Ranked servers without losing your mind "101"

Howdy, first post though I've been lurking here for a week or so. Here are some ideas I've found useful while playing ranked servers with all the smacktards.
My background is one of teamplay intensive PvP on other games, with prior service in the US Army as a Cavalry Scout...quite frequently we would find ourselves in the "Army of One" mode while in the field...(i.e. pick your own targets and keep the enemy off balance until someone could get a fraggo from higher). And, unfortunately, most ranked servers are about the same. When faced with the daunting task of not losing your mind while surrounded by the bunny-hopping, Team Killing, non-squad using, where is the Commander and that arty I asked for servers, remember that your favorite kit will have that unlocked weapon soon, and to keep at it. After you get it, it's up to you if you want to continue to hit yourself in the head while trying to make sense of all the morons around you.

Select your kit, and associated vehicle/strategy accordingly. I went for a two pronged approach...Engineer/Armor (SCOUTS OUT) And Special Forces/Airborne. Granted, unlocking two weapons means I'll be suffering the ranked servers for a while yet, but these are two forms of gameplay that can be done "lone wolf" if you have to.

After kit selection, check out the squads...most likely they are a bunch of goofballs Running around like chickens with their heads cut off, but you might get lucky. Also take a look and see if the commander slot is open...I'll make another post in regards to commander selection. If there is an option to make a squad, make a custom and name it "ARMOR" or "SPECOP/SNIPER"...clearly labeling it gives you an excuse for kicking any yahoo that joins and starts to
whack-out...and if a like minded squaddie shows up, make a friend and hope to see them again. My personal theory is that a lot of the "Solo" players are actually folks looking for a squad worth a damn, but as my wife reminds me I am often wrong. An Armor Squad is self-describing, as is a recon sniper/specop squad...it gives a place to squat for all "TEH SNIPERZ", and who knows, maybe they will identify something once in a while for the non-participating Commander.

As an Engineer/Armor player stuck with morons, the quickest way to die is to try to repair another players vehicle...sure as sh*t the driver will run over you the first chance he gets. So get yourself into a tank ASAP. Once in your tank, your options consist of moving out to engage the enemy, or pulling defense/repairing the Arty/radar/UAV...an often thankless job, but it gives you something useful to do. And chances are a "lonewolf" from the opposing team will eventually show to blow them up...greet him warmly with the .50 Cal on your tank.
If you decide you want a larger piece of the action, move up to a CP closer to the front and mine the most obvious vehicle approach. Sure, chances are a yahoo from your own team will run over them and slam you with a teamkill, but dropping your mines on a likely approach means that's one less drive-by you have to suffer through. Try to pick a choke-point, or a turn in the road that doesn't give the enemy driver much time to react. Then defend, or move on to another CP keeping an eye open for aircraft...and that means all aircraft. I wish I had a dollar for every team jet jockey and rotorhead that lit me up without proper target identification. Then again it could be payback for a landmine...TK payback is a bitch, and avoid it...you just end up kicked. Remember, repair/kills/tank-time = Rank to get that weapon unlock.

Special Forces/Airborne solo play is similar, yet reversed as to the Arty/radar/UAV etc...(duh) In this case, while surrounded by screaming hordes of
morons, jump in a jet and haul ass for the enemies main base...if you feel like attacking targets on the way, be my guest...but you are not a jet jockey, you
are a mobile pain in the ass of the enemy commander/troops. I suggest you fly the jet the long way around, get a lot of altitude and drop chaff when needed...then aim the jet at the enemies base and bail-out from on-high. Enough of these and you get a nice shiny Airborne badge and can wear a raspberry beret to impress the ladies with.
Once you parachute in behind enemy lines, take out the UAV. That puppy will get you killed, as the UAV shows your location to anyone looking at it on the map, while radar just shows the enemy commander your location. Then take out the Arty. Whets that you say? Not enough C4? That's when you move away from the arty and ask for a supply drop...remember, you made your own squad and can ask him for a care package. This is where you are dependant on your commander...if he blows you off, you are going to have to get re-supplied somehow, and being a solo you are up the creek. But on the chance the Commander is paying attention, he might drop you some supplies...and almost guaranteed he'll drop those supplies right on the arty you
just destroyed...now the moron is healing the enemies arty, run in and load up on C4 and re-blow the arty that got repaired, and all remaining arty. If through some miracle your moron commander didn't drop the supplies on the arty, all the better, but don't bet on it.

Now that you are re-supplied, the arty is gone, UAV is gone, you can take out the radar if you want, but I usually don't bother...sure, more boom-boom, but in my experience if the enemy commander can hit radar once in a while he's usually happy with all his toys lying there in smoking heaps.

If the enemy sends folks over to repair...take them out with the c4 charges you used to booby trap the smoking arty with...or use that nifty rifle that SPECOPS gets...nice zoom. Now here you are, behind enemy lines, still have C4 and are wondering what to do with your solo-self. Now is when the "pain in the ass" factor kicks in...my favorite move is to get to the enemy airfield and throw a C4 satchel onto the cockpit of a jet...they are sticky. Find a nice place to chill-out unobserved and keep that detonator handy...if you get really lucky, the jets will get enemy pilots and take off. Remember, these are public ranked server smacktards...that red skull-n-crossbones on their windshield is not going to be a deterrent. Blow them up at your leisure...but to
really annoy them, let them take-off...let them fly around a bit...let them think that it's some kind of graphics glitch and that couldn't really be a C4 charge inches from their face. A little heads up to C4 slingers...the detonator transmit range covers the entire map. When the enemy jet jockey least expects it, blow them out of the sky. This can be especially effective if you are running back towards your own CP in the hopes that a support guy can reload your charges, and the enemy jet is attacking you and you blow them up...only happened once so far, but I whooped so loud I woke my wife up from the other side of the house and had to leave the game with my tail between my legs...(worth it, absolutely).

So that's some of my techniques for surviving the galactic idiocy I encounter on the public ranked servers.
Thanks for your time, and I'll post more as the fancy strikes me.

Seraosha
SCOUTS OUT!