Please read in its entirety. It starts out simple, but gets more complex. This probably applies to you.

I'm starting this thread because the complete lack of defense and disregard of valuable tickets is a constant source of frustration on our server. We call ourselves "Tactical Gamer", and yet the only tactics people seem to focus on are those that cap flags and get kills. Well folks, there is actually an objective in BF2142. It isn't to cap flags. It isn't to get kills. It is to win.

You win when your opponent's ticket count reaches zero. Plain and simple. There are two ways your opponent can have their ticket count reach zero.

1) Kills. Every time someone on the other team dies and is not revived, they lose a ticket.
2) Flag Bleed. Depending on the map, holding a certain number of flags will cause your opponent's ticket count to decrease by a set amount per minute.

In this discussion, we are going to focus on #2, as #1 tends to take care of itself.

So first I'm going to explain the concept of flag bleed. Because frankly I think most of the people playing on our server either don't get it, or cease to think about it the moment the round starts.

On maps where BOTH teams have a UCB (Un-Capturable Base), whichever team holds more than half of the flags will establish ticket bleed on their opponents. For example on Belgrade, there are 6 flags available for capture. If both teams hold 3 flags, then there is no ticket bleed for either side. If one team holds 4 flags, then there is ticket bleed. If they hold 5 flags then that ticket bleed is accelerated.

On maps where ONE team has a UCB, there is ticket bleed only as long as the defending team holds all of the flags that they started with. This is very, very important to understand. And understanding it, it is very, very important to think about in the middle of your round. We will use Cerbere Landing as our example.


As you can see in the image above, the EU team starts with 4 flags. PAC starts in their UCB. There is one flag that starts as neutral (Office Ruins).

When the round beings, EU has ticket bleed going on the PAC side.
"But what about Office Ruins?" you ask. Office Ruins is irrelevant for ticket bleed purposes, because EU holds all of the flags that they started with. Even if the PAC team caps Office Ruins, they will not stop ticket bleed. To do that they have to cap one of the flags that EU already holds.

Sure, this sucks when you're the attacking team. Now here is the trick: you start with a 30 ticket lead. That means you have 30 tickets in which to cap one of those flags and stop ticket bleed while your team still has the lead.

If your team executes a successful first assault, they will accomplish this. For the sake of argument, let's pretend that they take South Town Center, with the ticket score of 305-295, a 10 ticket lead. What does your team do now?

Often, they push en-masse on Church, Roadblock, and then Command Center simultaneously. Which is basically the worst thing they could do short of taking a cheese grater to their faces while waving flags in the air that say "Shoot me". Why? You're attacking and throwing yourselves into a meat grinder when you have a ticket lead and no ticket bleed is in place.

And we call ourselves Tactical Gamer?

Instead the team should be setting up a solid, solid defense, as the EU team HAS to come after them in order to win. Or rather should have to if PAC wasn't so busy trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And, having set up a solid defense, they can then coordinate themselves and look for attacks of opportunity (obligatory D&D reference).

For example, the PAC side sets up its defenses to the north of South Town, establishing themselves on the elevated ground, and on the hill. Their commander keeps the information incoming, and when an attack is squashed they send a counter-attack and take Church (since they can attack it down-hill). Then having both flags, they can establish themselves on the hill to the East.

Now it is just a matter of time. Again they can wait and force the EU team to come to them into their meat grinder. Except holding both of their own flanks, they have more options. Perhaps a feinted attack up the hill on the west to draw defenders away, followed by a strong push on the Roadblock flag. But only if the opportunity presents itself.

The point here folks, is that when you have a ticket lead with no ticket bleed, you're not obligated to attack. In fact, you're making a big mistake to do so. How many times have we all played Cerbere Landing where you've forced EU all the way back to Command Center. You have a 30 ticket lead. People start throwing themselves up the hill trying for a cap-out. Suddenly it is a 20 ticket lead. Then a 10 ticket lead. Now you're down 5 tickets. Suddenly you just lost.

Don't be afraid to defend. It is a tactic, just like attacking. When used correctly it can win you rounds. The 3rd uses it all the time in competition play and it has served us very well indeed. Try it some time There's no glory in fighting your way up a hill to make your team lose. It's not something to boast about. It might get you the #1 spot on the scoreboard because of kills and revives. But if you just made your team lose to do that, what are you doing here at TG anyway?