Marauding in the Marauder

[Xuka]

MARAUDER

First off, make sure what is in the trunk, your backpack, your driver seat, passenger seat (chaingunner), and rear gunner position (Ground Pounder) is what you need. The trunk will hold 3 boxes of chaingun ammo, 3 boxes of mortar- Also place within this- 1 glue gun (just incase), 2 boxes of glue, 2 sets of jammers

Next is backpacks. We'll begin with the driver. The driver should have a gluegun, box of glue (you're primary repair man. You won't always have time to go in your trunk to swap for a glue gun. You'll waste precious moments- exposed and stationary), 1 set of jammers (you never know when you'll have to clear a set of mines at a courtyard entrance, tower, chokepoint, or jam vehicles), a sweeper & 1 box ammo out in the field repairing, it's good to have a weapon to pop and drop that cloaker who snuck up), and whatever else you want.

What is in the passenger's backpack?
The passenger (chaingunner) should not get out of the car often. If so, it's usually to jam vehicles. In his backpack is a MCG or Sweeper, 2 sets of jammers, and whatever else. If we run into towers/bases he's my point man.

What is in the rear gunner's backpack?
Rear gunner (ground pounder) should be Rexo for this idealistic loadout- 1 to 2sets of jammers, Cycler & 2-3 boxes ammo,Striker & 2-3 boxes ammo, glue gun (which he can get from the trunk and trade out a couple boxes of cycler ammo for) plus throw in a med and repair kit if able. If for some reason you can't stuff an AV/REXO/Engineer in your rear gunner seat, have him be an AV or Spec Assault user at least. IF AV and in agile.... 1 set of jammers, striker, 2 boxes ammo, whatever else. If spec assault user, then carry a rocket rifle with 4 boxes of anti-air flak. If indoors, he'll be in the back with his cycler or striker for maxes.

*advanced medic cert helps, nothings worse than having a 1-2 crew members die and ruin your run.

Ok, pull out the buggy, open that trunk up to squad, pick up gunners, and get to a silo to load up your trunk favorite. Communication is the most important thing in the vehicle. Primarily, it will be the driver's job to call out targets. You need open air on your teamspeak to speak/hear all instructions. All instruction should be relevant. "Ooh Oooh I see someone!" "Dude, over there! Over THERE!!" <examples of useless BS that serves to frustrate your gunner/driver. "infantry- 3 o'clock" "Reaver on our 6." <All good pertinent information. Try to keep the verbal high 5's to a minimum. Do a quick 'VVG' to congratulate someone on a nice shot. It won't clog up teamspeak and it's quick.

THE DRIVERS ROLE: takes the evasive maneuvers, primary individual in target assessment, decides where to attack, the direction to attack from, the distance gunners will engage fire, maintains safe distance from target, when to flee, determines where repairs should be, is main repair man, could go on. The pressure is here. Gunners can't do jack if this guy isn't on the ball.

Marauder has little armor, but has speed, firepower, and mobility. Most driving you'll have to learn from experience- Learn to keep optimum distance from targets. Most vehicles this is 1 to 2 Galaxies away in distance. From infantry, maybe only a Vanguard distance apart, and infantry with jammers- a full Galaxy transport size away. I recommend driving in Virtual Reality Training. Note the speed you can travel up hills in relation to how steep they are. Hop in the Gunner positions, learn the angles with which you can tilt the weapons along the Z axis. In the gunners position, take note how far you should be to optimize the gunners chance of landing a kill. Learn to move in figure 8s, Zig and Zag, drive in reverse, etc.

As the driver, you need to assess what is out there. What is your objective? Are infantry storming from a tower? Going AMS hunting? Out to hunt light cavalry? Look at the map... Where are you headed? What direction will you approach? What type of terrain will you traverse? Where is CE likely placed enroute to the objective? I identified what my targets would be, verbally stated our target/objective, and always tried to flank targets while maintaining an optimal distance. Here's a for instance.....

"Ok guys, we have 3 infantry with phoenix on this hill. We will approach them from the left side of the hill and I'll place our targets at 12 o'clock. I want our guns looking to the front. Open fire on my command. All other targets are to be ignored, focus is infantry on hill." We traveled up the left side of the hill, all guns were pointed to 12 o'clock in respect to the vehicle, infantry was spotted, I waited 'til I was a couple AMS lengths away slowed our speed, waited for the vehicle to angle the guns at an optimum level, and gave the commence fire. With the Marauder at 1/2 speed, chaingun and pounder blazing at full auto, We eliminated 2 of 3 targets. We could loop back around for the final kill or go for necessary repairs and later return.

Such a simple plan can avoid several rookie mistakes: 1. We flanked our opponents outside their field of vision- enabling us to land the first shots. 2. I, as the driver, would give the order to fire. I decided the distance/angle we'd engage. Often, gunners fire at the enemy upon sight. This is fine if you're already spotted, as it it too late for any element of surprise. But if the enemy doesn't have visual on you, WAIT to reach an optimal range to fire. This will greater ensure a kill and reduce the amount of return fire. 3. My gunners weren't looking all over the place, we predetermined our target, the angle of approach, and all fire was concentrated on the same field of fire. The alternative would've been charging the hill, slowly climbing the front of it, gunners blasting away at seperate targets, me not having a clue what they are firing upon, the phoenix users would have seen/heard the fire (considering they didn't already notice us approaching from their direct field of vision) and would have made hasty work of us.

The drivers other main job is repairs. The driver is the designated repairman and usually the sole repairman for two reasons 1. The Marauder hasn't much armor, so it's a quick fix. 2. I want my chaingunner with his eyes to the sky spotting for aircraft and my ground pounder searching for infantry and ground vehicles. If any other crewmember is wanted to speed up repairs, make it the ground pounder. The chaingunner is the only one that can harrass all opponents (ground/air). The ground pounder is hopeless vs. air for the most part and limited accuracy beyond short-medium range. Also, where will you repair? Know where you will repair and how you'll get there. Waypointing a safe location is best. Usually, Bases are safe for silo or glue gun repair. Unless the base is being bombed, then drive outside the base opposite the main enemy charge and do a glue gun repair. If you are away from base, try to repair over hills/behind trees hidden from enemy view.

SIDE PASSENGER (CHAINGUNNER'S) ROLE: His primary role is early warning system and Anti-aircraft. Secondary to that is concentrating fire with the ground pounder toward armor and infantry.

This guy should always have his head on a swivel. If he spots enemies, most epecially aircraft, and even more particulary- Reavers, he needs to alert the driver to their presence and location. Now, when I said he's anti-aircraft, I don't mean he has a kick ass weapon that will annihilate aircraft. He just happens to be the only gunner that can hit the aircraft. The ground pounder can hit hovering air, even then it has to be close range. DO NOT fire on aircav unless it fires at you first. Reavers can quickly decimate buggies and mosquitos can harrass them and push them away from their objective. Aircraft can quickly escape your fire, heal, and come back to blow you away. Of course there will be exceptions, a mosquito hovering near a tower with 5% life left, a reaver grounded for repairs in close range after you pop a hill..... etc. But for all you rookies that aren't sure.... do not fire at aircraft until fired upon.

Ok, the chaingunners secondary roles: anytime the marauder has engaged light armor, heavy armor, spots an AMS, he provides additional fire on these targets along with the ground pounder. Your additional damage can be key in deciding the battle against armored units. The other secondary role of the chaingunner is to engage infantry. Yes, I know it's most fun to wipe the infantryman, but this is best handled by the ground pounder and at high speeds the chaingun has trouble maintaining it's crosshairs on infantry. Aside from the times the driver specifically asks for concentrated fire on a location (as in the above example with against the pheonix users) there are usually only 3 different times I like my chaingunner to fire at infantry as a driver: 1. We are about to die, and it's because of the infantryman firing upon us. Then ok, we need all the firepower directed at the infantry we can muster. 2. The driver has asked the chaingunner to snipe at infantryman at long range. 3. There is a high level of confidence no vehicles/aircraft are around (an assessment you should leave to the driver most times). Of course, there are exceptions to all rules, but these are good rules to play by until you are confident in your primary roles as a chaingunner.