Combat Tips

Holo · 2003-06-02, 10:14 PM

As I've played PlanetSide these past weeks there is something that is becoming painfully obvious to me... I really suck at this First Person Shooter thing

I come from a game called Infantry and it's an overhead style game so I'm really kind of at a loss when I go face to face with Counterstrike players and Tribes players... But I'm sure there are a few fundamentals to fps combat that I am just unaware of, so if you guys would be kind enough to enlighten me on some of the dos and don'ts of fps combat I would be most appreciative

Jaged · 2003-06-02, 10:24 PM

It would help if you told us the type of character you played.

Onizuka · 2003-06-02, 10:33 PM

Allright I will give you the best tip (or several): NEVER EVER EVER STAND STILL. When facing an opponent move jump and run around constantly. The only time i could think you should do this is if you are a MAX or a sniper.
When your doing this get as close as you can to your opponent because your accuracy will greatly decrease when moving/jumping.

always realize how much ammo you have and when you will need to reload. You dont want to be stuck in the open and reloading so move to a rock or something.

If your being shot at DONT STAND STILL looking around like, "what was that" or something; run around and jump and hide.

If your not a max and there is just you and a max in a room/area together... RUN. You will surely beat him unless he turns his weapons off, then just turn around and fire at him until he turns them on.
Which brings me to say, your not Super man. You cant kill 5 enemies at once, so it is always okay to retreat. And its always good to have surge to do it.

Also, if your ever standing still for any reason and for any considerable amount of time, turn darklight on and crouch! Crouching obviously increases your accuracy and Stealthers love to sneak up on you when your standing still.

But the biggest thing to remeber is mobility: in FPSs always run around. Never stay still in a fight or when anyone is shooting at you.

Well those are the most important things i can think of, I hoped this will help.

WritheNC · 2003-06-02, 10:41 PM

Well it depends on what you're playing, but since I'm infantry I can help you with that.

1. Use Cover: If you are going to move across terrain, plot your path so that you are as close as you can to objects to help you hide or conceal yourself. Move towards objectives, going from tree to rock to hill ridge to rock. If you are close to *any* sort of cover when a firefight starts, use it.

If you are not spotted and cover is close, go to cover and then fire.

If you are spotted, but the enemy is medium/long range away and cover is close, take cover and then return fire.

In close firefights do anything you can not to get hit. Get used to smashing the F1 key quickly to get the extra health you need to put you over the top in a toe-to-toe engagement.

I think the best streak I've had as infantry was on Forseral. I killed probably 16 infantry, 4 maxes, and a couple light vehicles before I was taken down. Granted I choose my battles at medium or longer range, since this was against TR who don't really have anything that can compete with a gauss at distance. But that's what the game is about: play your strengths, exploit your enemies' weakness, and minimize the chance your weakness could be exploited in turn.

Granted every strategy has a weakness, but the most important weapon is your brain and way of thinking in the middle of a conflict. Have a plan for every situation, even if it includes running away. Dying to a MAX just because you want to try to stop it yet have no AP ammo, missiles, or grenades only hurts you and your side. If you can run away, run away. Chances are you'll bump into a medic, hacker, or engineer that is there to support the MAX, and killing them hurts the MAX a lot more than the 50-100 armor you would peel off before he wastes you.

Ok I must play PS now!!!!111oneone

Edit: Try "roleplaying" also. I mean, don't walk around talking like you're in the corps, but try to think like one. Imagine if you only did have one life to live, and think about what you would do if the game was a RL situation and you were really there. I find that helps when I start to become frustrated because I just want to run in and kill(which is what most people do. The sooner you stop this the better off you'll be)

gonnagetyou · 2003-06-03, 12:28 AM

Good tips already.

Number one on my list has already been mentioned. Cover and never stop moving unless you have cover. If you do have cover don't stay there too long. You will get out flanked and be dead soon. Keep moving and force your opponent to react to you. Of course he will be doing the same to you if he's smart and that's when it gets interesting.

Number two is learn the weapons and learn them well. Know their strengths and their weaknesses. Know which ammo works better on what target and use it.

Number three is learn when not to fight. I don't mean run away, though sometimes that is your best option. Though fun, running toward the enemy with guns blazing isn't the best use of time and energy. You should always be plotting and scheming. Just because you see someone doesn't mean you should aim and shoot. Sometimes following someone will lead you to the hidden AMS that has been supplying troops to the area. Taking it out will be more beneficial than allowing it to pump more troops into the fight. Little things like that will often have a more dramatic outcome on the fight as a whole than simply killing someone. You should constantly be trying to figure out new ways to make your enemies more frustrated than you are.

I play an Engineer type and the other day I noticed that if things kept going the way they were, then the base I was currently in was going to be next on the hit list. Right then I made a desicion to make it as hard as possible for the enemy when they did. I started by placing mines and spitefires all over the upper floors of the facility. I then ringed the entire base with all 20 motion sensors allotted me. I then equipped myself with as many ACE units as I could carry and set in for the enevitable attack.

The first wave of attackers took the nearby tower and proceeded to attack the base with MAX units and regular infantry. Myself and the small number of other defenders easily kept them at bay. Everytime they destroyed one of my deployables, I was right there replacing it. They spent so much futile energy trying to take out deployed defenses that it was easy for us to concentrate fire on them.

Next came drops of cloakers over the CC. like I said the whole upper stories were full of my mines and spitefires. They had no place to go and if they so much as moved my motion sensors would ring alerting me. On goes the Darklight and down goes the cloaker as he's sitting on the roof.

Next came Galaxy drops of troops and MAX units. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a MAX unit go down to a mine as soon as he has dropped from a Galaxy. As soon as the first wave was neutralized I'd restock my defenses and wait for the next.

This went on for well over an hour and a half. In that time I racked up over 100 kills and died maybe 3 times. Eventually they succeded in taking the base simply through sheer numbers and I wasn't able to restock my mines and deployables fast enough. A couple of Engineers doing this for one base along with maybe 10 others can hold a base against far superior numbers.

Just think about what may happen and come up with a solution.

Knuckles · 2003-06-03, 06:50 AM

Good thing that enemy didn't know about the back door eh, gonnagetyou?

(Good work, BTW.)

Led · 2003-06-03, 06:54 AM

1) Clean socks
2) Clean panties (Only if you are A) A girl, or B) A pansy-ass)
3) Gun warmer. Happiness is a warm gun, after all. You do not want that thing getting all cold and making everyone moody.
4) Redbull. Lots and lots of Redbull. No one will be able to hit you if you are flying around spamming "ImahummingbirdomgIhaveabunchofgrenadesherecat ch!"
5) Dallas Cheerleaders. They may not fight for old man Patton, but damned if they will not fight for racks like those

6) Pie.

Mmmm.

Pie.

Hellsfire123 · 2003-06-03, 07:40 AM

So far i agree with everything except jumping. Why in gods name would you jump in this game to avoid fire? Doesnt matter, find cover, stay moving, good. Just dont jump on the way there, as ill just kill you either in the air or when you run out of stamina.

When running, dont just hold the trigger down. Use short bursts, 2-5 shots, depending on the gun. This keeps your COF small, and you can constantly hit someone even at a distance. However, if its short range, let it rip.

Health packs are your friend. I never leave the base without 3, and my first implant is almost always adv regen. You can also grab the medic gun thingy, but that takes cert points, so you choose.

If your by a equipment terminal, switch to a different armor type (standard probally) and back to whatever you were wearing. This refills your armor. Armor is good.

When assualting an enemy position, keep one eye on the ground. Mines and boomers have a nasty habit of popping out of the ground under your feet. If your not alone, shoot at any mines you see, it will alert others.

Grenades are your friend, but coming from infantry im sure you know that

And for the love of god, people take the time to pack your inventory and save favorites. Nothing is more annoying then having 30 people crowded around an ams becuase some idiots looking around for the right configuration of medpacks. Set it in the sanc, save it, and move on so i can get my damn gun.

Plato · 2003-06-03, 10:51 AM

Look unimportant, the enemy may be low on ammo

-- Murphy's laws of combat

NCG JMan · 2003-06-03, 11:27 AM

Plato....LOL.... I have never used that tactic. I may try that one..hehe. Seriously though, great tips guys. The only thing I have to add is stay with your squad/group....strength in numbers, and coordinate your attacks. This, of course, is more PS specific (not a particular FPS strat). Keep the strats coming guys.... This thread has been a good read.

michaelsuave · 2003-06-03, 02:04 PM

people have said use cover, but another thing to do is use elevation, if you can get higher then somebody, then you can shoot down on them, take a step back, and they can't see where you are at, great for when your on the walkways of bases and the enemy, say a tank or enemy personel, are trying to charge into the base. its a psychological fact that only 20% of people actually look up when they move around, another reason why the reaver is such a killer against infantry and max's. so keep looking, not only moving.

and here is something not everybody thinks to do, listen, if your hacking a tower and you hear a door open, and your by yourself, you probably should get out of the hack, because somebody is coming out of the spawn tube. if you get that feeling like you should check something out, or move, you probably should. use your instincts. you see a shadow move in front of you, doesn't hurt to blast it with your shotgun or turn on your darklight for a second, might just save your live, and give you some xp.

gonnagetyou · 2003-06-03, 02:16 PM

Originally posted by Knuckles
Good thing that enemy didn't know about the back door eh, gonnagetyou?

(Good work, BTW.)

Yea, it doesn't work for every base. Fortunately this base had the CC located on the roof and that was the only way to get there.

Yesterday, I we lost a base easily, simply because no one would help me guard the back entrance. I swear some people don't even know where it is.

Arakiel · 2003-06-03, 02:57 PM

One of the key points that I hadn't seen addressed yet: just because an enemy is there, don't just shoot. I see a lot of people do this and ruin a chance to really turn the situation in their favor. Lots of people honestly aren't paying any attention to what's around them - you'll survive a lot longer and get a lot more kills if you try to fight when the advantage is yours.

Oh, yeah, and plasma grenades. Always plasma grenades.

Jericho · 2003-06-03, 11:16 PM

Circle strafe
Dont mouse
Use carapace/IDF

-nt-

Doppler · 2003-06-04, 02:17 AM

One of the key points that I hadn't seen addressed yet: just because an enemy is there, don't just shoot. I see a lot of people do this and ruin a chance to really turn the situation in their favor. Lots of people honestly aren't paying any attention to what's around them - you'll survive a lot longer and get a lot more kills if you try to fight when the advantage is yours.

This bears repeating, dont come at the enemy head on if you can come at their flank, dont come at their flank if you can come at their rear. Dont fire and pray at 40 yards if you can shoot and scoot at 2 from the rear.

Here's a situation that used to play itself out for me a lot, enemies are making their way in one of the entrances of a base more or less ignoring you because your in a turret and they dont want to spend any longer in your field of fire they have to, or because they simply dont see you, i generaly jump off the wall and come at them from behind with a shotty or my thumper i netted 9 kills in a 10 second stretch this way once.