Appreciate your Buggies

**Lyramion** · 02-11-2009, 09:07 PM

When Squadleads rush towards a flag their buggy often just gets discarded like a piece of trash and left standing around.

What makes more sense:

A) If you can destroy your Buggy, so it will respawn in your mainbase for others to use

B) Take care of your Buggy and keep it safe for a needed fast response of your Squad.

A prime example would be the Powerstation on Tunis. You can park your Buggy behind the south building. Now if all of a sudden Junkyard needs help you can send over a 3man fireteam (with or without the SL) quickly if needed. Keeping Buggys avaiable for your Squad to use is a very powerful tool.

One factor on the Battlefield is time and how fast you can travel.

- Squad with heavy armor: Booo - you are a Snail
- Squad with light armor: Yay - you can be pretty quick
- Squad that can quickly use a Buggy: You win the race

Another example would be the EU Buggy on Cerbere Landing. I like to bring it down from Command Center and keep it around. Whenever an enemy Squad breaks thru, I can transport my SL to respond quickly. Often you can catch them on Roadblock this way before they do any further harm. BUT ! there is also a danger of some enemy stealing your Buggy so you have to take good care of it and not get shot out.

Conclusion: Keeping a Buggy around save and sound can give you an enormous advantage on the Battlefield !

Another point on an initial rush is the further use of a Buggy by a Squadmember. I often see SLs run the Buggy into a wall and quickly jump out. The Buggy is blocked from further movement without having to reverse and being an easy target. Let´s take an initial rush to Tunis Powerstation from EU again as example:

BAD:

Your Buggy has no more options but to reverse. The driver and gunner seats are open to the PAC side of the Battlefield. The enemy can see the Buggy from far and use Rockets to quickly kill it.

Good:

If a Squadmember manages to get the Buggy in this position, the Buggy is a very strong asset to a successful first rush. You have the back to people incoming on the south road. You are close to a wall and when people notice you they often are under 20 meters to be able to use their rockets. I cleared no less than 3 enemy soldiers this way on an initial rush as well as camping their bodies to make sure they are dead.

Conclusion: Buggys are awesome and do not deserve to be left unused. A Buggy in a good tactical position can be used as a powerful Gunplatform.

Another neat Buggyspot I want to share is on Cerbere. I like to camp the west hill with it.

You place it like this with your front facing away from the enemy so you cannot get shot out. Turn your gun to the back and try to shoot down anyone coming up the hill.

But pay attention and have quick fingers. When the first sign of Rockets appears you quickly have to smash F1 and boost up the hill to escape them. It takes a bit of practise but can work like a charm. Very annoying for an attacking team. I once racked up 13 buggy kills like this in a single cerbere round.

Well that´s it - Let your mind now circle around better buggy uses instead of abandoning them in the middle of nowhere

**Eroak** · 02-11-2009, 09:51 PM

Listen people. This is the truth of buggies. They play a very importent role and many players undervalue what buggies mean to a winning game.

Kaboodles · 02-12-2009, 12:58 AM

Hell yeah, buggies.

One important thing I learned in that Power Station scenario is not to drive it right up to the flag from the north side. I was in the PAC buggy when we rolled on the flag from the south just as an EU buggy rolled in from the north. The driver was an SL and hopped out the left side, right next to that wonderful orange box. I managed to kill the entire 6-man squad using our buggy's machine gun.

**Housekeeper** · 02-12-2009, 01:58 PM

Yep buggies are definitely our friends, and will reward you if used smartly. On the flipside, if you are careless, and leave the buggy sitting around for the defenders, I love stealing enemy attackers buggys and just parking them behind my defensive line, I know you had a post about that once before too.

**pred011586** · 02-12-2009, 03:47 PM

I grew an appreciation for buggies when I was SLing as EU on Tunis. My squad was defending junkyard, and we had one EU buggy, and 2 PAC buggies, with 2 supply boxes from our generous CO and an engineer or two. Having those 3 buggies all shooting towards Eastern docks and Power station prevented the enemy from being able to cross the barge or street for the entire round. The rest of the squad at the flag was able to contain any threats that got past, but there was very few at that. Later in the round I ended up driving the buggy, and used it as a mobile gun platform for my squad members. Circling around the building between the barge and Junkyard flag (didn't even know a buggy could get there) to avoid rocket fire, my gunner was racking up the kills as the enemy kept trying to attack us. EU ended up winning the round, but it was close since we had bleed on us for most of the round. But I'm almost positive that the absolutely terrifying sight of having 3 buggy machine guns, a Ganz, a sentry, and a Rorsche locking the enemy down on the other side of the river contributed to the win. 5 Constant streams of bullets, and a rail gun would make even the most hardened soldiers think twice about turning that corner.

Love your buggies people, love your buggies. If you HAVE to abandon a buggy, blow it up. Rorsche is great, but if you can't get one, throw a grenade or two under it and empty a clip or two into it and it should blow up. Sure it slows you down if you have to blow it up, but you'll regret not blowing it up if the enemy steals it and you need it later!

One more note I'd like to add about buggies. I won't mention names, but one time on CampG I was SLing on EU and we had both of PAC's buggies. I had them protected from orbitals between central camp and toll station. Kept them both repaired, and hopped in both to keep them from being blown up from inactivity. A TG member (and one who should know better at that), hopped into the buggy and made a suicide dash to Harbor, and died, giving PAC back the buggy....

Look at the emblem on the side of the buggy, if the emblem is not your team's emblem, DO NOT RISK THE BUGGY! Unless what you plan on doing is truely game changing (very few instances where I can see this), it's more important to keep the enemy buggies alive and safe, than it is to use them for suicide runs...

Nepharyte0 · 02-12-2009, 04:17 PM

Had to make sure this wasn't against the rules first. But here is a situation for Buggie Denial.

A couple evenings ago, I was commanding EU on Tunis Harbor. Part way through the round, PAC made a buggy rush around to Junkyard. They failed to take the flag but abandoned the Buggie. One of my SLs (can't remember who, though pretty sure it was a TGer) who was defending Junkyard took the buggy, drove it back to our uncapped. He jumped out, told me to jump in. I never moved it, never shot the gun, just sat in it and commanded the rest of the round. The point was to keep it from respawning back in their uncap. I really didn't think too much about it at the time and quickly forgot I was even in it by the end of the round. Not the optimal use of the enemy buggy, but it does deny the buggy to the enemy for the rest of the round.

**Lyramion** · 02-12-2009, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nepharyte0

Not the optimal use...

No, this is THE optimal use for an enemy buggy. Keep it safe and sound in your uncap.

+Rep

Also this is a VERY old Screenshot showing one of the most awesome denials of the PAC buggies in Camp G

Nepharyte0 · 02-12-2009, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyramion

No, this is THE optimal use for an enemy buggy. Keep it safe and sound in your uncap.

Remember it is not completely safe there. The enemy is allowed to go into the uncap and either destroy the buggy or steal it back. Once an asset is committed, you are allowed to go anywhere to destroy it. Still, it is pretty safe back there.

Kaboodles · 02-12-2009, 11:12 PM

Whoa. I didn't know you could stuff the buggy in there...

E_Leader · 02-12-2009, 11:26 PM

I would love to show you this ScreenShot but i currently cant and hoping someone else can. On the EU side on Cerbre Landing, you can park the FAV on the hill above Chuch where infantry move up and if parked correctly where it doesnt slide, the gunner can lay fire and destory FAVs before they even get halfway up the hill as well as have 100% cover on the Church flag and backside of South Town.

Ikkarub · 02-13-2009, 04:59 AM

I cannot count the times I've captured an enemy buggy and moved it to safety only to have another squad pick it up and throw it away seconds later... On Tunis it's not really such a big deal (since it's unlikely you'll get all three buggies), but on some of the other maps (Carebear springs to mind) buggy denial can make all the difference.

Oh, and I didn't see anyone mention it (though you probably all know it) but another reason not to abandon buggies is that they show up on the map once empty. So if everyone bails and leaves the buggy standing, the other team knows you're at a flag before you've even got it neutral - and will probably spawn in to stop you.

EmperorMustard · 02-14-2009, 05:58 PM

Saw some good use of a buggy earlier today.

The map was Cerbere and I was on EU, squadleading. We were down to just Command Centre due to the other team consisting almost exclusively of |TG| members, and so I decided to grab the buggy and hopefully make a dash for Office whilst placing a beacon. Got as far as just south of Roadblock where I see a buggy in the road, stationary. So I go for the obvious thing which is to drive round it, however just as I think I'm through the enemy buggy reverses, pinning me against the wall. If they hadn't done that we would have been long gone.

Buggies are vital, especially at the start of rounds where you need to cap ASAP. Sadly some people are the worst drivers, so a good driver is a real asset sometimes, especially on Cerbere (PAC) and Camp Gib (PAC)

**Sargentkyle23** · 02-14-2009, 07:17 PM

Awesome write-up Lyra!

Adaxa · 02-18-2009, 02:21 PM

Great write-up Lyra!

Titan note-

Last night I ran 3-man buggy squads that quickly capped undefended and lightly defended enemy silos and then ran off to another uncapped silo, enemy occupied or not. This tactic was so effective in maintaining silo control, maintaining that our team had at least 3 silos + for most of the round. Buggies are very useful in Conquest, but it is in Titan that their true value shines IMO.

SharinganTH1422 · 03-01-2009, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyramion

- Squad with heavy armor: Booo - you are a Snail

*giggle*

Oh, plus Lyra's awesome, but what's new? Great guide, buggies are the most useful vehicle IMO, but that's because I don't take the time to learn the gunship or walker I suppose.