Arithea

Question: What would happen if, as PAC commander (or squad leader, for that matter), I had one person on the team spawn in as an engineer with the SAAW and take out the enemy's UAV to help cover an attempt at a breakthrough past Crossroads? I've been working on a TacticalWiki page for Fall of Berlin strategies, and that hit me while I was working on it. I know I, as commander, don't usually remember run a SAT scan as often as I should when I have a UAV up that covers the entire region I'm most worried about, so in the time it takes the commander to realize what's going on and punch the SAT scan, a cloaked squad leader could sneak by on one side. The engineer could subsequently pick up someone else's kit, keeping them from being less useful over time. What do you guys think? Could it help get a squad past the lines at Crossroads? Is it even worth trying?

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mentholated

Does the saaw lock onto UAVs?

DocGuo

It's an ingenious plan that works against unseasoned commanders..
a few pitfalls must be mentioned....
-the uav may be hard to track with a saww....especially if it flies over a building....then the line of sight is blocked....
-some commanders do use the sat track and can keep an eye on the rest of the battlefield.....

...I use the SAT track religiously and always trust it for the sneak attack... it's got the fastest recharge time: 30 seconds....you can use two in between a UAV scan...


On a side note:
My tactics for the defending commander on fall of berlin (vehicles)

I wait 10 seconds after every one spawns...I put down a sat track to move squads into the correct positions and then throw a UAV after that sat track is gone..... Within 1.5 minutes into the game, the UAV will be down. I then sat track again 10 seconds after that first UAV goes down...by that time.....the apc and walker are in place and holding back any further attacks.......this usually stops the initial push on the back flags which are the most dangerous...from there I can cover the map and spot a potential gap in the line and move a squad to fill it...

If you can counter that UAV and leave my team blinded within those 50-60 seconds, more power to you....but remember:
i'll still have the sat track looming in space...

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Why "Doc"Guo? Because behind every good TG player there's a good doctor yelling "CLEAR!". There's also the fact that "Medic"Guo sounds kinda weird.

Arithea

To answer your question, angrysniper, yes, the SAAW locks onto UAVs.

That's kind of what I was figuring, Doc. I've commanded a few times on Berlin myself, and I'm willing to bet that most commanders with any experience will not be adversely affected by it. But there might be those one or two times it works, and besides, what have you got to lose? I might try it sometime.

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DrBeat

An interesting strategy. It's not something I would have thought of. The SAWW could do this job effectively well.

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jazy2

I have used the saw to take down UAV's over Toll and Harbor on Gibraltar.

I don't know if it affected the battle too much but I think we did break through easier and quicker than when it was allowed to stay in the air.

I think it needs to tried out a few times in different maps.....I'll give it a go next time I'm on and see how it goes. I would expect good results in general but even better if the commander is green!

Also, UAV info goes to everyone, the commander would have to relay this info manually and the have SL's relay this info to the squad and react. If a back flag was being attacked and he spawned a UAV to cover the main frontline so he could "spot" at the back (like Daithi's vid on commanding at Gibraltar) this tactic could be quite deadly as he is now leaving the bulk of the troops with no info when the UAV is gone!

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daithi1

I can't answer this question until it is known how the ghost unlock effects a) ST and b)UAV. Does anyone know? I've been meaning to test this out. I'll try and do it tonight.

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jazy2

My understanding is that all forms of tracking are fooled by the ghost. Manual spot, sat track and uav all report the "ghost beacon" position and not the players actual position.

A savvy commander in closest zoom would still be able to verbally guide the defenders to the recon's position but this gives the commander tunnel vision and denies the frontline any intel if the uav is down (apart from whatever ids's are deployed)

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big-eye101

It is a very interesting idea but as most of the people said before me: Does this effect the battle THAT much?

But it sure is worth trying

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pred011586

You know, all these months playing battlefield, and I thought the interface was bugged as hell with people not spotting, and dots being hidden. When I found out what the decoy actually was, I had a *facepalm* moment.

Taking out the UAV is actually a brilliant idea that I've never even considered before. My only concern is whether it can be taken out before it ducks behind a building. If that's not an issue, then this is something I'd like to see more of.

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[T-BAGZ]Pred011586

Arithea

Great discussion points, guys. If anyone manages to try this out, let me know; I'll give it a go next time I'm on Berlin and see what happens. If it just so happens that multiple people try it out, so much better!

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ionpig-A

Thea, just speaking from my own perspective as a commander I tend to think like this:

• UAV: A tool I put up for the benefit of SL's and grunts to use tactically.
• SatTrack: MY eyes and primary defense against cloaked SL's running the edges of the map.

On Berlin, if the EU team is worth their salt they will have individual IDS's up at all choke points. If they are extra smart they will have them more than 50 meters from the front lines in order to negate the effect of the recon decoy.


So... against new commanders this could be useful but I think that this tactic will hurt the individual soldiers more than the CO.

That being said, I like it.

Anything to blind and confuse them is good, especially if the SAAW equipped engineer is also hurling MM-Bait in an attempt to open a path for friendly armor.

my $0.02

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Memor Depopulor Pro Vos Exuro

pred011586

Maybe on Berlin you'd have to worry about having IDS at all the choke points, but imagine on maps like Belgrade, where it's almost impossible to IDS every chokepoint without having everyone on your team play support, or Suez Canal. On maps like these, taking out the enemy UAV can have a huge impact. Sure the commander can spot check after the SAT track, but he'll only be able to spot so many people at once, and even then anyone who's played CO knows it's impossible to spot every enemy in a tight group of enemies. You generally only get one or two, so you'd have to communicate the multitude of enemies to the SLs, who then have to relay to the SMs. Which now requires good CO -> SL -> SM communication, which is rarely there. The kinks in that chain are in different places at different times, but it happens often enough that removing the enemy UAV could very likely be devastating to the enemy front lines.

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[T-BAGZ]Pred011586

daithi1

I tested out the decoy. It works against ST and UAV but not manual spotting. So while taking out UAV will be good for a grunt push on crossroads it might compromise any recon runners trying to get through becuase it will force the CO to spot manually.

Fun fact: If you become CO after the decoy has been put down it doesn't work .

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Icehawk217

I'm pretty sure you can kill the UAVs fairly easily with a machine gun. Get your support guy to bring a Ganz, and the UAV should be down pretty quickly. I think that this is a valid strategy to try, but having someone with a SAAW at all times is a waste of a SM slot.

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