Mr.Ander50n

From the great ability to spin around and headshot the guy trying to knife you to one-shotting a guy 50 yards away with a shotgun, something everyone has to do quite frequently on the battlefield is AIM.

This thread is to compare and contrast different aiming strategies, and attempt to decide which one is more feasible, if possible.

To start off, I have played with a variety of different styles, and have settled on one that I think works very well. I used to be quite into the CS:S world, and headshots are key in this game, however, the model scales in that game are quite different (I believe cs:s models are on a much smaller scale than Battlefield models), and that results in different hit boxes, making it more difficult to hit the head in battlefield 2142.

My strategy at longer distances is to take 2-shot bursts slightly above chest level, to maximize my chances of a hit, as well as a headshot. Particularly when using a baur, I try to wait until my foe has stopped running, or changes direction so that they are running at or away from me. This allows me to aim once then fire, instead of having to try and track their perpendicular running patterns. If they are at range and have a wall near them, pk-rockets are my go-to, especially if they are scoped in, or not looking in my direction.

At closer range (15 yards-30), if I have the drop on the infantry, I try to scope in and crouch. usually I have enough time to aim, fire four shots, and down the opponent. If they get the drop on me, if I know where they are, I will spin around and zoom-in and let loose as close to their head level as I can, to try and beat them to the kill. If I don't know where they are and cover is readily available, I will jump behind it. If there is no cover, I will go prone and spin to see them, then aim and shoot, again at head level.

The "going prone trick" is actuallty quite useful in close-quarters firefights. If an enemy rounds the corner and has you zeroed, if you go prone and begin to shoot, it forces them to readjust their aim downwards, while continuing to spray their weapon at you. This means that they have missed with 5 or 6 bullets, and their gun is now inaccurate. Granted, you will be temporarily inaccurate as well from the ground, but if you find your opponent and have laid prone, aim at his chest and open fire. If he is stationary, zoom in, and your spread will get better. Moving your crosshairs from the chest toward their head is also an effective strategy to try and get a headshot in these circumstances.

If I am using a shotgun, I try to make the most of the cover I am given to remain hidden from the opponent, to ensure I don't have to try and fight a long-distance war with a short distance weapon. Once they are close enough, I will pop out and either go prone or fire while standing; crouching isn't necessary. If they are running toward me and firing, I will go prone to attempt to make them miss a few bullets, giving me a chance to steady my aim before I shoot. I always aim at their neck, since the spread is enough that it should hit both their chest and head, resulting in a one-shot kill.

I think the most important thing while using the shotgun, as well as other guns, is to aim before you shoot. In a lot of circumstances, particularly in the less-experienced players, the tendency to fire immediately at an opponent the first chance you get results in many missed shots. If you take that 20 milliseconds to aim, then fire, you will be more successful. Chances are you won't die in those twenty milliseconds, and your enemy will be hurting after the first two bullets hit his skull.

for PK-rockets, I will zoom in to a wall or ground directly in front of the enemy I am attempting to kill, and scroll out two or three clicks, then fire. The airbursts usually kill in two-three rockets, depending on your accuracy. Crouching or standing still while firing these helps a ton to make sure they go where you want them to go.


Aaaanyways, what are your approahes to aiming? I could go into what I look for when trying to round a corner to shoot an enemy, but my post is already too long!!!

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Sargentkyle23

When using an assault rifle almost always crouch zoom shoot, 95% of the time that will give you the best results.
Shotgun I always stay on the move. That is really why the shotgun is so effective, because you can be continually moving while firing (unlike any other gun) which makes you far more difficult to kill.

A word of caution about going prone, especially at range out in the open. It makes getting a head shot like cutting butter with a hot knife. If an enemy is shooting at me and I don't know where he is I run for the nearest cover, even if there is none near I will make for the closest(running in a zigzag line tends to help).

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<FHC]==0 HighNoon

I can't say I really agree with the idea that going prone increases headshot percentages. Unless it adjusts the hitboxes, the head is the exact same size a target as normal. The only difference is it's lower. Otherwise there's no logical reason you'll be able to headshot more -- it only increases the percentage of shots you fire that HIT being headshots. Also, by going prone you greatly decrease the amount of your body being exposed to fire.

Going prone is a great tactic but unfortunately is highly situational. Generally the loss of mobility is not worth the brief advantage going prone gives you. One exception to this is at particularly long ranges. Being prone gives you quite an advantage as far as target size goes, though with an assault rifle it's quite possible to strafe, shoot accurately, strafe again, shoot accurately... it's a toss-up really. I prefer not going prone because of how long it takes to go from prone to sprint but saying it increases headshot chances just isn't accurate.

I agree with everything else you said, though.

Now, for something more on-topic:

Assault Rifles:
<5 meters: hip-shoot and alternate strafing (one step left, one step right) and crouching
5-10 meters (situational): crouch, 5 bullets shot from the hip (use shorter bursts the further the target); if target remains, scope, resume fire
10-30 meters: crouch (in my experience, optional - if speed is of the essence standing will get you an extra bullet or two), scope, 3-round bursts (use shorter bursts for targets that require more accuracy such as targets moving laterally)
30+ meters: crouch, scope, 1-2 round bursts OR rockets, rockets, rockets

Shotgun:
If you locate a target 15 meters or closer, cease any movement directly towards/away from your opponent and begin alternating strafing while firing (shoot first, start strafing second if necessary). By strafing WHILE moving towards/away from your opponent you are altering your movement from perpendicular (the hardest to track) to angular. The difference in survivability is considerable.

Take EXTRA time to shoot. An automatic weapon only kills on the last shot. You kill on your first. Use the extra time you have to make sure you fill every pixel of that crosshair with enemy target.

Machine Guns:
Don't be afraid to engage enemies at under 5 meters. Your aim is going to be a crapshoot (see what I did there?) no matter what so your advantage is mobility and volume of bullets. Shoot from the hip and strafe. Any further than 5 meters and expect to be ventilated, though.
Optimal engagement range for all MGs is roughly 30-60 meters. Go for headshots! Your ever-increasing accuracy and volume of bullets means you are aiming continuously (rather than with individual bullets such as the ARs). MG headshots are ridiculously easy. Take advantage of them.

Sniper rifles:
I'm no master of the sniper so my one rule is this: If the target is stationary, go for the headshot. If the target is moving, go for the bodyshot. Never try to no-scope unless the target's body is filling your entire screen - the no-scope deviation is considerably greater and more random than the Pilum.

This is all from my own experience so take it with a grain of salt but I stick with those rules and have yet to be convinced otherwise. With that said, nothing is written in stone (this is, after all, the ever-changing world of bf2142) and different situations may warrant different tactics.

Greyed

My style comes from my ancient CS days. Move to flank, aim for center mass, keep in cover. Reload only when completely empty or when under cover and engagement is relatively over. Too bad I really can't do in BF2142 what I did in CS; the running weapon-swap reload. Drop an enemy, run over his body, tap G to drop my current weapon and pick up his. Generally got more rounds than what I had. Once mowed through 5 enemies on a flank with 5 different weapons.

But getting back to aiming, all the standards apply. Long range crouch zoom, flip to single shot and try to take my time. Mid-range, crouch-zoom, 2-3 shot bursts, settle, repeat. Close, depends on the weapon. Baur, 4-5 shot bursts. Voss, Krylov or one of the SMGs spray and adjust until the crosshairs get too big, let up and finish off if needed. Most times it isn't needed.

Always, always, always aim for center mass. My philosophy there that 4 hits on center mass is better than wiffing trying to get that headshot.

Oh, and suck at sniper rifles.

Mercenary90

We have a tactics forum for this type of topic.

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Spyder228

I rarely go prone unless I have an MG and even then not often. It's all about the crouch. Prone just seems like one more step until you can reposition which is almost as important that good aiming. Fire and move.

I use 2-3 shot bursts unless I'm very close. This goes for all weapons except an MG when the burst is about 10-15 bullets.

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|TG-Irr|Spyder228

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LordKelvin

Prone is good for hiding behind thin cover, like trees and IPS shields for a moment, to soak a few enemy bullets so you can keep moving without dying. It's also useful to prone-jump over crates and things to minimize your targetable surface suddenly, throwing off the enemy's aim.

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Why MTG has lost any sense of balance:
Lotus Cobra

The Picric Hamster

I started a thread a little while back, and it may further this discussion.. I agree with many of your points Anderson, but I never go prone. It basically makes your head the dominant hitbox for your target.

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Zoraster

I'm no shotgun specialist but I see people use prone with a shotgun pretty well... But then its never to aim or stay in one place but to make it hard to aim at.

As for me, I almost never go prone. Even when it can provide cover, I worry about rockets and nades and being unable to run away. I never assume people don't know I'm there due to uavs and ids

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|TG-Mth| Zoraster | .

LordKelvin

Those people that can glance at the minimap and guess your exact location and height right off the bat are few and far between. Unless it's a stand-off, most enemies are usually surprised to see you or are completely unaware of your presence, even with UAV/IDS up and Q-spotting.

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Why MTG has lost any sense of balance:
Lotus Cobra

Mr.Ander50n

About the prone comments:

Yes, your head is now in front of your entire body, but if the enemy has already started shooting at you, he is going to have to stop, aim, wait for his recoil to wear off, then fire, in order to hit the now-smaller target. If you don't pump his crouching body with a few bullets by then, you need to practice aiming a little more.

Granted, I am not one to go prone before firing in most circumstances. I played for about 4 hours today, and didn't go prone once. Most of the time it was close range shooting and nade spamming (hooray for infantry only days!).

I do agree with the shotgun strategy to strafe and fire, since crouching is sorta pointless unless there is cover between you and your target. Also, the reaction time from sprinting to firing the shotgun is considerably shorter than an assault weapon (ie you can sprint around a corner and almost immediately let loose a spray of bullets into an oncoming medic). I may be incorrect in this, but it was working for me today quite well in some building fights.

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Mercenary90

Going prone is a great defensive option in this game. If you have seen Zho playing, he tends to go prone to immediately get back up and keep running without taking as much damage as just running. This is possible because crouching from a prone allows you to get up nigh immediately, making evasive manoeuvring much easier than with just running/crouching.

On another note, who uses low sensitivity mice, and who uses high sensitivity mice?

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He was told that he should not kill, and he did not kill, until he got into the Army. Then he was told to kill, and he killed.

Mr.Ander50n

What Mercenary said. This, and how I fight, is related to how I have seen Zhohar flying around the map, and his fighting style. Pushing the crouch button (which is what I do if I have prone-dived) allows you to get up instantly, allowing you to skip the one-second delay of pressing z after pressing z.

That is a neat fact to be utilized on the battlefield.

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Mr.Ander50n

sorry to doublepost, but I wanted to answer mercenary's question:

I use a logitech G5 mouse with 3 different dpi's. I keep it on the 2000DPI setting to allow for pixel-perfect aiming, but have to tune down the sensitivity in game to around .2 in order to make sure I don't turn too fast. When using the TV missile, I will change the DPI on my mouse to the lowest setting (around 250 DPI), which helps a ton when aiming the missile, since I can now make larger motions with the mouse without totally screwing up my aim.

on a side note: I bought the mouse used from ebay, and the left click doesn't work now... my right click is my main fire and the mouse button 4 is my right click!! Ghetto, I think so.

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Greyed

Meh, going prone while jumping = Dolphin Diving and, IMHO, in the same category as bunny hopping.

As for the mouse I use a Logitech MX Revolution. Bought it to replace my aged MX1000 when its RMB started failing to register a steady depress. Made camera control in WoW and zooming in FPSes jittery. And I have to say I am still a tad miffed over the direction Logitech had gone with the MX line. I found out later that the spiritual successor to the MX1000 was the VX Revolution.

I have since bought my wife the R7 and she likes it. I'm sticking with my MX Revo for now because the R7 doesn't have a back mouse button (AKA, button #5). I don't miss the middle mouse button (MX Revo has no button 3, go fig) but there are some games where I use both the forward and back mouse buttons.

Both the MX1000 and the MX Revo are 800dpi.