squad leader, then that's a different story, you are trying to save the spawn point and that's worth the risk. Or if you have concealment behind a smoke cloud or cover, then that is fine. In suicide situations, you are better off attempting to kill the enemy first. At least then you have a chance of making the area safe enough to attempt a revive. If the kill first-revive second school of thought is hard for you to grasp, then at least try to only have one of this type of medic in the squad. You shouldn't have three pacifist medics running around in the squad. Having too many medics can be a bad thing and if it is so, switch to a different kit.

For an example of the kill first-revive second school, take a look at the original video and pay attention to NorCal, Big Bill, and Boudreux. Especially pay attention as to how they revive.

4. Lack of support class. No ammo resupply means your assault runs out quick. That means no more smoke or hand grenades for your squad. Notice in the video how the USMC hunkers down behind the dunes after they run out of grenades. Playing support allows you to keep your squad moving and killing. Also, squad members must make an effort to pickup ammo bags. I've noticed players to have a tendency to forget or ignore resupplying. Once again, this is an oft ignored kit and I know few players (still playing that is) proficient in using it.

5. Lack of engineers. The use of mines on the shore is not an insurmountable problem. An engineer's wrench will remove an enemy mine. There was more than enough time for a friendly engineer to open a path for the armor. Keep this in mind next time for those squad leaders who get to the beach; have someone go engineer and open up a path. Also keep friendly armor repaired so it can stay in the fight longer.

6. Lack of snipers This is a perfect situation for a sniper. Entrenched enemies on fixed weapons are easy targets to eliminate. Killing these targets first makes the advance easy for the rest of the team. Since the majority of defenders are anti-tank, snipers have little to fear from them due to their lack of precision long range weapons. Note in the above video how many kills the fixed AT-4 Spigot gets on friendly armor. Sure would have been a great help if it was kept vacated.

Due to the high amount of sniper hate in the TG player base, players do not know how to use this kit. Pay attention in the original video and notice the USMC sniper kills. The guy who killed me with the RPG in the tower was taken out by a sniper before he fired another shot. The reason you mostly saw five guys running with me is because I assigned Sumluv to snipe and cover our advance. He picks enemies off at long distance as we advance because the enemy will focus on the immediate threat (the advancing squad), thus giving him easy shots.

7. Stopped armor. Notice the armor that stops after it comes ashore. That's a no-no. A moving target is harder to hit. Best bet is to go parallel with the coastline and keep moving back and forth while firing. Stopping or driving straight forward against so much opposition is not an option unless you like dying. Concentrate on the machine gun positions first. Clearing them will allow the infantry to advance easier. Friendly infantry should make a priority to eliminate the enemy anti-tankers.

That's about all I can think of as of now but it's time to get out of your comfort zone folks. The majority of the squads on the server will run with medic, assault, and special forces kits. Hate to burst people's bubbles, but that layout won't always get the job done. Switch it up a bit and try different configurations to achieve different results. Players call for new maps but use the same old layout even though it calls for different tactics.

To close let me again say don't take anything personal. This is my opinion on what strategies and tactics that I think are optimal for this map upon review of a played round. I think this is an awesome map and can be played to it's full potential if we review and discuss it.