A few newbie questions...

[BadAsh]

I'm a brand new player to the game. I love it so far and bought the game and expansion after playing the 7 day free demo last week. I have a few beginner questions.

What is the best way to recruit players into your squad? The stand next to someone and press �G� and then do a menu select method is just not practical in most cases and neither is typing �/invite player name� one at a time. This is especially true when there is activity in the area. Is there a more efficient way to invite people into your squad? If not would a brief local recruiting message be appropriate etiquette or would that be hated spam?

Once I have my squad going how do you identify players as squad leaders so you know who to invite to form up a new platoon?

Finally, does anyone know of a good resource for brand new players? I�m curious about several other things such as game play guides and advice on gaining battle and command experience points and what are good certification and or implant combinations.

Any advice or help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance for your time!

BadAsh
Johari Terran Republic BR 6

[Eldanesh]

How to invite people? Well, the only real ways to do it are the G key -> invite and the /invite functions. I no longer do the whole LFSM as I pull most squaddies from my outfit, but usually in sanctuary you can do a "/b \#c LFSM to (continent) please send tell " and during peak times you can usually find people. Another option is that while at a base if you are sitting on a capture is to look for all people with "Looking for Squad" over their heads. If they are soloing they will usually say no, however there is always a chance. Also, you can tell your squad to let you know if they see anyone LFS and you can invite them from there.

If you want to platoon up, you can also do a broadcast that your squad is LFP.

Oh and also, the reason for the please send /tell is that after they send you a tell that they are LFS, you can just hit your backspace key and it types the /tell<playername> for you and you can replace the tell with invite.

[Dharkbayne]

Good info on that stuff is on this site, welcome to PSU!

[NNY]

join an outfit that is all ready set up it your want to squad up.

here is a tip most ppl dont like a noob as Squadleader

[Kikinchikin]

here is a tip most ppl dont like a noob as Squadleader


I would not play with these people. I know that when i did pickup squads (when i was looking for an outfit in between SGE and 7th legion) when i didnt join squads i would join up with someone who looked competent. I remember once having a squad ofall grey uniforms cept for me. Didn't bother me one bit since the guy was doing a decent job on commanding.

but yeah ur gonna run into people who are jerks and people who are good squadmates

[NNY]

when i was a CR 0 and starting a squad at scanc alot of ppl left my squad at soon as they learnd i could not set Way Points. i could not hold a squad untill i joined a good outfit. now every thing is ok i comman a squad half the time im on.

[Jagd]

As for good cert/implant combinations...

Surge (implant), Agile Armor (free!) and the Sweeper Shotgun (medium assault) go together like pimps and hos. And uhh, feathered hats I guess.

Special assault is the most versatile of all weapon certs you can get, and combos very nicely with Reinforced Exosuit and Medium Assault (which you need to have to get Special Assault anyways).

Although it's about as fun to drive as a 1978 Ford cargo van, the AMS is by far the best bang for your buck as a first vehicle. If you're finding yourself irritated at running out of health/ammo all the time, and don't have the points to burn on advanced hacking, medical or engineering, an AMS will make your day and help your squad out huge. Combine an AMS with Combat Engineering and you are a dangerous soloist.

For vehicle combos, though you're probably a little too low level to be worried about these yet, always have one "light" vehicle that can be attained at any base, as well as an "advanced" vehicle that requires a tech plant. This way you'll never be left running across country because some damn cloaker is taking out all the tech plant generators behind the front lines. Example: Lightning first, then Prowler/Van/Mag. Mosquito first, then Reaver or Liberator. Deliver, then Sunderer, etc. Trust me on this one, get the light version before the advanced. Once you've mastered the baby you will own with the daddy, and you won't have to experience the frustration of those deadlocked battles trying to gain a toehold on a continent without access to any transportation for hours at a time.

And here are some other general thoughts about certs--

Unless you've got a good reason to take ATV (ie: you're a cloaker and need the wraith) go for a Harasser instead. They're both 2 points, but the harasser lets you pick up LLU carriers and stray squadmates and they are both available at any friendly (or hacked!) vehicle pad.

Advanced hacking is the most all-around useful skill to have, combat engineering can be a blast if you have some patience but you'll need an AMS or an advanced hacker nearby to use it to full effect, and advanced medical is pretty much a waste of time.

If you find yourself wishing there was a Galaxy pilot/medic/deliverer around more often that's your clue to buy the cert yourself. Too many players horde their certs around heavy assault, special assault, sniping, etc instead of spending a measly 2 or 3 certs on a teamplay cert like the troop carriers. Don't be one of them, and you'll be surprised how much more often your squad pulls off the big base hacks.

Anyways, that's my $.50 on Planetside Certs for Dummies, er sorry Newbies. :) I'm sure not everyone will agree with all of my points, but please don't flame me just post your own thoughts for this newcomer. Maybe we can consolidate the views of the forum and have Hamma put up a page on PSU with a beginner's guide or something.

[TeraHertz]

I have a newbie question too.
In nearly every FPS I play I go as Combat Engineer or equivilant. I was wondering, is there something like this in Planetside, and if so, what can he do and what would be his common weapons and attributes.

eg. In BattleField 1942, I'm armed with a non-scoped sniper rifle, mines, explosive packs, a thing for fixing vehicles, and a pistol.

[NNY]

you will like Combat eng then you get
1) boomers = is like an explosive pack
2) mines
3) spitfire turrets = is shoots ppl
4)motion sencers

and for normel ENG you get
to fix Vehicles and ppl armor

[TeraHertz]

Can I carry a sniper rifle (or some other long range accurate and powerful weapon against infantry) with that setup?

I like weapons that hit hard, and are accurate. I tend to dislike rapid fire weapons. Even in close combat I usualy take a pot shot with my rifle, then finish people with my pistol of BF.


What would you recommend?

[Eldanesh]

A CE (combat engineer) is 5 certs to get, 3 for engineering,+2 for combat. engineering gives you 2 tools to use in pistol/rifle slots, the rifle slot fixes vehicles and equipment, the pistol fixes infantry and maxes.

CE gets you the ability to use an ACE (takes up a pistol slot) you can deploy the ace to lay mines outdoors, spitfire turrets (light defence turrets) outdoors in neutral or friendly SOI, motion sensors (again, neutral/friendly areas only) and boomers, or heavy explosives. (deployable anywhere you can think of, but can still get a lil green light to show. ;) )

So at Br 6 you can get CE, medium assault, and AMS/ harasser.

EDIT:: Doh! curse my slow hands, but yeah, you can still carry sniper rifle. sniping is another 3 certs however. Me, I use sweeper 90% of the time. :D love that gun!

[Jagd]

edit: Woops, beat me to it and said almost exactly what I did. :p

Medium assault / sweeper shotgun is the best choice, as is AMS for your vehicle. Sniping is kind of weak, especially compared to BF1942. My Konreid character was built on Medium Assault, AMS, then Engineer, then Combat Engineer. Now he is also an infiltrator with an Anti-Air MAX and damn can he ever solo well.

Oh yeah, and instead of a Wrench, in Planetside it's called a Glue Gun. :p

[TeraHertz]

Christ, sounds like It'll take ages to anywhere up to an effective level.

[Jagd]

No, by BR6 you can have a pretty decent set of certs under your belt, and it doesn't take long to get there if you've got twitch skillz and/or a good squad to play with. Remember that getting to BR3 is "free" cause you can go to VR training to level up at first, and the next few levels zoom by in like 3 or 4 base captures.

[gonnagetyou]

Jump into the fight and you'll pick up BEP pretty quick. For me BR 16 was when it started feeling like the next BR would take forever.

[NNY]

im all most to 17 i only need a hair in the bottom bar it driveing me crazy to get it.
i Mignt have to shoot my self befor i get to BR18 =(

but the lower lvl you get realy quckly

[Acaila]

This guy is the best SL I have ever squadded with. I model my own squad leading after his: http://pub63.ezboard.com/fwhiteravenscommpostfrm8.showMessage?topicID=8.top ic his little guide on SLing is worth a read for dedicated SLs.

[gonnagetyou]

Excellent link Acaila. A must read for everyone. :)

[Lise]

Bit old, I know, but I only just saw it.

To answer your question Tera, yes, you can carry a Sniper Rifle with the Engineering stuff... but personally, I'd think to be the most effective you'd want to be "in the trenches", nearby to actually repair things. If you want to lay turrets and whatnot a Sniper loadout might work, but if you want to carry around a Glue Gun for shining things up then stick with close combat weapons (like a Sweeper shotgun or a Heavy Assault weapon.)

As per getting to an effective level... I'd say BR12 (15 cert points, 2 Implants) is "competency level", really. At that point you can get around 5 major certs (note most certs cost 3 points) and two implants let you do quite a bit. A dedicated player should be able to get that in about a week, if you've got a good squad and get into some good fights.

And BR14 is when PS's "hell levels" start. My Emerald self is just getting into that. :(

[Kuraltai]

I'm a brand new player to the game. I love it so far and bought the game and expansion after playing the 7 day free demo last week. I have a few beginner questions.
Welcome to PSU and Planetside .. and Johari too! :D

These folks have given you some great information/advice and you've already found the best resource for brand new/old players. Look forward to seeing you in game.

[Searo]

I'm a sniper/c. engineer and generally I either carry a pack full of ACEs or a pack full of sniper ammo.

1. The Bolt Driver is NOT an indoors weapon. It is hugely inaccurate while not crouching and while moving. Only use to snipe, it has a 1 shot clip and 5 second reload. The ammo is huge, filling half your inventory gives you about 25 shots.

2.Infil, and Standard take 1 shot, but they are much harder to lead with the rifle. Agile, and Reinforced take two shots. Agile is left with 25 health, reinforced is left with 35. MAXes take 50 armor damage per shot, and then take 50 health damage when all armor is gone. So if you're lucky, you can drop a max in about 15 shots. (Don't shoot at MAXes.)

3. CE/Sniping doesn't mix too much. If you want, set up a motion sensor next to you so nothing sneaks up. Usually you're sniping, or laying mines where people fight. You always snipe from a very remote location, so why mine and turret it? No one's coming over there.

4. ACEs are huge, Bolt driver ammo is huge, so you're going to run out of inventory very fast. If you carry the engineer caulk guns around too, you're out of luck. Pick one or the other, maybe stick one ace in your sniper fave if you want.

5. An agile sniper has to be able to regain at least 51 health very quickly. Why fifty one? Sniper attract snipers, and you often get hit and left with 25. If you can zap yourself up to 76 quickly, you'll survive the next shot. This applies to Reinforced to, but you only have to hit 66 from 35 so it's much easier. Carry Advanced Regen and at least 1 medpack.

6. Some say to go for Advanced Targeting. I think that's just a waste of an implant slot. There's not usually going to be so many choices that you have to go for the least damaged person first. Unless you're sniping a zerged battlefield, this isn't going to help. Most of the time you want to snipe a steady stream of troops coming from a spawn. (Tower, AMS, etc...) These all have full health, so Adv Targeting will not help you.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me.

[TeraHertz]

ah, disapointing to hear. In bf1942 the engineer's rifle, since its unscoped, is actualy good for one shot point blank. Trying to reload it in a 1 on 1 is suicidal.

I usualy hit the guy once, going for the body for a better chance of hitting the enemy, then whip out the pistol and start poping bullets at their head. 70% of the time, even if they are assault, they're screwed becasue it all happens so fast. Failing that I drop an expack and detonate. In that eventuality it's lights out for both of us, but if the guy survived the rifle/pistol it probably means he's not too bad and is better taken out at all costs.

I'll need to try out the weapons then to find a trade off between long range accuracy, high powered punch, and short range 1 on 1 accuracy.

For me, accuracy is key. pumping out a million rounds a minite that barley scratch the target isn't my style. An example in another game, is C&C Renegade. My favorite weapon in that game is the Mendosa. Slow as fk reloading, but I only need one shot.