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Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
   |
Posted - 2012.11.14 10:05:00 -
[1] - Quote
The following is a compilation of ideas I've written down over several months. While there is still a lot of work to do, and a lot of this seems like pretty obvious stuff to many of us, I just thought I'd share some ideas to, if not better gameplay, at least get people thinking rather than grabbing a gun and pretending they're the good guy in an 80's action movie.
WORKING WITH TEAMMATES GÇô It Takes More Than One Blueberry to Make A Pie:
Work with teammates. This means both aiding them when you're nearby, keeping track of them and moving with them. It also means taking advantage of them in order to flank enemies.
Use allies to flank opponents. It is a simple fact that most players would choose to chase and hunt down a fleeing enemy rather than permit him to get away. Use this to your advantage. When running, run into positions already flanked by allies so they don't have to move into position but rather already are. Quite a number of times I've led opponents into death corridors without their knowing it.
If, at the same time, you take note that there's a suspiciously rapid moving blue/green dot moving off to your right, and he seems to be missing half his armor, don't just run away and abandon him to his fate. Get set up to lay into the enemy most likely chasing him without putting yourself out in the open.
TL;DR:
* Work with teammates to engage and overpower enemies.
* Pay attention to allies and help them when they need it.
SUBTOPIC GÇô The Nature of Nurture: Nanite Injectors, A Medic's Tale:
A personal request on this line: Take note of that big message above your head when you drop. If you're surrounded by squaddies and the firefight is cooling down with a message telling you to hold on, triage unit nearby, for the love of all things holy, don't bleed out. It wastes your time getting back into combat and it wastes your teammate's time when a logi or triage assault comes running to your aide only to be greeted by a quickly dissolving corpse.
Assaults, put a Nanite Injector on your suit and, most importantly, use it. Seriously, you're not using your equipment slot for anything else because, as a logi, I know you're not putting down drop uplinks, and rarely, if ever, resupplying yourselves you stingy so and so's. So get a nanite injector and use it, please.
On the same note, if you're dying and surrounded by half a dozen enemies, don't expect the two blue-dots on your map to magically clear the area and revive you. The enemy has numbers, they will most likely win, just bleed out and get back into combat asap. This will also act as a warning to prevent triage units from rushing into needless deaths of their own.
[A footnote here. The game will simply kill you anyway after a certain time has passed. There's no timer display so no one knows precisely how long this is but it seems somewhere around 15-20 seconds. About as long as you can survive outside the combat area, i.e. in the red zone. The presence of an on-screen timer is a request players have been making for forever. Add to that the requests logi's have been making for a downed timer over targets and distance to target on HUD, not to mention the horrible location sensitivity and recognition on nanite injectors as a whole and I think we can expect a complete overhaul of the revival system by next build at the latest. I know this is why most people just avoid equipping the item, but even if you have to pace around for 3-5 seconds mashing that trigger to revive someone, that's 5 seconds lost vs 30 waiting for them to re-spawn and catch back up with your squad.]
TL;DR:
* Nanite Injectors. Get it. Use it. Love it.
* Don't "bleed out" unless your revival is too hazardous to team members. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.11.14 10:05:00 -
[2] - Quote
KNOW YOUR TERRAIN GÇô Of Men and Mountains [Directed by Michael Bay]:
Why isn't everything exploding!?
Learn the terrain and environment, particularly choke points and manouverable terrain around and nearby objectives. This is key number one to gaining victory in a firefight. I could write a whole book on this but some old Chinese guy named Sun Tzu apparently already did.
Pay attention to how opponents will tackle a defensive obstacle such as empty crate or small structure. Will they go up around the rear left side 99% of the time, no matter who they are or how many times you've seen it? Good chances are that's simply the quickest route to one point and most players will follow the exact same line each time. Use the knowledge of how your opponent assaults from one side to take advantage at the other end.
The easy counter to this: Avoid repeating behaviors. We get used to: Spawn at MCC, run map to B, car from ground drop at A and push to C unless enemy is already there, then hold C while B fireteam secures their objective, etc, etc, ad infinitum. While initial tactics can and probably will work almost every time from the match start until someone develops a better one to counter it or make it stronger, field movements as the game progresses will become repetitive and easily predictable. You've come from E up the right side of the hill to the CRU, bypassing the supply depot and completely ignoring the middle and left paths or even going off to C instead 5 times now. I'm gonna make a WILD presumption and guess you're going to try it again. Don't fall into this trap unless you just want to fall into mine; which leads to:
Plan for enemy movements but expect the unexpected. Have your fire position and kill-zone set up for that same character to come running up the left side of the hill each and every time because that's what he's done half a dozen times before already, but be prepared for the off chance that he or an ally will realize that this is not working and they attempt to surround and flank you from another direction.
TL;DR:
* Pay attention to maps. Learn how to move around and use the environment.
* Watch team and enemy movements. Take advantage of repetitious behaviors.
* Avoid repeated behaviors yourself. Keep the enemy guessing. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.11.14 10:09:00 -
[3] - Quote
SUBTOPIC GÇô Je suis GÇ£AwareGÇ¥: The Sniper's Manifesto
To know what is ahead of you is a more difficult skill to accomplish and master than most will give credit for. Generally they acknowledge the things within their visual range and leave it at that. Some shadow moving 200m out. Sight it, it's red, go chase it or run away. The sniper does what most all field combatants should be doing which is to be aware of the probability of things. Their spawn at [D], the road along the canyon wall, the piping, shallows in the earth, hills, empty crates. Where are they coming from? You haven't seen them yet but you know they're there and maybe they've seen you already. Who is the hunter and who is the hunted? This is all up to your awareness of the field and situation you're in. For snipers this can mean knowing where the flux of combat is at its heaviest to watch for stragglers or reinforcements coming from the back and to pick them off at the opportune moment. For those on the field it means knowing where your enemy is most likely to strike from and fortify that position. This may seem obvious but all too often I've seen blues just oblivious to the obvious swarm of red dots on the radar (They're on mine so clearly they're on his as well) swarming around the edge of the same building my blue thinks he's being clever by sneaking around only to end up with 5kg of molten lead flying at him in little tiny pieces at very high speed.
Also, I like that phrase: Oblivious to the Obvious. Good album title.
Knowing what is ahead of you however, whether you can see it or not, is but a small fraction of tactical and strategic knowledge on the battlefield. The trick is to know what is around you, or at least likely to be, nearly 100% of the time. It is the deathtrap snipers most of all fall into, and all too often, known as tunnel-vision. A decent sniper will be able to track an opponent climbing a mountain, or pick off an opponent looking up over the corner of his home spawn on the opposite side of the field 600m away but may be unaware of the enemy sniper setting up shop just 50m to his right on the same mountain. A good sniper will watch his HUD for information relayed by his teammates about approaching enemies. A great sniper will check his own area to make sure no one is sneaking up his flank to punch him in the back of the head while also sighting enemies to show up on his teammates HUD radar though he himself may not be able to take them down from his position. The best sniper will prepare for all of these and have viable options to take out recon infiltrators attempting to sneak up on him as well as escape routes should he need to move out in a hurry on top of knowing and checking his surroundings frequently.
This is a skill all players need to develop, knowing the terrain around you and whether there are likely to be enemies in a particular area waiting to ambush you and your squad. As Van Damm said, it is the sense of awareness of the things outside the self. Pretty deep for a dude who also said, GÇ£I'm going to get in my boat, and I'm going to go up river, and I'm going to kick... that son-of-a-***** M. Bison's ass SO HARD... That every M. Bison wannabe is gonna feel it.GÇ¥ Each step you take moves you in and out of cover from various positions. From where you are on the ground do you know where you can be shot from? And if so, how to move to avoid it? Do you see every detail you can around yourself, not simply a 50degree view directly ahead? Are you aware of the walls behind you that may cover you as you continue to move through this area? Are they blocking fire from behind you, or are you completely open? Do you hear that noise off to your left? Is it gun fire? How close is it? Do you have a way into combat better than charging down the firing range into oncoming enemies? Just as importantly, do you have a way out? Do you smell the ozone and feel the electricity in the air from a recently discharged forge gun shot nearby? Taste the bitter-acrid powder in the air from fresh gun fire?
The real question is, with what you're given to experience, are you processing it into useful data for yourself? There is a lot of data flowing from the HUD and environment to the user but the ability to selectively filter the most significant data in the moment is what will keep you alive and maintain your advantage. It's easy to see the enemy 50m ahead shooting at you and recognize the threat he poses, the real skill is when there is nothing ahead of you that you're aware of, allies looking right. Suddenly you hear that burst of AR fire to your left? How close is it? Getting louder? Is it a possibility to flank an enemy or a threat to yourself and your team about to move around the corner? Was that a sniper ricochet right in front of you? Could you hear where it came from? If not are you aware of your position on the battlefield that you know where snipers are able to shoot on your position? If so, where is the best position to find cover? Smoke over the ridge, a vehicle just went down, or was it a wave of Mass Driver fire? There's a heavy charging toward you in your scout suit. Where's the closest cover from him? Can you turn away and escape or are you going to be in a cat-and-mouse game with him around that building 10m to your left for the next min before he gets tired and leaves? Are you able to track his movements while he is unable to track yours? You've just hacked the objective but you know an LAV is headed your way. Where's your escape route? Or do you hide around the corner just 5m away ready to pop out and mow down the enemy when they try to rehack? Do you have the firepower to even pull it off?
All this and more will be elements to consider as you progress in this game into something more and better than an automatic firearm on legs.
TL;DR:
Unfortunately it's just not possible... I can boil it down to, "Pay attention." but that doesn't really help explain this whole mess above. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.11.14 10:09:00 -
[4] - Quote
SUBTOPIC GÇô The Motion in the Ocean is More Important Than the Size of the Ship:
Never stop moving. This is basic FPS fundamentals 101 here. If you stop for anything more than a hack or to call in something, make sure you're clear to do so and do it as fast as you can. The longer you stay standing still the longer a sniper has to line up his shot or that infiltrator scout has time to come up behind you and shiv you before kicking you in the back of your head or... well, you get the picture
Always check your surroundings. Even when you're running, you have no idea that there's a scout on your heels closing the gap with a little GÇ£shotgun weddingGÇ¥ surprise from behind for you once he catches up, except there's no cake, no priest, and you're the GÇ£brideGÇ¥. My personal tactic when I'm fielding solo or randoms is to do pirouettes every 30m or so unless I'm absolutely sure there's no one coming from behind. And when I mean absolutely sure I'm talking about the first charge out of the MCC or coming into combat from my own red line spawn. Other times I am highly dependent on myself and good squaddies to constantly check our 3, 6, and 9 as we move. One person may spot an enemy the others may miss. Watch your radar and take note.
This flows into the next point: Never run too long in one direction. Jog a short ways, change direction a bit, sprint, strafe a tad, even if you're heading for a goal don't go there in just a straight line sprinting like a lunatic on fire unless you've got cover to do so. Cover doesn't need to be right on top of you. Cover can be a set of hills 50m away that let you know snipers in the mountains opposite the map can't hit you. You just have to be situationally aware of these things. Anywhere in the open, especially in low-ground areas, expect snipers and death from all directions. Out in the open you should move around cover environment and generally travel in a bit of a wave fashion, strafing occasionally left and right as you go.
TL;DR:
* Never stop moving.
* Check your area, ALWAYS. Don't get caught up by someone running right up right behind you.
* Don't run in long straight lines. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.11.14 10:10:00 -
[5] - Quote
TEAMWORK
The Three Musketeers... And You:
It is simple fact that combatants on the field will often win a battle simply by overwhelming the enemy with superior numbers.
I was recently in an assault operation with a group of 9 or so random blueberries against two organized squads from two separate large corporations (as well as a handful of blueberries on their own). While I will start this with a mild rant on the server connection and lag effects on sniper hit detection (seriously, come on! That dude was lag-switching or the servers totally crapped out. I unloaded like 2 clips of 'Farsight' rifle rounds into this guy as he WALKED at me from 200m out. Every shot connected, shield flashed, but no damage done... Except for him when he finally got close enough to pop*pop*pop*pop me with his proto AR and wipe me out. What the hell!?), the main topic I'd like to discuss was their almost phalanx-like movements (as limited as they were) around the battlefield. They pretty much just lined up a rather staggered circle around each other and crawled about, but as soon as an enemy got within range they all turn and launch a wall of molten death at them. The only way to even touch these guys was to snipe from outside their AR range, but as I've said there were some severe sniper shot recognition issues in that match... I won't make any specific claims but it did seem a little fishy the 3rd time these guys just walked up to me, eating my sniper rounds until getting up on top of me to mow me down.
The purpose of this anecdotal story is (Clearly hacker toolbags are out there lag-switching the game already, WHAT THE HELL!??!!?), that organized, and controlled team movements can decimate on the field.
While I've made a huge post intended to aide the individual player in knowing his battlefield I will say that for all my solo movements, nothing is quite so rewarding as moving with a full squad and all unloading into enemies we find one at a time and just obliterating anything we come across; except, perhaps, unloading a clip of Militia SMG fire into a proto-heavy suit before punching him out in your Dragonfly scout suit. One guy with an AR doesn't stand much chance to a Laser Logi, HMG Heavy, Scrambler Scout and Assault... Assault, all working together on the same target. Even GÇô especially GÇô a team of AR's can wipe the floor with any single opponent they come across with focused firepower. It's like Daleks. They may be near invincible, but enough people shooting at their eyestalks and even old WWII firearms can take 'em down.
Add to this condition the likelihood of organized chat within such a squad and you have more than tripled the effective force of that squad on the ground. While some enemies may appear further than radar scans and thus information may not relay via the tacnet itself to allies, a player can inform teammates of enemy locations he spots to help the whole team close in on them or avoid them if the enemy emplacement is simply too fortified or dangerous to assault.
However, even a bunch of randoms working together can overwhelm a supposedly superior foe if they do, in fact, work together. One of the most beautiful things I've seen was a whole team of NPC corp players just crush a team of players from a couple powerful player corps simply by sticking together the whole match (about 2-5m apart here, not just GÇ£within viewGÇ¥) and just running circles around the center of the map together. I was off sniping and scanning enemies so they would know where to look and they'd just go charging in like a pack of wild elephants and crush everything under their feet. Even when the enemy had pulled out a tank and started to decimate, they jumped to AV and worked together to bring it down. The most rewarding part, personally, was the time hitting 00:00, and getting the final kill of the match at Sudden Death of 03-to-03 clones left on each side from 250m out. But that's just me bragging and basking in the afterglow. Yeah, it was that good. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.11.14 10:11:00 -
[6] - Quote
CASUALTIES OF FASHION: Know Your Dropsuit Role:
Again, numerous posts on this, but dropsuits each have specialties they excel at.
A quick summary:
Assault: You are the end-all, be-all foot soldier. But you're not Rambo. You're more like that guy in Star Troopers who gets a giant bug horn through your chest because you stopped moving while you reloaded. You have a sidearm but what's the point unless you're running a swarm suit or Shotty/SMG duo? While you can equip nearly every weapon in the game you'll probably be running AR and pretending this is Modern Call of Battlefield Ops GÇô Year:12,498, as about 85% of assaults are.
The most frequently loaded modules on Assaults as I've seen and know are usually weapon damage modifiers, shield extenders, armor plates and repairers. Honestly though, as I've never really suited up, I can't say from personal experience. I'd like more info from other truly Assault spec'd players as to their opinions on the class and load-outs.
Scout: You're recon and infiltration. Your low profile makes you vanish from radar faster and at high enough levels of Dropsuit Command, Profile Dampening, and with a module, you're virtually invisible unless standing completely in the open 100m from an enemy looking right at you. However, you're paper thin as well. Even with level 5 Infantry Mechanics for +25% boost to passive armor and level 5 Shield Control for +25% boost to passive shields*, that assault's GEK is going to cut through you like a hot knife through butter... in the middle of summer... in Jamaica. This means being more tactical in your movements which are thankfully faster than anyone else. Being harder to recognize on the battlefield also makes scouts a powerful sniper when they can hide from visual sighting and are basically invisible to radar recognition.
For weaponry it's a hard call but I've never seen a scout run AR, it's counter intuitive to the gameplay. They'll usually load out snipers and SMGs, pistols, and more and more often than not the kamikaze shotgun setup, such players using speed to get them around enemies and into combat to flank or stealth up from behind for some beautiful 1-2shot kills. As for equipment Scouts will usually run kinetic boosters for speed and shield extenders and regulators to recharge for survival, the occasional weapon damage modifier for sniper types and profile dampeners for recon/infiltrators. Never put armor plates on a scout as the speed reduction doesn't compensate for the armor gained and you might as well be playing an Assault who already has those features built in. Personally I run codebreakers on my scout to hack and run as fast as I can as well but it means I'm not as fast on foot as many others out there. Equipment can be anything but most snipers will run personal nanohives while infiltrators will usually have drop uplinks to create spawns behind enemy lines.
Heavy: You have no equipment. That's not your job. You have more shields than anyone on your squad and more armor than your squad combined. Unless you're a shield tank in which case you're a more balanced and rounded build but you've got to watch your shields 'cause, like any assault or logi on the field, once they go you're in trouble. Your job is to be the intimidation factor. You are generally there to eat bullets and spit them out as a wall of molten metal death. Generally this is achieved by the horrifying whirl of an HMG. If not this then you're running Forge Gun and your purpose is to swat those pesky dropships out of the sky. While there still needs to be work on this end, some decent heavies are out there doing quite a bit to clear the air when the smog gets too thick. I have seen newberry heavies walking about with ARs and Lasers, and they can be pesky but not near as deadly as their HMG counterparts.
You are not invincible, far from it. A militia scout can single-handed out-flank a heavy and unload a magazine of SMG fire into the back of his head before the heavy has time to scratch it. Most AR's can also out-range your HMG in large open areas. Knowing this you should have yourself spec'd out to auto-repair your own armor as your friendly neighborhood logi may not always be running a repair tool. Heavies will often run high grade shield extenders and armor plates on top of this though I've occasionally seen heavies running kinetic boosters as well to compensate for their speed making them much scarier on the field.
TL;DR:
* Assault.... Do I even have to say it? Honda Civic... with cup holders.
* Scout: A Porsche 911. You're a work of automotive art, fast and sleek... but your chassis is shite. Way to go McLaren and Bugatti with that carbon fiber!
* Heavy: Either a HUMMER or Hilux. But you're never gonna win any races kid.
TL;DR; AND I don't get car references:
* Assault : Derp
* Scout : Fast, paper-thin, but nearly invisible.
* Heavy : Slow, tough, only suit that can use HMG or Forge Gun for AV, but weak solo because of speed. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.11.14 10:11:00 -
[7] - Quote
Logi: Squish factor somewhere between Assault and Scout.
Speed factor somewhere between Assault and Heavy.
Everything else? Priceless.
You're a squad's worth of modules and equipment all by yourself, this means the ability to frontline your guy if you want, or create the ultimate hacker, or maybe you want to run around as fast as a scout just for laughs. You define versatility on the battlefield. While Assaults will generally run the standard weaponry, AR's, Shotguns, SMG's, it's generally the Logis I see loading the more eccentric Mass Drivers, Laser Rifles. If there was a live chicken canon that did nothing but make people look confused for a second, it would be a logi to have it first. Why? Because our... your role, is to BE versatility. Your job is to do everything your squad does not, which even in a good squad you'll find to be a lot. You are resupply, you are medic, you are mechanic and engineer, you are spawn station, you are their mother there to wipe the oatmeal from the corner of their mouths. Your 3+ equipment slots make you responsible for this but also give you power to control certain vital elements of the battle. Do you need that resupply here behind this crate or 20m forward by that car? Where should that drop uplink go? Is it safe to go revive that guy? Should you risk it anyway? Did you bring your repair gun this suit to heal up your heavy?
Your initial versatility comes with HUGE drawbacks. It means that you will have to spec one direction first and then branch out unless you simply want to be a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none kind of deal, which is generally what I am personally but I'm happy with it though it's difficult to know what my squad wants from me before I load up a suit if they don't tell me. I do have one specialty which is all mine and they rarely if ever complain that I don't have a repair tool when it comes into play. They're usually too busy laughing. The expansive module and equipment space also means occasionally having issues balancing your pocketbook. While logis can have all these great and wonderful toys, such things come at a cost. A hefty one. As I said at the start, you're practically a full squad's equipment and modules all by yourself and a fully decked out end-tier logi suit with all end-tier equipment can be one of the most expensive things out there on two legs, sans a Proto Heavy running Proto HMG and top tier modules (Enjoy that Million ISK suit fatty).
So maybe I lied when I said priceless, because clearly this is a costly route to go. If you don't have access to AUR just to back up your stuff with even a basic set of militia BPOs to let you earn some free ISK while maintaining your gameplay style, then Logi may, unfortunately, not be the path for you. I really think there ought to be a free STARTUP Logi suit which has pre-equiped: Militia Shield Extender, Militia Armor Rep, Militia Focus Grenade, Militia AR, Militia Nanite Injector and Militia Nanohive. There are 4 freakin' freebie STARTUP Assault suits, why not make the sniper a Scout sniper and triage a Logi support? Who's with me here?
I could write pages on logis alone but there are again two dozen other posts already discussing the same topic. I just wanted to put this here for general overview and went way overboard already.
[Footnote: If you're wearing a logi suit with only 2 equipment slots, stop... just.... just stop. No. NO! Do you want to go to the vet!? OH! That's a word you know! Yes... The vet! Don't make me do it.]
TL;DR:
NO! Just... no. If you can't take the time then you shouldn't be playing logistics. Go back and try again.
TL;DR; What?:
I'm being an elitist prat. But seriously, logis are hard work and require a lot of investment, from everywhere, skills, isk, team aide over personal kills for benefits. But they can, overall, be the most rewarding.
P.S. I've heard and seen some logi suits being used, as I predicted and had done myself way back in Chrome build, as sniper loadouts. All those slots can be tempting, and quite useful to certain sniper types for dampeners, damage mods, etc. On this, simply be aware: Unlike other sniper suits, with that limitation to one weapon, if an enemy gets the drop on you you're dead. That's really all there is to it, so be sure of your position before pulling out that Thale on a Logi sniper. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.11.14 10:13:00 -
[8] - Quote
PLAN YOUR ARSENAL:
There are several posts with detailed information on this but I won't lie about the importance of knowing your weapon's abilities and limitations. I won't go on about how X gun is vs Y gun or how AR's are too perfect (which I don't agree with, though their accuracy is a bit high at its max range still in my opinion). I will just say to know your limits and work within them. If you're using a laser rifle you can't sit up on front lines with AR's, SMGs and Shottys and expect the same performance. Your gun simply isn't designed that way. Even AR's can get mowed down up-close-and-personal by an SMG as their higher rate of fire can effectively nullify the AR's advantage of damage and accuracy over distance if the SMG user gets the drop first. Mass Drivers, the fun-gun of Dust, will do good damage to groups and scatter them, but will rarely win in a 1-v-1 match against any ARs unless you can get the other guy to panic. Swarm specialists, know the limits of your sidearm, but don't be afraid of it either. Learn how to use it effectively so that when you bring out your swarm suit it's not merely a sacrifice to take down that pesky tank but that you're still viable in combat should the need arise before any chance to change suits again.
For detailed weapons info I'd suggest these other posts:
Infantry Weapons of War by Pt3D
And the sticky of course:
[GUIDE] Weapon Ranges & Optimals
_______________________________________________
CHARACTER PLANNING GÇô The Skills to Pay The Bills:
Your skills determine your abilities, both to use equipment and modules and your capacity on the battlefield.
GǪ.No, seriously, that's all there is to it.
What? You want more? If you want an open generalized suggestion it's this:
Week 1: Goof around on STARTER suits. Have fun. Figure out what is the most fun with Militia ISK gear. Figure out what you're the most effective at. Stockpile your ISK.
Week 2: Build up these two lines, fun and effectiveness, a bit. Pick up some general skills which will benefit you no matter what direction you go. Stay on STARTER suits or at most militia gear (Best if you've got the AUR for BPO's, although at their new cost a single BPO suit will cost you the whole 40K AUR of your Merc Pack (1-2guns, 2-3 low/high slots, 1-2equipment)... the only time I'll ever advise anyone to have or use AUR for anything other than a Universal Voice Transmitter, especially with everything, as it is now in my opinion, so wildly overpriced) to save up your ISK.
Week 3: Spec into a combat role and stick with it. As you recognize skills that will benefit your role, get them while remembering the top skill levels costs hundreds of thousands of SP and the time when you're only getting 2-1 skill levels a week, or even 1 skill every 2 weeks, will be on you before you know it.
Goof off whenever you get the chance. You never know when you'll notice something in a militia suit that will make you consider a particular skill or ability you'd like to see your primary suit running. If you're not having fun then you're doing it wrong. I know there are already militant corporations out there who will come to your house and burn it to the ground with you inside if you aren't comitted 110% to their New Eden ambitions, but seriously... Those guys will deal with one another, for the majority of us this is a game, even if we can get a bit serious in combat most of us are here to have fun and enjoy ourselves. Again, if you're not, then you're doing it wrong.
As for personal advice, it's this:
Dropsuit Command V (Unlock Various Tier Dropsuits, -5% Scan Profile/LVL)
Combat Engineering II+ (Unlock Shield Operations, +5% PG/LVL)
Shield Boost Systems IV (Unlock Shield Management)
Shield Control V (+5% Shield/LVL)
Field Mechanics V (+5% Armor/LVL)
Circuitry II+ (Unlock Sensor Upgrades, +5% CPU/LVL)
Sensor Upgrades II (Unlock Profile Dampening)
Profile Dampening V (-5% Scan Profile/LVL)
Endurance I+ (+5% STA/LVL)
Vigor I+ (+5% STA regen/LVL)
*Skill Names edited for Chromosome Build
Yes, I know, it's a lot, but I'd put these on any suit, any build, any role, and so do some if not most of the top players in game. These are general passive benefits such as increased passive armor and shields, increased stamina, massively decreased radar profile. I'm not saying to get these right away or to JUST get these. Not in the least. Plenty of people have had a lot of success building glass-canons before working out these skill sets, but any competent soldier on the field knows and will take advantage of the benefits of these skills in particular nearly every moment in combat.
The following is my thread including what I feel is a rather thorough SP tracker and Character planner. It could still use a lot of work, something better than a spreadsheet would be nice but I honestly don't have the skills to make up some fancy HTML page with drop menues and all the bells and whistles.
Chankk Saotome's Character Skill Planner |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.11.14 10:14:00 -
[9] - Quote
MODULES, EQUIPMENT, AND YOU: Batman Never Uses a Gun!
Modules are elements you add to your suit's fitting in order to:
A) Reinforce strengths, or
B) Compensate for weaknesses.
If you're imagining modules for anything else then you've already lost. These are only purposes infantry module slots should be used for. If you're planning on stealth infiltration perhaps you want a profile dampener, and shield boosters. If you're too slow on the field maybe you need a kinetic booster. If your shield isn't hearty enough, again boosters. If you're dealing with maintaining your armor on the field an armor repairer can save you when you survive a head-on firefight. If you're an objective hacker perhaps a codebreaker. The point is that modules are used to bolster your own natural gameplay tendencies and occasionally make up for what you may be lacking in the natural course of combat. These don't magically turn you into a jack of all trades.
Like skills, these are things you will have to toy with yourself and figure out what best suits you. Thankfully with a plethora of Militia Gear modules available, most if not all players can test simple outfit designs to see their slight benefit adjustments before locking themselves into the required skill tree and subsequent skill point investment to use the higher tiered modules.
Equipment are non-offensive tools you can carry on the battlefield as follows:
Nanite Injectors GÇô Revive downed allies. Higher levels revive with higher armor. If you're a team-going assault or scout this should be a given. If you're a logi then you're just insulting your class by not having one of these in one of your various equipment slots. The truth is this is one of the single most useful and handy tools put into this game. Learn it, love it, use it.
Drop Uplinks GÇô Deploys a static spawn location. Various types have various benefits from faster spawns, lowered CPU/PG requirements, to the number of uplinks that can be deployed at a time. Currently there is a deep running forum discussion on whether Uplinks are usable by Squad or Team, or only certain types by certain members. The Hacked (Merc Pack) Uplinks should allow any team member to spawn. Occasionally other squad uplinks will show up while others wont though the actual equipment itself is the same. More news and testing required to figure out if this is merely a bug.
Nanohives GÇô These restock allied ammunition. As with Uplinks various effects range from faster restock to repairing armor. Armor repairing hives currently repair all armor before restocking ammunition so be careful with them. A heavy can easily eat one or even two fully repairing and restocking. The Armor Rep hives should only be used by a logi also running rep gun to let the hive itself only be a fallback.
Repair Tools GÇô These mechanics' tools repair armor of all kinds. Again, various kinds repair faster, while some repair infantry armor better than vehicle, vehicle better than installation, etc. WP gains from the repair tool will eventually drop off after perhaps 150 rapid gain with the tool during a slight WP refresh. This is only intended to prevent abuse of the tool but should not dissuade players from using it to help their team. Two or three live and fully-armored squadies are infinitely superior to one or two when facing an enemy in any situation.
Active Scanners GÇô While there is still a lot of speculation as to this tool's usage and benefits its current intention is to scan a relative area around, or possibly only ahead of, the user to search for nearby enemies. Upgraded skills can extend this range while the upgraded equipment itself will scan at higher precision. This all deals with Profile Scan level which is a whole separate thread on its own.
A good thread has been started with information posted at the following link GÇ£Scan Profile/Profile DampeningGÇ¥ thanks to Mazu Ten, Free Healing, Ten-Sidhe for the thread and responses.
Remote Explosives GÇô A tool I am personally in love with and have been using since the start of last build. Currently 2 kinds. Remote and Proximity. The first is manually detonated and can be used to take out vehicles or infantry after luring them into trap corridors. The latter automatically detonates when a vehicle passes over it. Upgraded versions do higher damage and have higher blast radius. Currently Remotes may or may not but Proximity mines vanish upon death. Totally illogical.
SUBTOPIC: Grenades
A brief note here as it will be up to you to decide where you go with these if anywhere beyond the basic militia Locus.
Locus grenades are frag 'nades. Heavy explosions that do high damage to infantry, especially armor, but have very weak and limited effects on vehicles, particularly vehicle shields. These can be cooked to detonate at chosen time and distance if the throw is controlled enough. Only "Contact" grenades will detonate on contact as their name implies though these have been removed currently.
Flux grenades release a large EMP pulse that wipes out most infantry shielding as well as doing heavy damage to vehicle shields. These will occasionally kill enemies if they burst directly at their feet due to a very small initial blast radius. Also, these can decimate tank shields though not doing a thing to the vehicle itself. Still, these are a bane to shield tanks, much more so than the next item on the list:
Anti-Vehicle grenades are just that and do good damage to vehicle shields and massive damage to vehicle armor. While they do absolutely nothing to infantry they have a slight magnetic tracking ability which will allow them to latch on to the nearest vehicle they are thrown toward and detonate on contact. This tracking is not perfect and skill is still required in throwing one. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
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Posted - 2012.11.14 10:14:00 -
[10] - Quote
Reserved
Suggested Reading:
Mercs Helping Mercs: The Compendium
Anything by Pt3D. Seriously. I wish I had this dude's blessing to add his "Mercs Helping Mercs" tag to this thread.
Overlord Zero's Beginner's Guide to Armor and Shields
I just read this and I wish I knew this before starting. Even having played with them myself there are notes in here that make me rethink certain module fittings and the like. Again, while modules are more of a personal choice element, they can weigh heavily into your general strategy and mindset when going into combat.
SoCal_Ninja's Ultimate Scout Thread
While posted (incorrectly in my opinion) in the General Forums, and data sheets are already a little out of date, people running effective infiltrator and combat scout suits have a whole other level of tactical skill sets that honestly ALL players could benefit greatly from. Too many rely on their heartiness to win a head-to-head conflict rather than avoiding head-to-head engagement all together in the first place.
Maken Tosch on Ninja Knifing
While focused on some Nova Knife/CQC specifics, the guy knows ground movements and strategy. Good knowledge to have.
RedBleach LeSanglant's Logi Code
A commonly shared, but well expressed view on the full support-focused Logistics player. Understanding these ideas can also help other players on the team so as to get the greatest benefit from your support Logi... assuming he's running a team support build. A good follow-up to Pt3D's post on Medical Logistics.
Mogar Bobac's Data Sheets
This is basically just a library of everything in the DUST universe that we as ground soldiers need to concern ourselves with gear-wise. Brilliant work from Mogar actually putting in the time and effort to compile and subsequently write all this down for us.
I would include Dropship Flight School but that's definitely a specific skill set that has to do with a very specific vehicle command, and though some data is obsolete, the general concept is still solid.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
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Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
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Posted - 2012.11.14 21:22:00 -
[11] - Quote
DERP >_< Totally missed that somehow... Probably deleted it when I rewrote that section.
Thanks for catching it Grenwal, and any other suggestions or advice for the thread and/or community would be great. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
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Posted - 2012.11.21 09:36:00 -
[12] - Quote
I appreciate the comments Volgair, but I wanted to make just a general commentary here and I feel that suit loadouts are more of a player specific and custom design kind of thing that comes simply from experimenting and feeling out your own gameplay style. While I concur everyone should have an AV suit or some AV capacity, even simple level 1 AV grenades, I can't make any strong suggestions to affect an individual's build and play without already knowing them and their gameplay style. Thanks for the strong compliments however.
Piercing Serenity, good post and thanks for the aide there.
I'm working on a detailed Teamwork guide as well as concept squad builds for designer squads. i.e. planned squads designed for various tactical engagements. I'm not sure if I should extend this or put that into its own thread... |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
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Posted - 2012.11.22 08:36:00 -
[13] - Quote
Very solid thinking Zat. As I stated just before I do have a whole teamwork strategy piece written out but not sure if I should extend this post as I think of things this way:
A soldier needs to learn his place on the battlefield first. This is rough and hard times and I don't mean that players need to be crammed into a position by someone higher-up. I mean they need to understand their own individual worth and capacity on the battlefield.
From that they can start to understand other players' designs and abilities and how to play off those to build a strong squad, and even possibly a variation of squads based on different members. Much like different dropsuit fittings.
From THAT a C.O. can recognize what squads are most likely to succeed in a given situation based on their squad capacity and select whom to put into what engagement.
My only concern is whether to load that kind of information into a thread I'd rather have be focused more on general strategy concepts to ween people away from the chaotic 20-second life frag-fests of Halo, CoD, and the like. Get them to start thinking in combat with more than their trigger and red-dot sight.
I'm probably doing the opposite and really overthinking a lot of this, as, thanks to respawns, most people won't be TERRIBLY concerned about deaths when pushing for objective goals that may eventually boil down to throwing bodies and ISK at a problem until either it's gone or all your resources are (DUST 514, A.K.A. Hamburger Hill 23349), but it is something that, even if only from the back of every player's mind, can affect his thinking in combat and alter the course of everything.
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every conflict."
Good call on the bullet-points though... I may have to edit each of these to draw out keypoints of each segment now. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.11.30 12:17:00 -
[14] - Quote
Zat, I'm totally with you on that.
I do recognize that there WILL be bureaucrat commanders whose only concern is their treasury, some of us are hoping to see, if not actually become, the future Grants, Khans, Napoleons and Pattons of our little corner of New Eden.
Whether soldiers, commanders, or simple strategists for our superiors, the midget had some words of wisdom.
As Napoleon said, the only thing a commander ever truly controls is his own army -- training, morale, trust, initiative, command and, to a lesser degree, supply, placement, movement, loyalty, and courage in battle. What the enemy will do and what chance will bring, those defy all planning. The commander must be able to change his plans abruptly when obstacles or opportunities appear. If his army isn't ready and willing to respond to his will, his cleverness comes to nothing.
Will followup in my separate teammate, squad, teams post.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.12.07 14:29:00 -
[15] - Quote
Expanding on TeamWork Concepts:
Squad Equipment:
When running with an organized squad GÇô we'll say one of each for simplicity's sake, Assault, Scout, Logi, Heavy GÇô within your team's viable equipment loadout you'll be stocked with 4-5 equipment slots, thus you can expect you'll be hauling 1-2 nanohives, 1 uplink, and at least 2 nanite injectors. Clearly your Assault and Logi ought to be handling Triage. It's a simple question of who is the most likely to survive a fire-fight and if it comes to head-on combat it's not likely to be your scout. The Scout can be running uplink or hive while your logi picks up the slack end GÇô I think the prior is more advised as the scout is less likely to be seen putting down their uplink if they have to move away from the team to do so, as well as being the best member to throw down a forward spawn within or behind enemy lines, but this is just my personal strategic position on the matter. An extra slot from your logistics player can give you an extra nanohive if he's hauling the uplink, a repair tool if your heavy and assault aren't auto-repair equipped, or even an infantry scanner tool if secondary spec'd into e-warfare and expecting ambushes from enemies (map dependent decision). While I understand the speed boost from suits with the lowered equipment load out for logistics players when working primarily solo or duo for the team, when moving with your team they should only ever move as fast as the slowest member, thus immediate speed is not as high a priority as is resupply and team survival.
Building your team:
When designing a squad members should be considered as carefully as modules for individual dropsuit fittings. Replace your heavy with an assault and you've added another equipment slot while slightly lowering your team's overall toughness (and perhaps versatility against vehicles if your heavy was Forge spec'd). Replace your scout with a Logi and you lose your speed for 2-3 more equipment slots. Swap your Assault for another Scout and you've lost some direct firepower and frontline defensive capacity but you've become a lure-fish force, the slowness of the Heavy drawing in enemies as logi supports him while scouts flank and crunch down on enemies from the sides and behind. Swap it all for 2 shield/armor assaults and 2 logistics and you can make yourself a 4-man phalanx with plenty of revival, repair, and resupply available at all times.
With a well organized squad you as a member should become just an extension of the total force. You are no less important, as a single burst can take out an enemy threatening your assaulting tank and can turn the whole tide of battle, but you become a tool and extension of the squad as a whole single entity. Just as module changes can affect your own character performance, so can your personal role change and greatly affect that of the squad as a whole.
Even when not running with a planned squad, learn what your teammates have and take advantage of it. Staying close to each other allows squad members to work with cohesive and focused firepower as well as giving triage units the advantage of not having to chase teammates down from 50m away through someone's kill-zone. When someone throws down a hive or uplink take note of its position. You may need to restock and the nearest supply depot may be 100m away, a real pain to run out to when you're gonna have to come immediately back afterward anyway. Uplinks especially, keep note of their presence as forward spawns but be aware if you die near one or note red-dots around one on the map before spawning, enemies may have found its location and may be camping it for the next poor 2-3 saps who come phasing through it. If you're low on armor and a teammate comes up shooting yellow lightning at you, don't run away, let him fix you up before rushing head-long back into battle. Especially after being revived, check your logi, he may be swapping gear to get you back to full armor.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.12.07 14:29:00 -
[16] - Quote
Learn what your teammates have on the field and take advantage of it, but just as importantly, aide your teammates as well. There's a greater benefit from reviving a fallen ally than chasing that fleeing assault. Let me give you a hypothetical scenario:
You're in a 2-on-2 firefight. One of yours goes down, one of theirs, their second guy flees. Assuming you have the equipment you have 2 options here: Give chase, or revive your teammate.
Giving chase means abandoning your position and going into likely unknown and possibly dangerous territory. Are you sure you're not being drawn back into a trap? Reinforcements? Meanwhile, that 5 seconds you spend chasing your opponent from the field of battle, your teammate has bled out and being forced to wait another 10 before respawn. 10 seconds and now you're closing on your enemy but he's started recharging his shields during all this cat-and-mouse chase scene. Does he have superior firepower? Now it's 1-on-1, or so you think. Does he have allies nearby? Do you? Are you even paying attention? Probably not. There's a red thing moving away from you, and you want to catch it. Your teammate is still waiting to respawn. 15 seconds, and you round the last vestige of defensive cover your opponent had. He's totally vulnerable unless he's somehow doubled-back without your noticing. But you were watching, you were paying attention to him... Just not to the fact that he's back at full shields, and has allies flanking you on both sides, and you're all alone. And so is your ally once he finally spawns in. Alone minus the dozen or so bullets his internal organs have just made best friends with for life... well, this one at least.
Meanwhile, in alternate awesomeverse, where people actually help each other and work together; you've revived your ally, he's thrown down a hive to restock you both, and holding hands, full shield and full mags, you merrily skip past ponies and butterflies beneath a golden rainbow-streaked sky on your way to wreak mayhem and havoc as your former opponent, realizing you were never chasing him, once his shields recharge, comes rushing back solo into the business end of two very happy AR's which squeal their pleasure with the vicious bark of 20 rounds per second into his face.
Again, I speak from experience as I witnessed an ally pull off the first stunt in a match while I ended up living the second scenario with him in the same match. He never left my side for the rest of the match and only went down once each after that, though never fully dying, but managed to crush our 3 opponents who never seemed to get back together after that first encounter. (Asian servers don't offer much some times, but it's good experience attempting to go stealth and close-range vs snipers in empty assault matches, not to mention the benefits of free roam time to learn map layouts and perch positions for both defensive, offensive, and counter operations.)
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2012.12.07 14:31:00 -
[17] - Quote
I've decided to just expand the teamwork ideas into additional posts. No need to create a second thread that's just as unlikely to be seen or read by anyone who has no interest in advancing their strategy.
Again, any further suggestions or advice or even basic strategies from others would be much appreciated.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.01.30 09:39:00 -
[18] - Quote
Newbloods: Learn it. Live it. Love it.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.07 10:08:00 -
[19] - Quote
I've made some minor tweaks and updates, there's so much stuff there though....
I've also added some more links for other threads I think are invaluable.
____________
Further adjustments from experience in the past month.
I had actually hoped to expand each dropsuit into its own thing but so many pages lost and so much time gone by... So many others have already written up their opinions and views and I honestly only know one class inside-out and it's already the topic of 80% of the class discussion threads in the Training Grounds.
Just trying to do what I can to help others get better and enjoy the game a bit more. From allies to enemies, I just want to see people step up the game.
Logis forever! *raises Triage repper in the air*
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.17 02:12:00 -
[20] - Quote
The work continues, so I'm just editing older posts to save room...
Deciding to just expand and keep my thoughts to this small novel I've started here.
Installations and their uses next
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
|
|
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.19 14:49:00 -
[21] - Quote
Installations:
There are, at the moment, 5 types of installations as follows:
Clone Reanimation Unit (CRU)
Supply Depot
Large Blaster Turret (Blaster)
Large Missile Turret (Missile)
Large Railgun Turret (Railgun)
While the first two are rather self-explanatory I hope to go into some detail on both the ability and tactical usage of all these items. You might be surprised by the strategic value of a Supply Depot or schemes related to CRU bottle-necking or GÇ£campingGÇ¥. I will also mainly be focusing on Skirmish mode as this is my specialty as I find it the most exciting, challenging, and rewarding.
Currently, installations in Skirmish are fixed-drop objects, which is to say that the same installations will appear in generally the same area on each current map design (i.e. The turret between objectives [C] and [D] on 'Line Harvest' will invariably be a Large Railgun Turret. There will always be a supply depot in the middle of the road between [B] and [C] on the same map and on a platform between [D] and [A], etc., etc.). In the future, Command Officers on board the MCC will be able to designate installation drop points in order to better their strategic placement and allow their team to fully utilize installation capacity during the course of combat.
Within normal Ambush there are certain maps which have Supply Depots already installed. Other than these initial installations, nothing else on the field will change.
In Ambush OMS (Off-Map Support), Supply Depots and Turrets will randomly deploy throughout the battle across the field. Though these are intended to emulate the future C.O.'s ability, installation deployment positions in this mode are still fixed-drop.
All installations are hackable by any player for 50WP per hack.
The CRU is an automatic or passive installation and does not need any kind of GÇ£activationGÇ¥ after hacking it.
The Supply Depot will act as a Nanohive when nearby but also has effects when accessed by the player.
Turret Installations can be controlled by an AI targeting system but may also be controlled by a player for more accurate and target specific firing.
Now, on to the installations themselves.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone.
|
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.19 14:50:00 -
[22] - Quote
The CRU (Clone Reanimation Unit):
This large egg-shaped installation will allow for team spawns near the installation. These are tied to the unit itself and are often static in the same 4-5 positions around or nearby. These can be effective offensive tools in allowing a constant stream of spawns to overwhelm your opponents, or defensive by allowing you a secondary or fallback spawn, should objectives themselves be hacked.
The benefits to destroying CRUs are often discussed. While having a CRU available can be a huge benefit, having an enemy CRU within your combat area or nearby is a massive bane if you're not prepared to handle the rapid and steady stream of mercenaries coming out of it.
This leads to a quick but significant note. While some may complain about Uplink camping, not many people whine about CRU camping though it happens just as often, if not more so. Having static spawn placements means that once an enemy knows the spawn-in position for a CRU, he or she is freely able to stand behind or near said positions with gun at the ready to immediately dispatch any personnel attempting to spawn in.
The only thing anyone notes about CRU camping is that it is only a viable option when the whole field is already completely controlled by your team and the enemy is forced to spawn either in their base or the CRU. Generally only a minute will pass before you've mowed through every member of the opposing team and they'll learn to spawn back at their base and take the long way in. Not always, however. This is hard to maintain as a long-term strategy, though, as bluedots are notorious for hacking CRUs while a squad or teammates may be camping it.
In my opinion on this matter, I see little benefit to sitting at the CRU for 10 min while the Null cannons slowly whittle away at the enemy MCC and think that once enemy spawns slow down or dry up all together a CRU should be hacked or destroyed. It's presence under enemy control is always a threat unless someone is watching it constantly which doesn't make an entertaining match for anyone, though initially it may be quite humorous.
One brief note on destroying CRUs is that you'd better have some mean blasters, railguns, and forgers all firing on the thing to take 'em out. While a single railgun or forge-gunner can wipe out a CRUs shielding, their armor is beyond imagining. It could take you a full minute, easily, to take out a nearby CRU with a nearby Railgun Turret Installation. Higher end blaster tanks have somewhat less trouble with their kinetic projectiles but they still take a fortnight to finally pop and for a meager 50WP for the trouble as well.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.19 14:51:00 -
[23] - Quote
The Supply Depot:
These large cylinder-like boxy constructs with their awkward fins and support arms are perhaps one of the most useful support items on the field. Supply Depots act as massive Nanohives, restocking ammunition and disposable equipment. By GÇ£disposable equipmentGÇ¥ I mean grenades and remote mines.
Nanohives and Drop Uplinks will not resupply automatically; however, you can regain your Uplink or Hive stock simply by choosing to GÇ£refitGÇ¥ the suit you're currently wearing by using the Supply Depot itself. Refitting your current suit will also instantly refill your ammunition without having to stand about waiting to resupply yourself. Thus, should the rare event occur in which you find yourself having run out of ammunition, and burned through two Nanohives as well, you can always refit your current suit at a Supply Depot and restock all expended equipment and ammunition. I have no idea how I've ever managed to do this myself as a frontline support logi, but it happened three times across two matches in a row just the other night, so I know it's possible.
More important than being a giant, unsightly nanohive; Supply Depots serve a much more strategic role as, more than just refitting your current suit, they also allow you to change to another of your loadouts while still on the field without having to die and respawn anew.
What this means is that when that pesky dropship cruises overhead, rather than have to deal with the stream of baddies he keeps spitting out his bay doors, you can head to your supply depot, jump in your Fatty Forger or Surly Swarmer (Giddy Grenadier anyone?), and push him away from your defensive position if not completely blasting him out of the unfriendly skies outright.
It also means being able to swap from your initial blitzkrieg dragonfly suit (don't lie, we've all got one... I'm guilty as well. Hell, I was doing the objective blitz while you were still in rubber space-diapers, son.) to your primary assault or logi or whatever it is you may run. Without a depot nearby, most of us are forced to sit in that starting suit just waiting to jump in front of some bullets so we can; A. Shield a buddy for the whole half a second we're still alive, and 2. Respawn in our primary suit role hoping there's still a spawn nearby our objective or target for us to come back to. Some people actually ARE their starting suit, but not everyone. Ignoring new guys who are all running [Starter] or basic assault fits, it's probably a good 50/50 split.
The third point of consideration with the Supply Depot is that it currently regenerates armor when switching to different suits. This does NOT mean suit loadouts. This means actual different SUITS. i.e. If you lose 90% of your armor on your advanced heavy suit, you can jump in your Dragonfly or even [Starter] Assault and regain it all back before swapping back to your heavy again, armor fully restored. If you just swap loadouts which use the same suit there will be no armor regain. There is and has been contention on this effect for ages. Some feel this is a bug, some feel it's working as intended. Some are just outright against it. I won't repeat the arguments here, but they're out there. Currently though, it does reset your armor and shield to full and in my opinion that's GÇ£working as intendedGÇ¥.
Supply depots are slightly more durable than turret installations but are still quickly worn down by a large railgun or blaster, or even forgegun or swarm team. As with the CRU, only 50WP but it's a much easier 50WP than the previous. Despite this, I would only advise destroying supply depots if there's no way to take advantage of them yourself, which is a rare event indeed. Most of the time, destroying supply depots will only agitate teammates as much as enemies.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.19 14:51:00 -
[24] - Quote
Large Turret Installations
Simply put, these are the large turrets off a tank put on a platform and embedded in the ground. They're not going anywhere, and while they can totally ruin your day if you're on the receiving end, they're also relatively easy to take out from many positions about the maps at the moment, especially if the operator is the abysmal targeting AI or just someone who has no idea how to use his radar and pull the trigger.
ProTip: Those would be the big blue circle in the top left and the R1 button respectively.
Also, Red = bad guy.
These turret installations are categorized into three types: Missile, Blaster, and Railgun, which is how I shall be referring to them from here on out.
While the following turret information applies to tank usage as well, I will be restricting my personal comments to simple installations themselves as these are becoming a new specialty of mine. HAVs, on the other hand, require a whole other and even more important set of skills beyond turret operation and management, primarily just knowing how to drive and operate the actual HAV in the first place.
Turrets shoot heavy hitting projectiles a good distance though each has strengths and weaknesses which determine their tactical role and strategic positioning which will come into play later in the game. Having a Railgun down in a pit or facing a walled-in roadway won't do much good, but a Blaster at an infantry choke-point can be devastating.
Turrets can all swivel in 360 degrees, but have a limited up-down pivot of perhaps 35-40 degrees up or down from horizon view. This makes them directly in danger of attacks from dropships above as well as attacks on turret operators by flanking infantry.
A further note on operating turrets, remember that unlike in a tank you are not actually inside the turret itself. While the turret's destruction will also result in your death, you are merely standing outside of it, using an access panel to control the device. If you're not watching your back (or having someone else watch it for you) an enemy may have no trouble walking up behind you and killing you while you're still stuck scanning the distant horizon. This also means that when activating a turret, be sure to be as close to it as possible. Snipers can and will often pick off turret operators standing, foolishly, well away from their installation.
One final mention on operations strategy is to know your turret's ability and more importantly limitations when operating directly. As noted above, turret installations all have a highly limited up-down view angle. They each have differing effective range and accuracy as well. It's not always best to just shoot at infantry at the edge of your range with the Blaster and often I've found myself pretending to be the AI, swiveling back and forth until the enemy was too close within range and too far from cover to do anything once I turned my attention and sights on them directly. Harassing an enemy and impeding his actions is good. Removing him from the field, even if only temporarily, is better.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.19 14:52:00 -
[25] - Quote
The Missile:
This thing is basically a cluster missile turret. It fires 4 missiles in quick succession, has a medium heat buildup and cooldown and a good speed turn and aiming rate which drops like a rock when zoomed in using the 'scope' mode. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the Missile's fire rate is so slow that overheating will never be an issue with missile turrets. By the time it's ready to fire their second volley it's completely cooled off.
The other issue with the Missile is its missile spread (as introduced to prevent the Dropship Missile Platforms we used to see in Codex_0.6 and earlier). While it is minimal over short distance, over long or even medium it makes the Missile virtually unusable against infantry. A quick foot soldier can hop up to and across your GÇ£effectiveGÇ¥ range and once you've missed him once, just rush your turret and take you out in CQC.
The travel time of Missile's projectiles is also a huge hassle and causes for all kinds of trouble when gauging enemy distance in order to know how far to try to lead them. You're sitting there calculating windspeed and travel rates and by the time you've earned your Honors in Mathematics to fire at that LAV coming up the road, the driver has already parked up behind you, set up his tent, and is wearing an apron grilling hamburgers.... Oh, and you're head is decorating the hood of his car.
The final issue with the Missile is its lowered damage rate and overall splash damage, again related to the flying missile platforms of early Beta days. While determination can win when firing at an immobile LAV or unhacked turret, the truth is that just about any other turret, vehicle, or even infantry man will cause the missile turret severe issues.
This is not to say that Missiles are useless. Though their direct impact may be limited, like the mass driver or laser rifle, they can be a fear deterrent and crowd control because most people are unaware of their limitations. They hear explosions, see smoke and fire, maybe even take a bit of damage, and they turn to run the other direction. For the most part, however, missile turrets aren't going to kill many, if any, infantry unless a lucky salvo takes their head clean off which can still happen, even a hundred and fifty meters out.
The Missile is 'ye olde blunderbuss' of turret installations.
AI Note: The AI controller will only target vehicles and other enemy turrets within close range unless attacked in which case it will fire on the offending infantryman.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.19 14:52:00 -
[26] - Quote
The Blaster:
The bane of frontline foot-soldiers everywhere since WWI. These things are designed for one purpose, and they do it quite well, whether mobile on a tank or static on a well-placed tower. With medium heat buildup, excessively fast fire and tracking rate, and good short and medium distance range and accuracy, add in their deadly accuracy when zoomed in and these are just beast for mowing through other players. The heat buildup is something to watch for any Blaster operators, however, because at about 80% the turret's RoF starts to drop off until it overheats and that difference in output, like all rapid-fire weaponry, can mean the difference between killing your target or vice versa.
A Blaster can turn a well-coordinated and organized team push to an objective into a complete meat grinder. I've seen dozens of reenactments of Hamburger Hill since map revisions for Chromosome and Open Beta. Absolutely horrifying. Thankfully I've been on the turret's side, if not in it. These basically exist for the sole purpose of chewing up infantry and sending clone offerings to the invisible nanite horde that exists on every battlefield.
These things will eat shields and armor so far as to be a hazard to low teir LAVs, much less infantry. Like most standard weaponry there is no projectile flight time for the Blaster, allowing for simple point and shoot operation. There is also a small blast radius from the impact allowing for the Blaster to aim anywhere on an enemy to do nearly full damage every round.
[Currently the projectile blast radius will often burst through walls and corners. This seems an unintentional bug as the blast seems to go off perpendicular to the ground rather than to the surface actually being hit which is how it can seemingly pass through thin wall defenses.]
The downsides of the Blaster are few except for two rather significant ones:
First, when operating the turret, many players will get cocky and focus on their kills, meaning that little dot in the center of their screen, rather than using the turret, as it is intended, to deter infantry assaults. This allows for frequent shifts in control over such turrets as operators are often killed by flanking enemies neither they nor teammates are watching for. The Blaster gets little support from teammates who expect it to be supporting them and as a result, when an operator dies, it's not surprising for a fast hack to completely reverse the situation on the former Blaster owning team.
The second is that the Blaster is one of the first installations targeted by demolitions and anti-installation players, be they swarmers, forgers, anti-tank tanks or even demolitions players with a pack full of RDX. For the 100WP its destruction offers, and for the strategic harm it can do should it fall into the enemy's hands, most players would rather just see the Blaster off the field all together.
If you're going to keep or put it on the field, keep it manned, otherwise just get rid of it is my personal modus operandi.
The Blaster is the 'Gek' of turret installations. Point, Shoot, Kill.
AI Note: The AI controller will target just about anything: other turrets, enemy vehicles and infantry, null cannons, concrete walls, clouds, that blade of grass over there... Fortunately for infantry coming up on one, the AI tracking is anything but quick and accurate unlike a live operator and seems to almost simulate the Railgun's tracking speed.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.19 14:53:00 -
[27] - Quote
The Railgun:
The Gentleman's Turret.
Don't mistake me, this thing will demolish an LAV, burn a low-flying dropship out of the sky, and scrap even the best of tanks (if they're not careful enough), but it is a weapon of skill, finesse, and graceful subtlety... unless you're the one being vaporized by the magnetically charged projectile at the other end.
My personal favorite turret because it IS a weapon that takes significant ability to use well. From managing charge times, compensating for distance fall-off, knowing projectile travel and what gaps it can and can't shoot through to the most important element, heat management from the variable RoF GÇô which is to say that, after the initial charge, if the operator continues to hold the firing control, the Railgun will continue to fire with a low RoF until the operator releases the control or the turret overheats, but it will not need recharging for each successive shot GÇô the Railgun takes significant examination and practice to fully appreciate and understand.
While the average player can jump in and start shooting, taking out the occasional LAV or even a paper-tank with it's variable RoF and extremely slow tracking, the same could be said that anyone can cut with a knife. Not everyone can use this like the surgeon's scalpel it can be.
The Railgun is a monstrous weapon damage-wise. It outranks nearly any forge gun with tighter control and a longer range, but is intended for pin-point accuracy across rather large distances like a sniper tank. While its focus is certainly anti-vehicular and anti-installation (it will take out any other turret in a 3-burst volley), the Railgun is also capable of devastating and terrifying anti-personnel effects. Being what it is the Railgun's projectile is a full clone kill if it takes someone out directly, no revival possible.
The Railgun also does significant splash damage but the actual radius is much smaller and tighter than even the Forge Gun. This should not cause despair, however, as this splash is required to handle infantry running the field in front of or even at the Railgun, thanks to the weapon's variable RoF.
During this time the turret can continue to swivel and track enemies, allowing operators to harass moving infantry and vehicles while still maintaining fire on them. I believe this count to be somewhere around 5 rounds before overheating, but letting go before overheating will allow the Railgun to almost immediately start to cool off at a rather good rate.
Much like the Blaster is to infantry, the Railgun is an Area Denial weapon against vehicles. Placed overlooking a roadway or open expanse, the Railgun has free reign to harass and terrorize any vehicle passing within its firing range which is massive if given the open area to do so. This need for open space is also one of the Railgun's greatest drawbacks, however, as it also allows the Railgun to easily be targeted at distance by anti-installation players.
The Railgun is the Forge Gun of turrets, including the charge and the slight lead element on moving targets; but, unlike the Forge Gun, its operation is made easier if you have a moustache, monacle, and are smoking a strong English tobacco from your meerschaum-bowl calabash. At least two out of three.
AI Note: The AI controller will only ever fire at other nearby enemy vehicles and installations or at infantry attacking it; however, the AI tracking speed is much faster than an actual operators and against vehicles, particularly LAVs, the AI Railgun is a bane weapon.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.19 15:10:00 -
[28] - Quote
MODULES
Modules are split into two types for either infantry or vehicles; Low (L) and High (H). I will, of course, be focusing on the infantry aspect as I'm simply not a vehicles guy... yet. For those of you with higher expectations of this grand epic in 47 parts of a player's aide to DUST 514, just give me some more time... I'm working on it.
The basic distribution is as follows:
Shield and Weapon Upgrade modules are generally distributed to H:
Shield Extenders, Shield Enhancers, Sidearm, Light, and Heavy Damage Modifiers.
Armor, Biotics, Electronics and Engineering modules are relegated to L:
Armor Plating, Armor Repairers, Kinetic Catalyzers, Cardiac Regulators. Codebreakers as well as PG Upgrades.
There are exceptions to this rule which include the Myofibril (Biotic) and Precision Enhancer (Electronics) modules being set to an H slot and Shield Regulator (Shields) which is set to an L slot.
For most people this means a very limited set of options for H modules, and a very vast and confusing array of L modules to choose from.
I'd like to make a basic discussion of each and their benefits but when it comes to final loadout, be it a Speedster Shield-Shotty Scout, or a Bipedal Heavy Tank, or Sir Hacks-A-Lot Logi, or just your every-day glass-cannon AR Assault... as Omec said, GÇ£The choice is yours, and yours alone... Choose wisely.GÇ¥
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.21 08:28:00 -
[29] - Quote
_______________________
(H)
_______________________
Shield Extenders
Balanced CPU/PG usage. Very simply, these boost your shield HP, though until prototype 66HP boost that 11HP difference between Militia or Teir 1 and Advanced may not seem like too much. Still, that 11hp may be one extra shot that makes the difference between finishing that Null Canon hack or not, or surviving that gun battle with that oncoming assault.
This modules is supposed or intended to increase your scan profile but currently with scan precision a complete mess they do not actually do this. Still it is something to make note of for future plans. You may have Scout Suit 5 and Profile Dampening 5 but that pair of advanced shield extenders will. probably, in the future make you light up like a Christmas tree at the top of your mountain perch.
Shield Recharger
Only CPU usage. These do just what they say, recharging a higher percentage of shield per charge GÇ£burstGÇ¥ once they do start to return. Shields will generally only recharge 10-15% per burst meaning that along with having to sit out of combat for 5 seconds just to get them to recharge in the first place, you'll have to wait another 3-5 to actually get all your shields returned to you. That's nearly 10 seconds of not killing people! I have squad and corp mates who would have a heart attack at the idea.
While it may initially take you 4-6 little charges to bring your shields back up to full, these restore an increased amount allowing shields to completely recharge in as few as 3 or 2 by increasing the actual percentage amount of shields recharged from 10% to 25%, 35%, even 50% per GÇ£burstGÇ¥.
This is a significant and powerful tool for Assault and CQC players in conjunction with Shield Regulators as in short, this module recharges your shield faster. FASTER. Do not make the mistake of thinking these will start your shield recharge SOONER, that's a whole other module and skill.
//NOTE:
The question of Extenders vs Rechargers is a tricky one, and in the end it mainly depends on which is more important to you and your play style and ability. As a logi and a crap-shot, I don't expect to win many, if any head-to-head engagements, except through boosting my passive defense as much as possible. I'm not gonna out gun-game a 2-year-old, much less anyone else here, so just keeping myself alive to let me put more bullets into the other guy, in the case that I have to, is my goal. To this end, having more shields overall is more important than getting them back faster because once I've survived a face-to-face conflict my first reaction, beyond reviving nearby allies, is to immediately hide behind a box and whimper.
For the guy who runs the field, jumping in and out of cover, just long enough to wipe out his opponents while they barely burn his shield, getting said shield back ASAP is probably more of a priority than having just a little bit more of it in the first place.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.21 08:29:00 -
[30] - Quote
Damage Modifiers (Heavy, Light, Sidearm, Myofibril Stimulants)
Primarily CPU usage, some PG. Damage Modifiers are just that, they modify your damage. Well, not really. They increase your damage output per round. There is a tracker in the loadout stats area for this but that 0.05% increase is actually more significant than it claims.
Damage Modifiers are connected to the WEAPON TYPE. There has been a lot of testing and discussion and at this point I can only express my own presumptions based on logical study and reference to statistics. If you're using a Sidearm in your Light weapon's slot, its damage is not affected by your Light Weapon damage, but your declared Sidearm damage percentage. The weapon slots only designate what type of weapons a suit can wield, Heavy (fattys only), Light (Most everyone else's primary weapon), and Sidearm (Pistol or SMG... or Nova Knives if you're Maken Tosch, though I'd expect he uses them in his primary Light weapon slot at this point).
Though smaller weapons can fit into larger slots GÇô Light weapons can fit in Heavy slots, and Sidearms can fit in any of the three GÇô damage is determined by the weapon type, not slot type. If it were otherwise there would be no reason for dropsuits to have statistic measures for Heavy, Light, and Sidearm when they can only wield 2 or even 1 of the three. I.E. A Logi would only have a need for a GÇ£Light Damage ModGÇ¥ stat since it only has an L weapon slot.
These are another, if not THE primary module for frontline assault runners and gun-game crowd or the glass-cannon snipers whose main focus is as much damage output as possible as fast as possible, be it 10 rounds or one, the mentality here being that the best defense is a good offense.
This is also a major tool for anti-vehicle/installation Forge Gunners who, with their limited magazine, round capacity, and reload time, want to drop an enemy installation or Dropship as fast as sin in 2 to 3 shots, not 4 or 5. Especially for the AV Forge, being able to take out targets quickly is key as more pilots and drivers are getting better and faster at getting the hell out of Dodge when that first round hits.
Myofibril Stimulant modules are just another type of Damage Modifier... FOR YOUR FISTS!
They may seem worthless but there's nothing more rewarding than climbing a mountain to stalk a sniper who's been harassing your team the entire battle, creeping right up behind him and punching him in the back of the head while wielding a Nanite Injector.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
|
|
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.21 08:29:00 -
[31] - Quote
_______________________
(L)
_______________________
Armor Plates
Primarily PG usage, some CPU. Armor Plates have the simple effect of increasing base armor HP. These have a much more pronounced on HP numbers than Shield Extenders; but, they also have numerous detriments, both effectively and psychologically.
I'll deal with their effectiveness first. While armor plates will increase armor HP, it's going to be needed as they significantly lower the user's overall speed with effects stacking cumulatively. This means that an assault or logi player can effectively slow himself down to a heavy's crawl though his HP will be nowhere near the same defensive capacity.
As to the psychological effect, most players will view the boost their armor HP gets and imagine they're now invincible against enemy fire. Be wiser than this.
[There is discussion that various weapons have differing types which are more or less effective against their opposing armor types. Though not as in depth as EVE, it is presumed we may be headed there where kinetic and explosive weapons such as SMGs, ARs, HMGs, Mass Drivers and Swarm Launchers will be most effective against armor while shields will take a lowered percentage. Meanwhile, Laser Rifles, Sniper Rifles and Forge Guns will be more effective on the opposite range. This can already be noted somewhat with AV weaponry and turrets though how severe it may or may not go with infantry weaponry is still a topic of conjecture.]
Armor Repairers
Balanced PG and CPU usage. Armor Repairers are a passive module which slowly repair lost armor over time. A useful tool for self-repair when trying to hold position for an extended period and your friendly neighborhood repper logi isn't about to keep your armor in tip-top shape. Though it can take a day and a half for a fully decked armor heavy to repair himself, for field assaults and even absolutely the previously referenced repper logi, your armor can return faster than you might imagine and its always good to be able to manage your own defenses as much as possible until running in a properly stacked and equipped squad.
The primary significance of these is that, unlike shield modules which only work when out of combat, Armor Repairers are constantly regenerating HP. This means that, though one may only return 3hp/second, in a 4-5 second engagement that's effectively an additional 12-15 armor HP. Someone out out there is chuckling about 12hp, and someone out there is thanking his local engineer without even realizing it for the same because it just saved a 60k ISK loadout.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.21 08:30:00 -
[32] - Quote
Kinetic Catalyzers
These have one purpose and one purpose only. Make you run faster. How you use that effect can go two ways: Running to an objective/target/enemy, or running away. Generally loaded onto speedster scouts to let them dash more rapidly into objectives or enemy masses to do the most harmful blitzkrieg damage possible as quickly as possible before either running off and hoping nobody sees where they went or dying horribly when the group finally gets their wits and all turn on you at the same time.
There are also some heavies running with these to supplement their low speed, and a fast-moving heavy can be something scary for certain but that white-plasma ring around his feet also means he's generally quite thin HP-wise since he's not focusing on purely armor/shield supplement.
For everyone else it can mean very little other than getting into an engagement slightly sooner or, more team-thinking, getting to your downed ally to revive him before he clones-out. Generally, unless you're building for speed, this is a situational module at best and not many times you'll be in the situation that requires it.
Cardiac Regulators
Another situational module, though perhaps more generally useful, Cardiac Regulators increase your maximum stamina as well as increasing the rate at which stamina is recharged. For anyone seeking to absolutely maximize their ground mobility this is one of your GÇ£go toGÇ¥ modules.
For aforementioned scouts and attack assaults it means longer run-time (get it?) which can help you get to the frontlines faster or save you in a pinch when running for cover. For heavies it means being able to keep up with your team when they forget you move at about half their speed. And especially for logis it means being able to traverse distances more rapidly in order to maximize your effective support range (though honestly, there are times where a guy goes down some 80meters away and I just want to leave him there. Why do I have to run to save his rear?... But I do it anyway.)
The reason this module maintains a GÇ£situationalGÇ¥ seal from me is because the skills involved will often give many players as much stamina and recharge rate as they need. I'm looking at you Vitality and Endurance. Once upon a time this was separated into two separate modules related to each skill, Cardiac Regulators and Cardiac Stimulants respectively, but has since been combined, the single module falling under the Vigor skill requirement.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.21 08:30:00 -
[33] - Quote
Codebreakers
A beautiful little module that decreases the user's hacking time. A supplemental module of non-offensive or defensive capability and yet undeniably useful in it's own right.
Codebreakers are used primarily by objective based players, and particularly for those focused or tasked with actually hacking installations and not watching their buddy's back while they do so. Not a module I'd advise for just anyone, but most certainly for players already comfortable with their suit without detracting from their field capacity by removing other necessary L modules.
It may not seem like a lot, but to anyone who's run objectives they'll notice a couple skill levels and a module boost can make you hack as quickly as two people all by oneself. A clearly visible difference. For turret installation operators it means getting your gun tower quicker to start wreaking havoc sooner. If you've ever been in my shoes, it means that precious second and a half less to hack the tank being dropped in by that enemy you just killed before he or any other reddot can come back and jump in it.
Most commonly and importantly, that percentage in hack time reduction can equate to whole seconds which may mean the difference between taking a CRU or letter objective before or after an angry HMG can spawn in just to wipe you out and re-take your hack, not to mention your WP.
In objective matches, who is ruining whose day can depend on hacking speed.
//NOTE:
Certain suits already have particular hacking effects though their stats are not openly denoted. Logistics suits seem to hack somewhere around 5% faster than Assault or Scout while Heavies seem to hack 5% slower. This seems to be your base hacking rate which is then effected by Infantry Hacking skill and Codebreaker modules meaning that slower hackers may see a greater benefit from the percentage boosts but, in the end, logis will always be the fastest hackers on your team when equally equipped and skill spec'd. Just some food for thought.
PG Enhancers
A basic module that increases your PG at relatively low CPU cost. A supplemental module for very PG intensive loadouts though a tricky fit as most high PG requirement modules are also aligned to L module slots.
CPU Enhancers
A basic module that increases your suits CPU at no cost to PG. That's all there is to it, another supplement at best for high CPU demand loadouts. Interesting note that there is no cost for the CPU Enhancer module, unlike its PG counterpart.
Range Amplifiers
Only CPU usage. Something simple and easy for once. These increase the range of your tacnet radar (that big blue circle in the top left of your screen).
In simplest terms it means that enemies which may have once been outside your radar range even though you could clearly see them down your sights, may start to show up within your extended range rather than being little red chevrons off in the distance. Similarly, this will allow you to recognize more of the flow of combat around an area when coming to support allies if, for example, they're still 80m out while your enemy is firing from 120m where you wouldn't have known their numbers before.
A very simple module with a simple explanation, but be wary, that increased radar range can make enemies and allies seem deceptively close on your local tacnet.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.21 08:31:00 -
[34] - Quote
A work on 2 very special modules and some considerations of their effects and abilities:
So you want to be invisible huh? Well, currently it's not quite possible, but you can get close.
Before I get into the next pair of modules which I've separated from the pack I have to clarify some terminology:
Scan Profile = The degree to how easily you can be sighted and designated an enemy (reddot) on opposition radar. Logically, the lower this number, the more difficult you are to be sighted. Higher profile means the opposite. Scan Profile also affects how rapidly you fade from enemy tacnet after being sighted. While a scout with skills and modules may vanish nearly instantaneously, a heavy may sit for several seconds on enemy radar, even allowing enemies to sight their red chevron through walls and buildings.
Scan Profile is a very clear relationship, 0 being invisible, 100 being... well... the sun. You'd want this as low as possible to achieve the smallest possibility of being seen and designated an enemy target.
Scan Precision = Your ability to sight and designate reddots on your team's local tacnet radar and map. The LOWER this number is, the more easily you can scan and confirm enemy targets as well as keeping them on your tacnet radar longer.
Precision is... well... a mess. I've made mistakes based on older data, but it works similar to Profile where somehow the closest to 0 means the most likely to see an enemy.
________________
For the relationship then between them, it's a direct correlation rather than an inverse comparative... but it's a mess, and the stats aren't even readily available or obvious as to their effects. I guess the intention is that somewhere, somehow, magical radar gods decide that if someone has a Scan Profile of say 37, you'd better have a Scan Precision of 36 or LOWER in order to spot him... Because that makes sense.
[At some point I might go into depth on this whole mess, because it's a lot, A LOT, more complicated than just that (a guy with an AR can GÇ£noticeGÇ¥ a sniper 500m away on a mountain if he happens to lay crosshairs directly on him, though this may not be intended... Once upon a time people were basically invisible to designation, bluedot / reddot, unless within a weapon's GÇ£effective rangeGÇ¥ and then that got altered. One word for you there, Beta), and try to explain it all: how all of it works, how it should work, and how it hopefully will work in the future... 'The Unified Theory of Scan Profile'. First I think I'd have to get my own understanding sorted out, and yeah, look forward to THAT.
But, I think I'd rather wait till Active Scanners are behaving properly as well as waiting to see the confirmation or denial after months of speculation on future stealth modules to include that data and tactical understanding as well.]
Ugh... Good lord... And with that, on to the modules themselves.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.21 08:31:00 -
[35] - Quote
Profile Dampeners (L)
Only CPU usage. A key tool in the stealth player's arsenal, in conjunction with selected dropsuit operations skills and Profile Dampening, these decrease your scan profile making you harder to light up on enemy radar as well as making you fade from enemy radar faster once you leave their line of sight. High enough levels and even though an opponent can visually see you on their screen, you won't even show as an enemy until within a certain range or they specifically target you directly.
This is my own personal reason for pulling ADS on any infantry I see around that aren't already lit up with a blue chevron because not all bluedots appear properly designated when running around the field. I'm always paranoid of seeing some guy running by the edge of my view, just outside my radar sensor radius and not knowing immediately if he's friend or foe and expecting him to come up and shiv me from nowhere two seconds later.
Precision Enhancers (H)
Only CPU usage. This is the counter weapon to profile dampeners and stealth infantry. The Precision Enhancer increases your scan sensitivity by... wait for it... DECREASING your Scan Precision... (Go figure).
Most importantly, this means that you will recognize enemies more readily without having to sight them perfectly with your weapon. Just glancing at an area with enemies around it will make your radar light up in red if your Sensitivity is better than the enemies' Profile.
The other benefit is that, along with being able to sight and designate enemy targets more easily, enemies will stay on tacnet radar longer without you having to sit there keeping them within line of sight all day. This means an enemy can take cover, or perhaps the other way around, but you can still keep track of his movements for a short while before his dot fades from the radar.
[Or at least that's how it's supposed to work...]
//NOTE:
Currently a lot of the Scan Sensitivity effects and traits are a right royal mess as some of my UK allies would claim. Profile Dampening and Dampeners certainly work. I can't tell you how many times I've been being stalked by a phantom scout who thinks he's the Goddamn Batman, popping up into view to freak me out before running past me and disappearing both visually and on radar like a fart in the wind as soon as he appeared. Still, it's good to take note because once they start working, with how dangerous stealth players are already becoming (these are elements those mad Shotty-Scouts use), the skills, modules, and even equipment for Active Scanning and Scan Sensitivity will be vital in future defensive engagements when the opponent uses stealth blitz or guerrilla assaults.
[Seriously, where's my Motion Tracker and Power Lifter already CCP? Game over man... Game over!]
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
169
|
Posted - 2013.02.25 11:27:00 -
[36] - Quote
Parcanisad wrote:... a lot.
A good point, and I just kind of felt like throwing in all this Installation and Module stuff but you're right and I need to get back on track. I think I'll actually start discussing field movements (both infantry and LAV) for various maps next... I'm feeling out tanks at the moment, and Dropships are a riot to fly around for though I'm by no means the best turret-man.
Still... chasing an LAV across a map side-ways up a road as an oncoming LAV comes into view, opposite gunners shooting both drivers to make them freak out and somehow swerve into one another, exploding horrifically killing both drivers and all passengers in a slow-motion moment that looks like footage from high speed police chase horrors... yeah, it was that awesome.
Anyway, way off track, just like my thread may have gotten. I wanted to lay down some general module benefits though I don't think I have the right to discuss specific fits for anyone. I think, on this end, a lot of people just don't know how each module even works and that can make new people afraid. If you're afraid of all this text... well... That's your problem. I'm sure I could make videos of my horrific voice talking for 10 min without actually saying anything with some generic gameplay footage and I'd get thousands of views, but I don't have the means and I honestly think this is more beneficial.
Installations, however, I think are an important tactical tool which are often overlooked by people other than, "hack this, get WP" I tried to discuss some possible benefits and detriments of them and my honest opinion on whether they should stay on the field or not. Which, again I reiterate, is my opinion. I'm far from the the best players in this game, I don't even know if I'm a good player though my corp mates and allies all insist I'm at least half-way decent... Something about always ranking top of the boards in matches I do actually play in.
I'll try to focus more on actual specific tactics in the future, though there may be occasional basic gameplay elements discussed to justify or explain why or how to make certain action work... or why it doesn't.
Just for you Parcanisad, next series: LAV Field Movements
Though I can't say as to when I'll actually have it written up. Will have to talk about each map independently I think but can still keep it somewhat general to why LAVs work better on certain maps or situations than others and how to use this to your advantage, starting out, objective taking, or pushing the red-line. And of course, from both sides of the map... So... 4 maps (6 if I separate that large map into the 3 main central compounds it uses, Gallente Storage, Caldari Cannon, Caldari Refinery/Waste)... notes on initial targets from spawn, and then mid-battle field movement... Will probably limit it to a post per map. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
170
|
Posted - 2013.02.26 08:24:00 -
[37] - Quote
Field Movements (LAV)
Though not the threat posed by the HAV or even the transport of the Dropship, often overlooked by many players due to its frail nature, the LAV is a vital tool in rapid field movement, particularly across wide terrain.
All too often in skirmish matches we see scouts attempting to blitz objectives on foot. Heck, I helped start that trend. Though this works to a certain extent, on many maps this means sacrificing a player's actual field capacity or primary role in order to be the first to objectives. The other severe drawback to this is the lack of fire support. I've had this happen and done the same to others. Though you may get to an objective first it means very little if there's no one else there to help you hold it, even if you can hack a canon or CRU before enemies come pouring out of the hills on to your position.
For a very enclosed and small field, say Ashland for example, foot races may be viable tactics but for nearly any other map in the game, to take distant objectives and get into position quickly nothing beats a rapid deployment LAV for one single element. Allies.
A scout can run like the Flash all he wants but it makes little difference when an enemy team with an assault, logi, and heavy all show up in their car at the same time to mow him down. Even a handful of scouts, though they get to their target in sync (which is a less frequent occurrence than finding someone to talking on Team comms) can't really hold up against superior fire power in heavier geared infantry suits when both are charging at one another head-on.
The 15 seconds you spend getting an LAV and squaddies to ride in it may be 15 seconds someone else has running but your LAV will be faster than them by far, and once you learn how to drive them you can be arriving at objectives with your logi-heavy duo even before that scout has spotted you.
Here is a brief discussion of various routes and pathways for rapid initial deployment and subsequent field motion using that oh so ignored tool that is in everyone's arsenal, the LAV.
//NOTE:
First, a brief note on deployment. In order to call in an LAV in the first place a player needs to be on the ground and in the open. Not on the MCC, not hiding under cover (otherwise the RDV pilot is likely to either crash into your building or drop your car up on an inaccessible roof. This applies to all vehicle deployments. Nothing worse than landing a tank on a ledge 50m above you where it simply self-destructs because no one can get into the thing (though that LAV on a lamppost was pretty amazing).
Now, to this end, I've seen two frequent methods of calling in vehicles. The first, and most obvious, is a simple ground spawn in your GÇ£baseGÇ¥ and calling it in after taking a few steps out in the open. I would refrain from calling in vehicles immediately at your spawn location as they may not be deployed in the most accessible fashion, either behind or on obstructions. A 10m jog into the open air only adds a couple seconds and will make sure your vehicle is clear of all obstacles when it arrives.
The second is deploying inertial dampeners immediately after jumping out of the MCC, and pulling up your deployment menu as you fall, calling in the vehicle the moment you hit the ground. As stated before you can't call it in while actually falling but this mitigates the menu time you'd need if you waited till you were on the ground after dropping. The only problem here is dealing with the horrendous roar of inertial dampeners on the long way down which I try to avoid personally by only deploying less than 20 centimeters from impact.
//NOTE:
Another item which I will not really deny is that LAVs are quite squishy, particularly to Railgun Turrets and Forge Guns. Though even a properly stacked Starter or Militia grade LAV can withstand a Militia swarm, just about anything else will stop it (and its occupants) very much dead in their tracks.
For this reason I avoid riding with people I can't also talk to or at least hear, and this goes for any vehicle. Riding a vehicle is a team effort and as such requires some level of teamwork. This means that as the driver you have to be responsible for calling out incoming swarms or other alarms you may hear while driving. As a rider it means calling out enemy turret locations or a charging Forge Gun flare nearby and knowing when to bail, certainly doing so when the driver says to get the heck out. As a gunner, it means spotting enemy infantry and turrets, and knowing to shoot at one and not the other as well as getting out when the time comes.
A special note for LAV drivers, many blaster and missile turrets being run by SI will simply ignore LAVs unless they just get too close. Railgun turrets are not quite as fickle. If it sees you, the SI will shoot at you, and more often than not it will kill you even better than most actual operators could. This means avoiding them all costs, calling for everyone to bail when you can't, and for gunners, keeping that finger off the trigger when passing near an installation. You're not going to destroy it, only attract its attention.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
170
|
Posted - 2013.02.26 08:24:00 -
[38] - Quote
//NOTE:
beep beep BEEP BOOM!
Yeah, your whole team just got wiped by one guy's line in the sand. Only that sand was smooth packed gravel and that line was a row of Proximity Mines.
Don't worry demolitions experts out there, I'm gonna let you in on a little tip: The information following can help you too just by knowing where enemies are likely to travel with their slick LAVs.
The most fun place for a demo guy to be is inside the head of an LAV driver.
The worst place for anyone else to be is inside the head of a demo guy.
Don't panic LAV drivers, the whole purpose of this exercise is to point out the fastest routes but as I've said before, repetitious behavior will only get you punished or dead. Be aware that there could always be someone like me on the field who's been planning for the past 5 min, before even knowing you exist, just how to ruin your Cruisin' Dust 514 days in the most spectacular Hollywood-worthy explosion ever. Like an infantry attempting to avoid a sniper, move, swerve, slow down and go where you're not expected...
//A Message from Chankk Saotome:
Thinking about trying to run down that logi who seems perfectly calm standing totally still out in the open 100meters from any kind of defense or cover? Hell, he doesn't even have a weapon out. That could be me, and you and your buddies might just be the next 190WP that I make this battle.
I don't always blow up vehicles, when I do I drink Dos Equis.
...Wait, What?
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
170
|
Posted - 2013.02.26 08:25:00 -
[39] - Quote
LAVs on Manus Peak
Honestly, my new favorite map for LAVs... Perhaps it's always been my favorite map for LAVs but with shallower and more smoothed out roadway terrain from previous iterations this map screams to be driven about on. Once upon a time it was a horrifying place covered in jagged volcanic formations and violently bumpy and pathways unnavigable by vehicles. For forcing CQC engagements with people that was awesome. Much of that has changed and it's honestly fun to just drive around now in my opinion. Not to mention the vast number of roadways and flattened paths allow for an ever-changing course of movement.
For attackers, coming up over the second peak from their MCC down into Charlie is just smooth as silk and fast too. This route follows the roadway up by the outcropping formerly referred to as GÇ£Sniper PointGÇ¥ as in old maps this position had one of the best views of the whole field and all three objectives (though not into the old Alpha which was tucked inside a crater below Manus's main peak). Even assaults can make this run before many defenders can get there except that most make the mistake of just running to Alpha instead, believing it to be closer. Still, an LAV through Charlie allows an attacking team to drop off one or two allies to take and hold that position while the driver can set up a miniature road-block between Charlie and Bravo or continue on to scan Bravo territory (if he's feeling really gutsy).
From the ground spawn the terrain is rough and there are few paths unfortunately, but once you get to the main battlefield there is the circular roadway around Alpha and turnoffs going directly into Charlie or to the left of Bravo. This second path is often overlooked by Bravo defenders and permits a semi-hidden access into the rear side of this objective.
For defenders, the pathways are more difficult to navigate without some practice, but still there are two direct paths to Bravo from ground spawn (one directly for it though often new installations are in the way here, and a dirt roadway up the edge of a hill just left of the same), and one indirect which eventually goes up over toward Alpha (well off to the right side when looking at Bravo).
From the MCC defenders are somewhat stuck with the windy mountain path which then splits into a flanking access into Bravo, a path which veers back up Manus's second peak around a tower installation and down into Charlie, or curves gently into Charlie from the ground. Either of these latter two are great access points though the second gives you the benefit of higher ground as well as being able to see any enemies coming up the opposite hill to meet you at the objective. As it was in olden times though not so oft now with the second peak being smoothed out and more accessible to infantry, this is a common place for spawn setups as well as some pitched battles though not like it used to be.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
170
|
Posted - 2013.02.26 08:26:00 -
[40] - Quote
LAVs on Ashland
Look, let's just get it out of the way, this is one of the worst maps for LAVs. There, I said it, it's done.
There's not really much an LAV can do here, and almost no way it's not going to be noticed by the other team no matter where it's going.
The number of small roadways even available to vehicles are cluttered with storage boxes, construction equipment, and other paraphernalia. For infantry this is a playground of stealth, ambush, and CQC opportunities but for vehicles it's a nightmare of navigation except for one edge on the far outer ring road from Echo up to Charlie. Other than this one 200meter stretch which is just as easily traversed on foot, attempting to load up your LAV and go anywhere in a hurry is almost utter folly.
Almost.
The single roadway which spans from Echo to Delta, passing directly between and below Alpha and Bravo is a great access way for vehicles to make a bold push directly into the opponents far objective. On foot this can be suicide but an LAV can move you more rapidly than most infantry can keep up and with so few people expecting LAVs on this map, the likely lack of AV setups on the field can be your saving grace.
The Ring (look at the map, you'll get it) road used to be more open but has become cluttered down outside of Alpha almost demanding a detour route up closer to Alpha be taken to get around but from spawn to spawn, minus some boxes, it's almost clear sailing by either side up to Charlie or down into a flanking access path on either side.
Another note is while enemy ground spawns are hidden behind building structures and well within their redzone away from infantry, a skilled LAV driver can cruise around the edge of the Ring and through an enemy camp, crushing infantry under-tread as they hide within the false security of their redzone ground base. Just beware of the Railguns generally situated behind each base in turn and you'll need to be going full speed all the way through to be able to come back into the safety of the combat zone before you suicide to the redline timer.
The few Railgun installations on this map overall, however, pose little threat on the actual field as they aren't really situated to aim down on roadways allowing for free reign by an LAV driver to cruise as he pleases nearby objectives, though as all but Echo, supply depots, and a few turrets are out on raised platforms it will still require some ground-pounding by occupants to actually get into them and take them if that's your goal. On the other hand Blasters and even Missile turrets on the field can be a severe threat to you, occupants, and even your vehicle if there's someone actually operating them.
Of course, again, this all assumes the driver is skilled enough to not hit one of the dozens of random barriers, crates, construction vehicles, random ground plate edges, sharp inclines, small pebbles, bits of loose dirt, insects, little bits of floating dust particles in the air, and the myriad of other obstructions in his way.
A minefield of impeding debris, a good map to maximize your closed quarters driving technique but not the best place to take your licensing test. Only advised for the most skilled of LAV drivers.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
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Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
170
|
Posted - 2013.02.26 08:27:00 -
[41] - Quote
LAVs on Line Harvest [RESERVED]
a.k.a. Carmageddon 24137
So many flat open spaces, so many people running across them, so many dents in the hood like so many bugs on the windscreen. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
170
|
Posted - 2013.02.26 08:27:00 -
[42] - Quote
LAVs on Skim Junction [RESERVED]
Look, you're just fooling yourself if you think you're going anywhere with any sense of alacrity without a Dropship or LAV, that's all there is to it. This map is huge (though smaller than original versions, if you can believe it... I miss that old objective to the north map edge, some great memories there, and only two objectives in the city meant people were forced to go outside in order to win) and while a range of pathways exist for the soldier on foot, to go anywhere with any kind of speed demands the use of LAVs here.
//NOTE:
Beware the Railgun
They're just about everywhere in every iteration of this map. And, despite the wide open spaces, you often won't see one until you're already driving right into its kill-zone which means knowing where they are and doing your best to keep track of them should they go hostile... or being a smoking pile of dead. While LAVs have no issue cruising around their ground spawn area or even through a couple of the compounds themselves, out in the vast wilderness they're as in danger from Railgun fire as infantry are from rogue hill-snipers.
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Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
170
|
Posted - 2013.02.26 08:28:00 -
[43] - Quote
Now, for specific Skim Junction central compound installations, lets do this. I have no idea what the heck they ACTUALLY are, but I know how I know them and refer to them so we're gonna stick with that.
Gallente Storage Facility:
(Short green-walled storage site with large green mushroom building [Bravo] at the south)
Your best and only bet here really is to crash in violently and go on foot. There's little to do here in an LAV except either get out or just burn right through. Really nothing special to note except that there are rear access steps to [Bravo] and the nearby CRU and a stairwell by the Supply Depot which splits to head to [Charlie] and [Alpha] which may favor coming in from the city's south or north rather than East or West for most rapid insertion.
Caldari Refinery:
(Medium sized steel-walled compound with one command building [Bravo] and towers over [Alpha])
And you thought Ashlands was a nightmare for LAVs. Best bet here is to just avoid ever entering the city at all in all honesty. There is a path past the CRU between [Charlie] and [Bravo] which heads north and then back out west again or up north but LAVs can't manouver this fast enough to take advantage of their speed.
If you're going for a crash insertion for defenders, hit the entry-way just north of [Bravo] and throw someone out there while you ram the wall and jump for [Alpha] near the waste disposal vats. From the other direction for attackers there's virtually no road access in due to obstructions and debris blocking the route so you're best to either jump out before hitting something and going for [Alpha] or hitting the stairs south of that forward turret and leaping toward the [Charlie] canon.
Caldari Canon:
(Enclosed by towers, a canon structure over [Bravo] with [Alpha] and [Charlie] on a raised platform.)
Finally, a compound you can kind of cruise around. A very tight figure-8 loops around [Charlie] and [Alpha] to the north side while the larger loop circles the canon structure itself with [Bravo] at the southern edge. Good possibilities for letting multiple teams just wheel about and watch all three objectives.
One word of warning on this last compound: Do not request vehicle drops inside this structure. If your RDV even makes it into the city, the chances of your vehicle dropping precisely where you want it or can access it are a bit of a mess. Between [Bravo] and [Alpha] might be safe but I wouldn't call in anything other than my free LAV personally. Who knows how hard that RDV pilot's been hitting the sauce. I don't. I'm pretty sure his wife doesn't either.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
175
|
Posted - 2013.03.01 11:54:00 -
[44] - Quote
Equipment
Equipment, like modules, affect your capacity on the field though they are more like active modules. They also control the supportive effect you can have on the field for your team should you even care about anything more than, see reddot, pull trigger, kill reddot, rinse & repeat.
Equipment can be classified by several means: Deployable (thrown on the ground) or Usable (activated by the user); Supplemental, Supportive, or Offensive; Active/Activated or Passive; probably even more ways of describing or categorizing each... I don't want to bother making categories but I've organized them somewhat and will make note for those who want their usage and one word descriptions of purpose. Of course, denotations will be according to controller buttons, not KBM.
//NOTE:
Like weapons, in order to activate any equipment, you must actually have the equipment tool in-hand. This means pulling out your Equipment wheel, hold [L2], and selecting with the Right stick which item to pull out. Tapping [L2] will only cycle weapons, though once upon a time it also cycled Equipment which for Logis was amazing though you had to cycle through everything which took time because of slower and forced animations... I kind of wish they'd bring back equipment hot-swapping though, at least for Logis.
//NOTE:
Suit Limitations: Alright, let's get this over and done with, quick and neat:
Logistics: 2(really? REALLY?) GÇô 4 (Heck yeah Proto logi!)
Assault: 1 GÇô 2
Scout: 1 GÇô 2 (But you lose your speed with no other benefits, you might as well be in an assault suit)
Heavy: 0 (Sorry fatty, no pockets on that wedding dress of yours)
That's it, just live with it.
//A message from Chankk Saotome:
What you carry, as I've said before about... everything, is your choice and entirely up to you. I will explain each tool's usage and make some notes on how I feel about what people are carrying versus what they probably should be carrying but this is just my word and my word is not scripture. Hell, it's not even written in stone. I'm constantly changing this whole mess as things come up, people give me ideas or correct me. I will say, however, I have some strong opinions on a certain pair of tools and the new kids out there who just don't have a clue so please allow me some leeway and if I step on anyone's toes with my comments in that regard, I apologize.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
175
|
Posted - 2013.03.01 11:54:00 -
[45] - Quote
Nanite Injector
Usable [R1]; Supportive
The end all, be all. This is what 50% of bluedots, newberries and old, and all proper field logis, SHOULD be carrying. If you're a random Assault or Logi, and you're not carrying this, just stop right now. So you're carrying one now right? Even militia grade? Good... NOW USE THE DAMN THING! Seriously. I can't count the number of times I've been in a huddle with bluedots, I've been the one guy to go down and watched my, GÇ£Wait for nearby triage unitGÇ¥ slowly blink and fade away as bluedots ran off my radar and away from my location, abandoning me to the all-consuming nanohorde.
Look, for anyone complaining that it's difficult to find their target or hard to actually use, you have no idea what it was like... Markers showing up 10m from bodies, and the actual trigger coming up somewhere half way between and still not working properly 90% of the time. Look, it's come miles from where it used to be.
Here's the biggest point, however, reviving your buddy is the same as killing an enemy in the WP department, but it also gives you some quick backup without having to wait for others to catch up to you or falling back to a spawn point yourself.
Just be careful about whom you pick up and when. Raising a guy in the midst of a bullet storm just for him to drop half a second later isn't gonna do you any real benefit other than quick WP, and it's just gonna **** him off and make him not want to help you despite your attempt to save his shiny dropsuit loadout. Make sure your area is relatively clear before running to revive someone because him being dead may mean you being dead very soon thereafter.
The same goes in reverse, don't expect one bluedot to come rushing into Hell just to save your ass if you're surrounded by reddots. Just let it go man and get back in the fight as best you can.
____________________
Repair Tool
Usable [R1]; Supportive
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
175
|
Posted - 2013.03.01 11:55:00 -
[46] - Quote
NanoHive
Deployable [R1]; Supportive
This is what 50% of bluedots, newberries and old, ARE carrying... though they're running about like chickens with their heads cut off and rarely have a chance to take advantage of it or know how to place it to support even themselves much less a team. Usually a guy will run out of ammo, or think he's running low, and just throw out a hive, right in the middle of a field or roadway, then wait to restock 2-3 magazines before abandoning it.
When I throw a Hive down, that's me planting a flag and my squad best take note. I'm telling the world that GÇ£This is my house. And you stay the hell out of my house! Get off my damn lawn for that matter!GÇ¥ Hives can be thrown down all willy-nilly for a quick restock but this generally wastes their potential and as such are much better used in reinforcing offensive or defensive line positions and making sure the soldiers on those lines are well stocked in life-relieving ammunition.
To this end hives should be behind cover along with the people they're restocking. While the eerie hum and ghostly glow can be disconcerting, most people learn to ignore it or just get past it.
Snipers often use hives to restock themselves but one danger here is that at high altitudes (no, seriously, no joke) or on the fringes of the map, the Hives tend to glow and give away their location which means, subsequently, giving away their attached sniper's position. If you're gonna use one of these as a sniper I can't advise against it but wouldn't advise sitting directly on top of the thing either.
//NOTE:
There are a few variants of the Nanohive but I think gauged is where just about everyone wants to be if they're gonna be carrying as this allows a third extra Hive to be deployed. There is a Triage (armor repairing) Hive which will repair infantry armor before restocking ammunition but with their rate of consumption these are best used only by the Repper logi as a backup armor repair for himself or teammates should he go down in the midst of battle; otherwise, that nearby heavy is likely to eat the whole thing like a fat kid with a bag of Skittles.
____________________
Drop Uplink
Deployable [R1]; Supplemental
Drop Uplinks allow team members, specifically squad-mates, to enter or return to combat on a specific location with a new clone and loadout after a death. A very useful, though CPU and PG intensive tool, the uplink is generally used for one of three purposes:
forward combat spawns (i.e. Pressing the frontline by keeping players right on it)
defensive position spawns (setting up camp with a defensive perimeter around the spawn itself)
stealth infiltration spawning (this... is pretty self-explanitory)
One thing to remember is that teammates will spawn facing the same direction as the player at the time the Uplink is deployed. This means often spawning in facing a wall or dark crevasse as most players are in a rush to throw them down without considering the effect on spawners.
The major concern with them is that Uplinks can often be GÇ£campedGÇ¥ or watched by enemy solders who will wait for reddots to spawn in only to mow them down as they are generating. A cheap tactic but viable one and arguments of honor or fairness are unlikely to dissuade those who engage in the activity. It's best to find well-hidden positions to deploy or places that may be difficult to get TO but easy to get into combat FROM.
//NOTE:
There is significant speculation as to the usage of Uplinks by non-squad teammates and the issue still seems unsettled. I've personally witnessed bluedots come through my own uplinks though I've also had corp members in team chat tell me my Uplinks are not available on the map when they are not in my squad. Along with this, the WP earned from a team spawn seems intermittent and chancy at best. It's generally a 25WP gain for a teammate spawning on your Uplink but I've watched groups of two or three come through with no WP gain whatsoever. It's possible the system as a whole still has bugs.
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
Chankk Saotome
CrimeWave Syndicate
175
|
Posted - 2013.03.01 11:55:00 -
[47] - Quote
Active Scanners [RESERVED]
Usable [R1]; Supplemental
The most misunderstood piece of equipment, it's intent is to pick out nearby enemy targets around the user when activated. Whether this is a sphere around or a forward cone, or if only enemies known to be present, or anyone within range, nobody really knows because it's never really worked before, and still doesn't.
I'll update this when they finally are working and I've had a chance to play about with them because once upon a time all they were was a big cross made of computer parts that beeped when you raised it in the air.
But it's probably gonna need it's own post >.>
____________
A strong man can do many things,
but the strongest knows he can't do everything alone. |
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