Wulfyn

It often surprises me how much I see people crouch, but not as much as I am surprised when I catch myself doing it. Crouching certainly feels natural - you are lower than standing, and your accuracy is a bit better, but does it actually do any good?

I've had some military training through the UK cadet force, and one thing that was certainly drilled in to us was this motto: If you stop you drop. The point is that a crouching target is no harder to hit than a standing one. The centre torso mass that is the object of your aim is still the same size and shape - the only difference being that it is a bit lower down than if you stand. However for all intents and purposes you are no harder to hit. Of course this is not true if you have suitable cover, but then the same could be said for any position.

So if you are in a static firing position there really is very little reason to crouch over going prone in my opinion. You are better off finding a good firing position to be in once prone than crouching to overcome a hill (GR for me still remains the best landscaped game I have played - very few other games come close in terms of contours). But what about standing? Should you stand instead of crouch?

I believe the answer here also is yes. Speed is a vital part of GR - just because it is a slow stealthy game doesn't remove the huge advantage you can get simply by getting from one point to another damn quickly. And the point of standing is this - you can run. It take basically no more time to go from standing to probe than it does from crouching to prone (if you need to hit the deck), but if you are standing you can break into a flat run right away. From a crouch this could take an extra second, and that could be enough to get you killed. Yes you just can't rush into anything as you'll die quickly, but all manoevres work on the basis of speed of execution.


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The one ammendment to this is when doing CQB work, where you should never go prone. Crouching replaces prone in these conditions, because the nature of the danger has changed. No longer being involved in long range firefights there is no need to reduce your visible aspect in order to be harder to hit and/or see. Here speed of reaction is key, because your situational awareness is severly hampered by the surrounding terrain (walls, doors etc). In this situation you need to be able to react very quickly. You don't need the accuracy as any targets should be large (and you should also be on full auto not single shot when up close).


Anyway - those are my thoughts on the matter - I wondered what thoughts and experiences everyone else had?

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Strag

Great post.

I didn't even really think about this until you said something about it in-game a week or two ago, but then I realized I crouch a lot in not only this game, but others as well. As you say, it makes little sense in Ghost Recon to crouch while moving around outside, so I've been trying to break myself of this habit. I've also been trying to enforce upon myself the habit of going prone when stopped.

H-Hour

Boon. Crouching has huge advantages in Coop (and TvT) <--- MY OPINION

This is the kind of thing that is always dependent on the environment, but keeping a lower profile has huge advantages. While it is good to go prone when you're in a safe position and feel comfortable taking your time, the crucial boon comes between the crouch/standing decision:

1. I believe (<-- BELIEVE) there are significant advantages coded into the AI. If you're running standing up through an area you're much more "visible" to the AI then crouched - whether you're actually more visible or not. Doesn't mean you should never do it, but it shouldn't be standard practice.

2. If you're playing with the graphics up, then you'll get the dynamic grass in game. This can seriously hinder your view while prone.

3. The AI (and live players) can usually hit a running person as easily as a crouched person or prone person, unless there is hard cover that can be hidden behind while crouched or prone (usually only man-made structures).

4. If you come under fire while prone, and you are exposed, you have almost zero chance of making it to safety. If you are crouched or standing, you can often make a quick dash a few meters into safety.

5. If you pay attention to the angles, you can often shoot while crouched and then drop to prone for safety if you're shots fail and you come under heavy fire. (You'll need a team to back you up and get you out of there)

6. When in urban situations, it is best to move while standing up. Your reticule is actually tighter when walking standing up than crouching or prone. Sidenote - when breaching small rooms, stand up straight and keep walking at a steady speed, scan the room and fire on auto or burst at any hostiles you see. Peaking around corners or going really slow is actually more likely to get you killed because the CQB AI is very poorly done and they can often see you "before" you see them.

7. There are lots of "man-sized" bushes in the game. If you're prone next to one, you can usually only look out one side. If you're crouched, you can hug the bush and get eyes on both sides in a short time span.

Anyway, those are just my opinions on all of this. I certainly think going prone can be very useful, but it shouldn't be taken on as a standard practice, because it's important to maintain your mobility. Likewise, standing provides a hit in visibility and accuracy that is often not worth it unless your only goal is to get to an area extremely quickly. Exception being CQB, of course.