TychoCelchuuu

So I was playing Special Forces yesterday on the TG server. Maybe I just had a whiny squad or something, but it seemed to me that every time OpFor lost, it got blamed on the Navy SEALS or the SAS having better guns than us. My microphone is magically quiet, so I couldn't really respond to this, but it's an annoying trend. Not even on pub servers do people blame their deaths on guns; it's just childish. To remedy this trend, I've decided to write up a big long post that explains why you died, and why it isn't the other person's gun's fault.

Rule 1: Gun's Don't Kill People. People Kill People
Whenever you get shot and die, someone pulled a trigger. On the other end is not a cold, heartless gun. It's a living, breathing human being who moved their mouse to keep you in their sights and fired at you until you dropped. The gun does not aim for them. The gun will not burst fire for them (at least, not the guns people were complaining about). The gun will not tell them at what range they will be likely to hit, and the gun will not tell them how much it is going to deviate from where they aimed and in what direction. The only thing the gun is going to do is spit out bullets.

Think for a moment about the difference between an AK-47 and an F2000 or whatever the SAS gets. Is a weak scope really any different than an iron sight? Barely. The scope doesn't even meet at the center, so there's just as much guesswork as there is with the iron sight. "But wait!", you say. There are differences in recoil, damage, and rate of fire! Yeah, but...

Rule 2: Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Cover/Concealment
So there's a guy firing that gun, yes? We're agreed? Good, because the thing is, he has just as much health as you do. In fact, he might even have a bit less! This is important, because listening to some people yesterday you would think we were fighting mechs or something. When it comes to you getting shot enough that you're on the ground yelling "MEDIC!" in Russian, there's much more to it than what gun shot you. You're not dying because their gun is much more accurate and damaging. You're dying because they got the drop on you, or because you weren't moving quickly towards cover. No gun in Battlefield 2 has the ability to protect you if you're out in the open, standing up, walking in a straight line. There are few times in Battlefield 2 where you get into a gunfight where 1. Both sides have the same amount of people, 2. Both sides know exactly where the enemy is, and 3. Both sides are in a perfectly equal strategic position in terms of cover and concealment. It is much more likely that in any gunfights you get into, one side opens fire without being seen, or one side is outnumbered, or one side has lots of stuff to hide behind and the other has to hide in teargas (smells funny, not recommended).

If you're dying left and right, examine what you're doing when you die. Have you been firing on the enemy for as long as they have been firing upon you? Or did they get the drop on you from 3 stories up while you're running around in an alley throwing medic bags at your squad leader? Were you and your opponent facing each other in the middle of an open square, and did you both start firing at the same time? That's not likely. 9 times out of 10, you're going to get shot by someone who is prone behind a dumpster while you're sprinting to who knows where. The gun is not going to change what happens. Your gun, their gun, your commander's gun, it doesn't matter. In a shootout, the gun is often an afterthought. Heck, you can get the drop on a couple of people hauling around SCAR-L's with a pistol, and if you have goot enough aim you can drop them both before they know they're under attack.

Rule 3: It's Not Like They're Reserved
If you're still convinced all you need to kill someone is an American gun, if you're still sure that you'd be able to hit someone prone behind a bush who you didn't see if you just had that laser sight, then pick up their gun when they die. It's easy, just hit "G" once their kit appears. Even the worst people on the worst days can get a K : D ratio approaching 1:1 every once in a while; this means for almost every time you spawn you've got a chance to pick up one of those "magical guns" that will solve your problems forever. In a 62 player server, there's 31 enemies dying all the time. They leave behind those guns. So pick one up, and then you can instantly dominate the battlefield.


Hopefully this will alleviate some of the whining. I figured this was completely obvious to people who play on TG; we focus on tactics, not on twitch skills, because at the end of the day it's the better team, not the better gun, that wins. I'm not saying the MEC or the Spetznaz don't get a little shafted in that their guns are less accurate or less damaging or whatever you want, I'm just saying it really doesn't make a big difference. Except the sniper rifles. Those things need a boost, yo. Come on, SVD? Don't make me laugh. It's like a pistol with a scope.

Mateo

Look, I maxed out my rep for the day. I can't give you rep, I'm sorry.

Damn fine post, though.

Xink

was playing on vanilla karkand last night for a small while, there was an insesent moaning everytime this one guy in my squad went down, im not one to start fights so i kept quiet but it was very childish and rather annoying, ive never had any amount of trouble with the weapon differances in SF, mabe its just me though

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omega

I agree totally, and on the pistol point...
The pistols are alarmingly good at close range if you can aim for the head.

TG_Bubba

Covered you on the rep. I had a couple left.

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Mateo

Thank you sir!

Man, now I have to give out +rep IOUs for people +repping for me?

Will it ever end?

BHack

This is a good post.l

I would normally agree with you 100%, but I have to admit, last night on the SF server I did feel like my gun was quite freakin deadly. I was randomly placed on the SAS/american team every round, so got to use all the "good" guns.

I had an abnormally high K/D ratio in every round and think I was #1 killer in most of rounds. I'm an OK twitch player but not a santa or xeil, so it did seem like I was doing better than I should have been. I have to say, that SCAR-H does seem ridiculously good. I was winning in almost all of those close spray and pray firefights, even where we started shooting at the same time. The gun isn't particularly accurate, at long ranges I was missing alot of shots, but the laser sight really helps alot. It just seemed like I was dropping guys in three shots, and having little problem hitting them. The gun even reloads fast.

I seriously doubt I would have done as well with an AK. It actually did feel like I had some kind of advantage against the opFor... I don't know, maybe they were just having a bad game.

On a secondary note though, the F2000 is NOT much better, if any, than an AK. The scope is weak and hard to use, and the gun is not very accurate. SCAR-H though, I don't know, that one hits pretty hard.

Tac-D

There are scores of discussions about the perceived differences in the new SF weapons on many boards.

Personally, I think they are slightly better than the OpFor arsenal.

I'd never blame that on any death or match loss, however.

Some maps favor one side or the other. Some have 2 UCB's while the other side has none.

I had two ideas that might help with the balance, assuming EA/DICE does nothing. (no comment)

1. Last night, the OpFor lost 5 rounds in a row by around 100 tickets. Perhaps we could add 100 tickets to that side as a handicap? This may require more data to determine just how often OpFor loses, and by how much, but you get the idea.

2. Hardly original, but perhaps have each map play twice, and switch sides? This would pretty clearly demonstrate a map or weapon imbalance, if one side wins more than half the time with the same players on both sides. (Again, this would take some data, over time, not just a single round.)

Thoughts?

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|TG-7th|Tac-D

"You talk the talk. Do you walk the walk?"

Bommando

Great post. I do agree with Bhack however. The SCAR-H is a menace. When I use it, I 95% of the time win a one-on-one twitch-out. It's just a far more accurate gun with far superior stopping power. I guess people need to blame their downfall on something and that's as good as any.

From memory though, I think the MEC SF Assault gets a GL on the maps against the SEALS, so I would say that evens it up.

BHack

I don't remember on leviathan, but on devil's perch, the opfor's GL is removed to match the loadout of the US.

umbra

I was defending a small farmhouse on one map a couple of weeks ago, Spec Op kit, and I saw a squad coming up - I was on a Pubbie, no squads worth joining. I was in a pretty good concealment area, high grass, behind a tree, and the first guy crouched and tried to go by me, and I shot him with my silenced pistol twice (second in the head took him down) I could tell the first shot confused him, no sound, and the second got him before he could figure out what was going on. I took out two more of his buddies that way. Close range, quiet, very satisfying. Never used it before, now I prefer to use it rather than say a knife if I'm very close.

Preston85

I know I am much better with auto guns than 3burst... Only time I really complain is when I shoot someone in the back 5 times with 3 burst and they turn around and shoot me instantly, but I know that with an auto gun they would have gone down before they knew what's hit them...

People complain about accuracy of the guns not high enough, but the number of times i'm sniping, and at quite a long range get taken out 1 shot by a rifle is rediculus.

Everyone has to make use of the same guns, some are better at range some are better upclose, while players are clearly better at using certain guns than others.

p.s. I use the SVD like a rifle and not a sniper, it is perfect for taking out gunners or people who go prone then fire instead of weaving.

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TychoCelchuuu

Yeah, the SVD is a pretty good gun if you're using it like that. Unfortunately I have an AK-47 if I want a rifle. The sniper clsas should be comparable to the US without having to unlock a gun.

Jusb

You were in my squad so im sure you may have been referring to me. I think their is a distinct (and honestly ****ty) advantage to the USMC for playing SF without unlocks.

I agree and you raise many good points in your post but imbalance does rule the day in one on one situations which can make playing MEC the entire night tedious. Especially w/ most SF players running around as SPEC OPS to use the SCAR. It was an exercise in frustration to constantly lose a 1-on-1 fight with someone because their weapon is more powerful than yours-i know i know read my post blah blah.... Theres only so much tactics and cover can do in even situations...especially when you get the "drop" on someone and they kill you cause the power of your gun really doesnt get the job done but theirs does.

The good thing about the pubbie servers is at least you can have access to unlocks to get yourself some balance. The SVD is a seriously impotent rifle one on one against the m24. Its even worse with the distances, power, angles and size of the maps on SF. I play sniper mostly and the SVD really just sucks ass.

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Steel_Penguin

I think if SCARs didn't have laser scope it wouldn't be so bad for opfor. I think the imbalance is EA's response to people making an issue of the AK's effectiveness in CQB.
And yes, the best word to describe the SVD is impotent. It's not even a sniper rifle. Like Tycho said, it's an overgrown pistol with a third rate scope.

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