Arithea

It's January of 2143, and the PAC is attempting to take control of a key resource target in Egypt--the power plant at Sidi. By taking out the power plant, the EU will lose over 40% of the energy provided for its population. At the beginning of the fight, each side has limited resources and is comprised mainly of infantry divisions; armored and airborne support won't arrive until March.

Since this is a head-on map, we'll have a single discussion thread, as with Belgrade. Which side do you prefer--PAC or EU? Why do prefer that side? Given that each control point spawns different vehicles, which points do you capture first? What assets do you feel are more important on such a large, sprawling map?

Discuss.

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Lorax74

There are seven (7) flags on this map. At 50 players to the server, that means that means that one side should be able to hold 4 flags while the other has 3. Basis for this: 24 players per side (50 total for the server, minus two commanders) giving you four full squads per side. Each squad should be able to defend a flag, the one that does not have a flag should be assaulting another or moving to defend a friendly flag while that squad attempts to take a back a different flag.

I prefer playing as EU and holding Military Outpost. Generally speaking, that flag gets quite a bit of action and the SL often does not have to micromanage their squad.

I'm not very fond of the other flags on the map but if forced to choose, I would defend Warehouses or Offices next. Reactor Core can be a fun flag, but it is not my cup of tea.

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TG-9th Lorax74

Bc2ID

Now my neck hurts..thanks Lorax.

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Lorax74

Is that any better?

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TG-9th Lorax74

Zhohar

The map is pretty simple, but because it's so spread out, it's often easy to ignore the bleed imparted by the outlying flags. People will ignore if they've lost both Harbour and Communications but will fight dearly for Warehouses or Reactor Core. All of those generate the same amount of bleed and in an armor map like this, bleed is more important than shooting skills.

With that oft-ignored factoid out of the way, a word on tactics. Popular strategies include:
- making an arc and chasing each other to Reactor Core. For EU this means capturing Power Generator, Offices, and Communications and Reactor Core at the same time.
- a ROLFCOPTER squad: two to four dedicated engineers, beside a pilot and a gunner, in a transport, repairing, SAAWing gunships, dropping motion mines on armor -- wreaking havoc for enemy air troops and group infantry.
- Direct assault on the opposing team's first flag (closest to their UCB).
This will either prevent or slow down any of their armor from leaving the UCB for the entire round.

This strategy also has an often-unexploited perk: if done correctly, it can distract a disproportionate amount of enemy soldiers to that one flag, allowing your team to breathe easier, capture more flags, and acquire bleed more easily.

The idea is pretty simple -- if you've ever seen the Loony Tunes cartoon you'd know: you make a face at the huge dog, run away into a small, well built house, lock the door, and while the dog assaults the unbreakable house, your friend steals the dog's tasty meal.

Same here: piss of half the opposing team at their first flag, and while they all try to take the flag back from you, your team captures all the back flags and you win the map in 10 minutes due to bleed.

Point is, the more you hold this Military Outpost, the more of an eyesore you're going to be to the other team. The more tanks you blow up, the more that tank driver will discard reason and continue assaulting that one flag.

It is psychology in a lot of ways: find what makes people tick and exploit it. On Sidi, holding the first flag makes undisciplined pubbies tick. Exploit that for easy wins.

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daithi1

This map is probably the best map for the Roflcopter. Still in my opinion dragging 4-6 players off the ground is too much. A support piloting and two SAWW totting engies is all I'd want, one will do depending on the player skills and how full the server is.

I've commanded this map a bit and Zhohar is right in saying the four outside flags are deserted a lot with most of the fighting around the 'main flags'. A tactic I'd like to see is an SL with a full squad take a transport and go flag-hopping around the four outside flags.If a squad is wiped I think it's important to have good communication so if it's opportune the Roflcopter can pick up th SL and dropo him off somewhere.

I was sure in the 62 person version of the map there was gunship spawns at the uncaps but I'm obviously wrong. A top priority of a gunship should be to take out a Roflcopter and really vice versa as well. The gunship can be a deciding factor if you've got a good team in it, otherwise it usually is waste of tickets, two a pop (too many Draehs around).

Holding Power Gen or Military can be effective if done well. However both of these flags can be passed easily by armour via other routes. So what can happen is six men sitting like lemons doing absolutely nothing. If they're good though the can block both paths.

Reactor Core is hard to defend and can be a ticket loser. I would prefer as CO not to be holding reactor as the tickets you see going from there can be painful. I prefer to try and hold three 'unimportant' flags and one of the 'big three'. I dunno maybe I'm a lunatic CO who is hell bent on making peoples lives misery. Seems like it to me.

I've said this in the Belgrade thread and I'll say it again. Blow assets! it really annoys the crap out of COs or at least me. If you know the difference between the assets on Sidi it's probably best to blow EMP or Orbital and Sat-Track as UAV as limited use on a big map. Always try to blow Sat Track though it's by far the Cos most useful tool. So blow two back off five minutes later come back. Blow the same two, blow the other two if CO has repaired with boxes and leg it. If one Recon did this all round you distract even the most attentive COs.

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ionpig-A

In addition the analysis already posted I recommend the following:

1. pray you have a great gunship squad and get them up and running at the beginning
2. take the four corners, leaving warehouse, reactor, and offices to the enemy.
3. kill 'em with bleed and superior mobility
4. keep the skies clear!

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Memor Depopulor Pro Vos Exuro

Arithea

We had a great squad on Sidi a few nights ago that took and held the enemy's closest base almost the entire game. I have no idea how much armor we kept off the rest of the map, but it was a lot--I think maybe three or four pieces of it decided not to stop and play with us, and we still managed to take down one or two of those before they got far. I don't remember whether or not our team won, but man, it was a blast! (No pun intended.)

Great comments, all!

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Lorax74

I severely dislike seeing a ROFLCOPTER squad on my team, it means you have 4+ people not doing much other than flying around harassing soft targets. For the most part, these squads can not be counted on to take or defend flags, which on a map of 7 flags is a big problem.

This used to be true. The thing to do used to be grab an FAV and wait in your UCB for the opposing team's flag to flip from neutral to their control. At that point, you race to the flag in the FAV and could pretty much be guaranteed a relatively safe and easy steal and time to spare to dig in. Now you get there and are often met by an APC, tank, gunship, ROFCOPTER, etc. In other words, the players have wizened up to the fact that not defending this flag can leave their team extremely vulnerable.

The key to this flag is to only have ONE squad defend it. Have the rest of the team taking or holding other flags to help ensure a win. If you have two squads here, your team is not utilizing its full potential and usually means you are either under bleed or soon will be. If that one squad looses that flag, the CO should be prepared to send them after a weaker defended flag.

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TG-9th Lorax74

ThaDoctah

I have a strategery for Sidi that I like to use, and it works perfectly every single time.

Esc => Multiplayer => Logoff

Flawless Victory

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<Someone give me more training STAT!>

ThaDoctah

On a more serious note, I thoroughly enjoy this tactic in almost all the maps we play. It usually offers a great advantage for our team with plenty of action to enjoy.

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<Someone give me more training STAT!>

spiff913

This is one map where I like the 64-player version a lot better than the 32-player.

Adding those extra corner flags makes it a lot more fun - on 32-p you just get pushed into the death zone.

I think I feel the same way about the other armor maps in general, but especially this one.

Agree with Lorax about defending the first flag. It can even be a smaller squad - those are usually good for defense, plus you have a tank and an APC.

If things get too boring, you can send the armor forward and just keep 2 or 3 guys defending.

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Zhohar

I honestly don't believe so. I'd like to say that I see such a disciplined defense on the TG server regularly but that is just not true. A defense on the first flag at 3 minutes in, beyond motion mines and a random piece of armor driven to the front lines, is a rarity.

The fact that the ratio of Brigadier Generals to Privates has increased in the recent months has nothing to do with it: it is not experience that is in question here, it is teamwork and discipline. Knowing what's right and doing it are two completely different things. Experienced players who don't teamwork (ie. pubbies) do know the importance of the first flag on Sidi but they do not want to defend because it is boring. Regardless of how many times this flag will have cost them the round, they will still not defend it because it is still going to be boring.

Pubbies like standoffs and they dislike defending empty flags; they like bunching up, and they dislike following orders (if they have any) -- essentially, they are molasses -- slow to respond and idiotically tenacious when engaged. To effectively fight them, go where they are not. When they assault you, leave a small, spirited defense, and go capture flags that they've left in order to come toward you.

A good tip for aspiring COs -- periodically let your team know what enemy flags are undefended.

Like a sniper squad, I think this is one of those things that are either done brilliantly or extremely poorly. I've seen it done well, and I've killed a lot of people with SAAWs -- it's a strategy for sure, but it takes a lot of experience and coordination to get it right.
Possible benefits include:
- air superiority (two people in a gunship can kill a lot of armor very quickly -- a well piloted ROLFCOPTER can take down a gunship)
- back flag defense (a buggy rushing for the backflags on Sidi can be destroyed in 3-5 seconds of continuous fire from the machine guns on the transport)
- Infantry assault support (if a friendly squad moves off Reactor Core to assault, a transport can provide much needed cover across the empty bridge)
- locking armor with motion mines (up to four engineers can drop motion mines on a piece of armor with little to no danger)
- team mate transport (random team mates without armor at a back flag -- no problem)
- infantry suppression (the transport miniguns do a large deal of damage against foot soldiers)
- infantry potential reduction (fancy words aside, if 8 people on the enemy's team are running around with SAAWs, you've done your job)
- capturing back flags (transports are very mobile and with six people a flag can be turned and mined very quickly)

It is a huge boon to the team when done right, but it can also be drain. It's up to the CO to figure out which is the case and take action appropriately. As a CO on the TG server, you can order a ROLFCOPTER squad to leave the transport and use ground armor to capture flags, if you believe this to be a tactically sound decision.

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MDFubar

Usually I prefer to start on EU, I take an FAV from our main to Communications. My sqaud spawns in, 4 Engy's, 1 Assault, and 1 Support. We take Communications, grab the Walker and ste MM's for the enemy.
We immeditately leave and head to Military Outpost, take control of that flag and set up a defense. Two Engy's per approach to Military, MM's on the approaches. Engy's saty close to the base, but run out to lay MM's. Using cover, IDS's, Q-Spotting, the available emplacements, and Spanky..we have managed to hold that flag 80% of the time and stop most of the enemy armor. Not to mention that we pull the Gunship and Transports to us in an attempt to get that flag back.
Once we have established a strong defense, we simply have fun. By taking Communications first we provied another spawn point for our team, even if only temporary, and a delay long enough for the enemy to vacate Militaary Outpost.

The same works in reverse for the PAC side, we take Harbor and then Power Generator....rinse and repeat. I have found that it is easier to do this from the EU side for some reason.
Please note that in all of my squads, kits are subject ot change as the situation does.

Also, placing a group of MM's at Miltary Outpost on top of the platform will take down any transport or gunship that decides they want to fly in low and engage us. Yes, not many Tg'ers will do that, but others sem to think that it is smart.

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Baggy911

Since I have a lot of experience playing the demo, I know this map quite well. As an "engy squad with one recon" squad, we like to first head for Reactor Core, RDX the flag and EMP Mine and Motion Mine the outsides. Then we head straight for Harbour and hold our position there. If we lose Reactor Core, we blow the RDX and head back, and repeat.

The other squads usually take the other flags, but occasionally, our squad also has to handle either Warehouse or Power Generator, but that rarely happens.