New & I really don't know how to play this game.

[Vivendi]

I bought the game on D2D a couple years ago, when it was on sale for 5 bucks, and I was confused then, And I'm confused now.

My name is Konner, and I'm still new to Planetside. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing in the game. I love everything about the game, how it's massive warfare. You know, the way a MMOFPS SHOULD BE.

Nothing comes close to this, but I'd love to learn how to play the game. If I'm correct, I chose Terran Republic, and my ingame name is Vivendi. would someone help me out some?

[Raymac]

Rule #1: Stay calm. Respawn.
- As you may have noticed, there are many ways to die in Planetside, so alot of the learning curve at the beginning is figuring out what killed you, and how to not put yourself in that situation again. There are some deaths that are just unavoidable, like getting caught in the middle of an OS strike.

One of the biggest helps for me when I was just starting was using the Max units. They may be slow, but their armor can help you survive a bit longer. Unfortnately, the TR have probably the worst Maxes in the game, but give them a try.

However, the TR also have probably the best Heavy Assault gun in the game with the chain gun. Just make sure to watch your range. At point blank, the NC Jackhammer will tear through you, but if you stay back a bit, and strafe, you'll come out on top.

Probably, the MOST important thing you can do is get in with a good outfit. The TR seem to have some pretty good active outfits going. That way you can take part in the group joint ops that really makes this game shine. Seeing a coordinated attack is a thing of beauty in this game, and being in an outfit squad, just make yourself available as a gunner and you will get to try out all the vehicles.

There's alot of different roles in this game - driving armor, flying air support, stealth ninja, heavy grunt, support, anti-vehicle, sniper. Try them on for size and you'll find what you have the most fun with.

See you in my crosshairs.

[Traak]

Rule #1: Stay calm. Respawn.
- As you may have noticed, there are many ways to die in Planetside, so alot of the learning curve at the beginning is figuring out what killed you, and how to not put yourself in that situation again. There are some deaths that are just unavoidable, like getting caught in the middle of an OS strike.

One of the biggest helps for me when I was just starting was using the Max units. They may be slow, but their armor can help you survive a bit longer. Unfortnately, the TR have probably the worst Maxes in the game, but give them a try.

However, the TR also have probably the best Heavy Assault gun in the game with the chain gun. Just make sure to watch your range. At point blank, the NC Jackhammer will tear through you, but if you stay back a bit, and strafe, you'll come out on top.

Probably, the MOST important thing you can do is get in with a good outfit. The TR seem to have some pretty good active outfits going. That way you can take part in the group joint ops that really makes this game shine. Seeing a coordinated attack is a thing of beauty in this game, and being in an outfit squad, just make yourself available as a gunner and you will get to try out all the vehicles.

There's alot of different roles in this game - driving armor, flying air support, stealth ninja, heavy grunt, support, anti-vehicle, sniper. Try them on for size and you'll find what you have the most fun with.

See you in my crosshairs.

HART to a deserted continent, and do nothing, I mean, nothing, but practice movement, weapon whip-out and ammunition changes, (I gag to say this, because I despise the physics that make this work, but:) strafing left to right and right to left to avoid hits from enemies, and every possible combination of movement, duck, strafe, run, weapon, grenade, medkit, third person, first person, etc.

Have medkits on a hotkey easy to use, because in battles, they will save your life far more often than your "allies" will. Get used to monitoring your health, and pop a medkit anytime it gets too low. Practice so you know what the time is between medkits. Sometimes it is better to use one too early (as in, when you have enough health that you wasted some of the 25 health points [HP] that you get in each one) because you are in a fight where you know you are going to need another one really soon, so that by the time the timer runs out, you can pop another and not be dead instead.

Practice looking around corners with third person. Much easier to map your keys in such a way that the most-often used combos are closest to hand. Get a nine-button mouse, and map keys or combinations of keys to the mouse. For example, you can map one that is a combination of fire weapon, then medkit, then fire weapon, that repeats ad infinitum such as RGRGRGRGRGRGRG or RRRGRRRGRRRG, which may look like I'm growling, but you get the idea. You would use the normal fire button, R, when firing and not under threat, but use the keymapped button to pop medkits, G, when you are face-to-face with someone.

Then practice. Get used to aiming, shooting, crouching, switching to a grenade, third person, first person, etc.

Then, having practiced until you are bored to tears, go into combat and use it. You will find things that you need more practice.

Keymapping, then practice your movement are the two things that will yield the most satisfaction in playing.

After that, set loadouts that are what you need in certain situations, so that you can rapidly click on, say, loadout 3, which gives you the thumper pre-loaded with jammer grenades for those times when you spawn at an AMS camped by a vehicle flogging it with fire, because you can get loadout three, spam the enemy vehicle with jammers so it can't fire, and your empire mates can pick it apart with MCG (mini chaingun) fire at their leisure.

Keymaps, movement and weapon/kit usage practice, and then loadouts.

Also, set that "sight distance" slider bar on the Video settings all the way to the right so anyone who sees you, you can see. If your sight distance is even slightly shorter than max, someone can be shooting you that you can't even SEE.

A big help is using four or more speakers (I have used earbuds for rear channels, and desktop speakers for front) so you know, 360 degrees, where an enemy is coming from Even better is either five- or seven-speaker surround, or surround-emulating headphones. Hearing where the enemies are coming from is a big help.

Further, make sure you have a sound card that can output more than just left and right stereo, obviously. This will ALSO take load off your CPU, which reduces lag, having a sound card, and not using on-the-motherboard sound solutions.

Disable the cute little flowers and grass, it only makes you have a harder time seeing mines and such, and seeing enemies past a hilltop. Disable weather, so, again, you aren't being blinded by a sandstorm that others can see right through because THEY disabled weather.

Get the basic engineering certification, so you can quickly whip out the little armor repair gun and repair your armor when needed, because there is no "armorkit" for repairing armor, like there is a medkit for HP.

When you get to the implants, at BR 6,12, and 18, if you are going to be doing face-to-face killing, Audio Implant is popular, as is Personal Shield. I hear the most whining about Personal Shield, so it is one of the most effective implants to have, because people whine about facing people who use it. Audio Implant lets you see on radar people running around who you can't normally see on radar (enemies).

Vehicles: surround sound REALLY comes into play, here, gunning or driving. There is a lot more, but this will really get you off to a good start.

[Baneblade]

Learning the five base layouts is key. Everything else is secondary.

[Effective]

Basic stuff.

Medkits, Strafing, Aiming/leading. These 3 things are key, especially the last 2. Aiming always comes first, for 1 reason, if you can aim better then your opponent then you'll almost always win, adding in strafing makes you harder to hit, and can let you kill multiple people. Medkits, should have at least 3 in rexo and 1 in agile, more doesn't hurt in either. (On a side note, Audio amp, is the BEST implant in the game for a newer player)

Key binds, resetting key binds to be more efficient helps alot.
For me my keys are.
F = Jump
Space bar = Crouch
Shift = inventory
Mousewheel forward = Audio Amp
Mousewheel back = Medkit
Mousewheel push = Surge
Mouse Button 4 = Talk button for Vent/TS/Mumble
Mouse button 5 = Third person
Ctrl = 3rd Implant, ET, DL, Sensor shield, or Pshield if I felt like abusing broken game mechanics.

These key bindings look weird, and it does take time to adjust to it, but this way, my fingers never leave my movement keys and my mouse, i can strafe and aim with no interruptions.

Last but most certainly not least (arguably the most important thing) is situational awareness.

A little more advanced stuff for improving is hardware/accessories. Buy a good headset, being able to hear which directions things are coming from is helpful. Buy a decent mouse (a MX518 is what I use to use, now I'm using a G500) and a nice big surface. Get your sensitivity to where you are comfortable with it (too high and you'll always overshoot a target, too low and you can't keep up with a target that's warping). Do what you can to keep your FPS as high as possible.

There's so much more I could put up. But I'm not feeling it in me today. If you see me online feel free to send me a tell with any questions you may have (I don't play as often as I use to though). If I don't answer I'm probably afk or getting shot at).

TR = TRxEffect/TRxEffetive/GIGANTORtr
NC = DeltaFX/TauFX/Effective
VS = xLostCause/Effectivexx/GIGANTOR86/GIGANTOR89

edit= as far as TR weapons are concerned the MCG will almost always lose at pointblank range, contrary to popular belief it's TTK is slower then a JH or Lasher. Exploit it's range whenever possible, since the other 2 HA aren't quite as effective at said range. Avoid using the cycler unless absolutely necessary, it's the trashiest MA in the entire game (a suppressor with 5 more rounds and a 4x zoom would be better).

Though you won't be able to find me in game for some time. Feel free to either PM me or just post more questions here