Crux's Infantry Guide Part III: Save a Ninja, Save the World

Controlling Your Engagements

Learning to control your engagements is probably the single biggest step towards tactical proficiency. BF2142 is war, and as the saying goes “All is fair in love and war.” Without Arithea in your squad, love is a forgotten dream, and war is all we have left. So given this, understand a critical concept: your job is to destroy the enemy by all legal means possible.

You aren’t dueling with rapiers, or drawing cold steel at 20 paces. Your intent should be to engage your opponent at every instance in a circumstance and environment that stacks the odds as heavily as possible in your favor.

I want you to imagine for a moment two soldiers, A and B. They have equally fast reflexes, and are equally accurate with their weapons. Now picture the following three scenarios:

A and B stand facing each other and try to kill one another

A and B stand facing each other, but B is behind cover

B is standing at A’s back

In the first scenario, A will walk away 50% of the time, and B will walk away 50% of the time. In the second one, B will walk away between 50% and 100% of the time… just how often depends slightly on luck and largely on the quality of B’s cover. In the third scenario, B should win 100% of the time.

How do you engage the enemy?

Just Walk Away

If we harken back briefly to the scenario presented in an earlier segment of the guide, where soldier Bob comes around a corner to see four enemy soldiers. Being the average player, Bob opens fire and tries to kill them all. Is he controlling the engagement, or is the engagement controlling him?

You must never be afraid to walk (or run) away from a bad situation when the engagement is not taking place on your terms. In essence, if in any given situation you have a 50% or less chance of surviving, then you need to change the situation. Rather than open fire, retreat. If you see trouble ahead and you are situationally aware to know that there are more bad guys there than you can stop, find another route. Find another position. Find friends and come back to kick their asses!

Just because you have a weapon in your hands doesn’t mean you have to use it all the time, every time. The gun is just a tool. Your mind is your true weapon. But if you are not using your mind to outmaneuvere your opponent, and avoid bad situations then you are letting your biggest weapon go to waste.

Be a Ninja

Ninjas kick ass. We all know it to be true. Special Forces soldiers such as Navy Seals, Delta Force etc etc are simply modern-day ninjas with guns. When you think about it, their mode of operation is the same. They work in secrecy. Their goal is to avoid detection as much as possible, and strike unseen. Even though they are better warriors than their opponents, they still seek to engage them at as big of an advantage as possible.

Do you play the game like a Special Forces soldier? Or do you play it like a Civil War soldier, advancing in plain sight hoping you shoot the other guy before he shoots you?

Your every focus should be, not on out-shooting your opponent but rather out-thinking him. Make it your constant goal to shoot your enemy in the back before he can see you. Work yourself into situations where you can kill your enemy without him knowing you are there. If you want to win more than 50% of your engagements, you must constantly seek to control the terms of the engagement. You must always be looking for the opportunity to put yourself in a better position than your opponent(s). This might mean engaging behind cover when they have none. It might mean approaching them from the rear. It might simply be the element of surprise.

In summary, if you cannot fight your enemy to your advantage then do not fight him. Wait and work until you have a decisive advantage and then strike!

It takes only paying attention and a willingness to walk away to avoid bad engagements. In order to consistently engage your enemy to your advantage you must be able to predict his actions. This is what we will cover in Part 4!