Catass-field 2

[Toast]

Fun game. I am addicted to the ranking system. I love the lifetime stats. Unlockable weapons are pretty cool, too.

That being said, the experience curve is steep to get ranks and unlock gear.

This is classic. The ranking system has me pretty addicted and playing way more than I otherwise would. It also has me irritated and jealous of the catasses who already are fragging me with the shiny new weapons that I won't see for a long while.

Is it just me?

[WayAbvPar]

Nope. I am hopelessly addicted to the action AND the ranking systems. I am a total stats junkie (probably from my lifelong interest in sports). I will forever be lagging behind however, since I rarely am anything other than infantry. Hard to stack up 5/1 kill ratios as a medic!

If you can get into a good squad, points come in a hurry. The 'spawn with your squad' system fucking rules. One good APC driver and some buddies to man the guns, and the flag cap points come fast and furious. Or tagging along with a good chopper pilot or tank driver for driver kill assists 

[Trippy]

This is classic. The ranking system has me pretty addicted and playing way more than I otherwise would. It also has me irritated and jealous of the catasses who already are fragging me with the shiny new weapons that I won't see for a long while.

Is it just me?

The unlockable weapons aren't significantly better, across-the-board, than their default counterparts. Here's a link to a weapons chart supposedly copied from the strategy guide:

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/7775/weaponstats8ff.jpg

From reading various boards the only two unlockable weapons that are universally liked are the Special Forces G36C and the Support PKM. The other unlockables all have plus and minuses compared to the defaults. E.g. the Assault G3 lacks the grenade launcher the M16A2 has, the Medic L85A1 while better than the USMC M16A2 is still less powerful than the Chinese and MEC counterparts, and the Antitank DAO-12 is a shotgun so you trade range for power.

[WayAbvPar]

I think I will still unlock the L85A1 just for the automatic fire on the American side.

[MrHat]

Grrr, I may have to come up with $800.

I'm such a dirty stat whore, only reason I played CS way longer than I should've.

[WayAbvPar]

The stats make the long term play much more interesting, I played Bf1942 a fair bit, and BF:V just a few times; BF2 is A LOT more fun. Being able to earn stats for things other than being a rocket-jumping fucktard makes it a hell of a lot of fun to play.

[Shockeye]

Grrr, I may have to come up with $800.

I'm such a dirty stat whore, only reason I played CS way longer than I should've.

May I offer you an indecent proposal?

[Sky]

Stats are cool, though I hate the negative effect they can have on gameplay when people focus on stats over objectives. Which is silly, because playing to the objectives can rack up points way faster than whoring stats, and a lot more fun...but there are the natural spawn campers and whatnot, I guess.

The worst part of the stat system is when you're constantly spawncamped, or just playing against a superior force (a clan on the enemy side and whatnot) or your team is composed of morons. All pretty common in my experience, I hover around 1:1 k:d, with deaths maybe 5% over kills.

That's not bad for almost total gruntitude, I play the assault kit about 90% of the time, unless I'm in an APC or tank because nobody is taking them, but that's pretty rare. Those rpgs always get me, so I shy away from armor.

[stray]

I haven't catassed like this since....Well, never (I think). Almost a Corporal now, and ready to unlock a second weapon.

Hard to stack up 5/1 kill ratios as a medic!

Revive. Just run into battles where your teammates are backed against a wall, and save their lives (with no regard to your own). At least every few matches, don't even try to play any combat. Just heal. You'll stack up on rank points in no time. It's probably the easiest way to get rank points quickly.

As an added bonus, you can one shot dudes with the Defibrilator.

[WayAbvPar]

Oh, I do plenty of reviving and healing. I have found the best mix is to get in a APC, tank, or chopper when the map starts- if you get a good driver, you can earn a few flag cap points and some driver assist kill points. After the inevitable death, I then try to spawn in hot flag areas to keep people healed and defend flags (grenades are great for defense points if 2 or 3 guys are laying by the flag trying to cap it  :mrgreen: ). I have also gotten more proficient at actual combat- I am making more head/upper torso shots, I am hitting the ground faster (lower profile to shoot), and I have been making good use of the medic unlock gun- it doesn't do too much damage, but being able to zoom with a scope is pretty nice. It also doesn't make much noise, so you can snipe 1 shot at a time for quite awhile before the bad guys zero in on your position.


I think my next unlock (at Corporal, which looks like it will take about forever) I think I will get the new support LMG. Looks pretty nasty.

[stray]

Also, I forgot to mention: Command

Give it a shot whenever you have the opportunity. I've found that most people aren't fighting to take it anyways. That's actually the best way to get rank points.

[WayAbvPar]

I tried command a couple of times over the weekend. I think it depends on which map you get- I had trouble getting more than 10-15 arty kills. On some maps, I have personally been killed by arty almost that many times in one session!

It is an interesting break from the combat though. I only do it when my team is obviously in need of direction (not that they listen, but it is fun to pretend that they might).

[Toast]

I did a lot of playing/catassing this weekend to try and improve my skills and get to Lance Corporal. I'm having a lot of fun (still).

My strategies:
Being a squad leader is a good thing. Because squad members can spawn on the squad leader, you have people to support you and watch your back.

Armor, armor, armor. The cannon has ridiculous splash damage. APCs are helicopter killing machines.  Tanks are also great to use against hovering helicopters. I had some guy crying "How the hell did a tank machine gun shoot me down? Stupid game!" He didn't realize that I blasted him with the main gun.

Anti-tank kit. Vehicles are powerful, and it seems like there's always one around to shoot at. This kit also really helps against flag-hovering copters.

Defending back-bases / Commander resources. On almost every map in the mid stages the enemy side will make a push to conquer a rear base. I like to help defend and retake these bases. The rank points pile up when you repeatedly a base raid.

I need to learn how to fly helicopters. Those guys rack up easy points.

[Morfiend]

I am just starting to get good at flying the Apache helicoptor, and it is a BLAST. What really pisses me off though is when im sitting on the helipad "get in" "hop in" "mount up", and people just run right past to the blackhawk coptor, and take off solo. Blah. But when playing with my friends who know how to gun, we really rack in kills.

[Merusk]

I bought this sunday, and I agree it's great fun.  However, since I'm so hopelessly bad as infantry in all FPS games I know I'll never unlock anything. (played all day Sunday and from 8-3am on Saturday and I have a total of 300pts.) There's been so many "wtf, how did he see me with the M-16 from half a map away" moments in the last day I've quit a few games in frustration already.

 However, Morph, from a guy who only wants to gun and not pilot the airborne stuff, it's just as frustrating to shout "I need a ride." as a guy's taking off only to have him run you down/ take off without caring.  It's even worse when you know you're pretty good with the 'copter TV missles and are getting good with the laser-guided jet ones so you wouldn't just be a body in the plane.

[WayAbvPar]

I haven't bothered learning how to pilot a chopper or a jet yet- I assume it is better with joystick (which I do not have installed). I DO enjoy being part of a good crew though- chain guns are pure luv.

[stray]

Heh, is it just me or does anyone else do the "pre spin" thing with the chain guns before you fire?

[Sky]

I can't fly - for some reason I can't map pitch and yaw (I think, nose up/down and banking turns, not strafing...I'm bad with the terminology!) to the same joystick (on my gamepad). Just sucks due to that. Otherwise I'd be the nasty bastard I was in 1942, running through the Gazala canyon and bombing with great accuracy, dagnabbit.

[WayAbvPar]

Heh, is it just me or does anyone else do the "pre spin" thing with the chain guns before you fire?

I usually tap the mouse button on and off to keep the guns ready to fire, if that is what you mean. The first time I shot them, I missed a juicy target (I didn't realize they had pre-spin programmed in). GodDAMN but they shoot out a nice big stream of hurt  :-D

[Trippy]

I bought this sunday, and I agree it's great fun.  However, since I'm so hopelessly bad as infantry in all FPS games I know I'll never unlock anything. (played all day Sunday and from 8-3am on Saturday and I have a total of 300pts.)

The great thing about BF2 is that you can get points for doing things other than killing people. In fact you could argue that it's easier to get points doing "non-combat" stuff than combat stuff. So be a medic (probably easiest way for newbies to rack up points) or engineer or support person and get points that way. Or just run/drive around behind enemy lines and cap unguarded control points. At 300 points you are already almost 1/3 of the way there to your first unlock so the first one really is not bad. From then on, though, it gets brutal. I currently have 2789 points (which doesn't include the hundreds and hundreds of points I've "lost" because of disconnects and crappy ranked servers that aren't reporting points and awards properly) and from the bar it looks like I'm only 1/5 of the way to my next rank. Somebody said you needed 2.5 *million* points in the game to get the highest rank. At 1000 points a day that'll take almost 7 years. Talk about catassing!

There's been so many "wtf, how did he see me with the M-16 from half a map away" moments in the last day I've quit a few games in frustration already.

Yes that is one of the problems with BF2. There are a bazillion ways to die in one "hit" in the game and much of the time you have no idea where you were attacked from. As you play more and get familiar with the maps you'll learn which cover will actually hide/protect you and which will still leave you exposed (like to a sniper from above). Also remember that shots in the game have penetration values so hiding behind a wood fence is not such a good idea if somebody is firing at you with a machine gun.

However, Morph, from a guy who only wants to gun and not pilot the airborne stuff, it's just as frustrating to shout "I need a ride." as a guy's taking off only to have him run you down/ take off without caring.

Yeah that was one of things I hated about BF1942 -- on a lot of maps if you didn't have vehicle transport it took forever to get anywhere. BF2 is better in that sprinting allows you to cover ground of foot quickly but it's still very annoying when teammates pass you by in transports even after you message that you need a ride (look on your damn minimap!).

Edit: fixed typos

[Fabricated]

Good ways of making points without being a deathmatch king:

-Play support, give people and vehicles ammo. People love ammo.
-Play Medic, revive and heal people. I don't do this since Medics scream "KILL ME!" moreso than just about any other class.
-Play Engineer, pick a tank or heavy vehicle, and stick close to it. Pissing off the other team during tank battles by constantly repairing tanks/apcs as they fight is fun.
-Play Anti-Armor, spawn at back bases. Wait for the inevitable "sneak attack" or helicopter capture. Pop out and blow up the vehicle. If you're really lucky you can score a nice humiliating helicopter kill.
-Use the stationary anti-armor or anti-air guns. The anti-air in this game sucks ass compared to the nigh-unstoppable flak cannons in 1942, but you can fake out jets and copters by firing one missle to make them use their chaff, and then fire the other one the instant you regain lock.

[stray]

-Use the stationary anti-armor or anti-air guns. The anti-air in this game sucks ass compared to the nigh-unstoppable flak cannons in 1942, but you can fake out jets and copters by firing one missle to make them use their chaff, and then fire the other one the instant you regain lock.

My strategy with antiair (almost 300 kills now  :-D) is to keep lock-on on them first (which will usually get them use their chaff), then fire off both rounds quickly, not one at a time. If they're not dead in 2 shots, they'll be dead after I reload.

I'm not sure what's better though...Knocking down a chopper with 4 or 5 guys packed in, or knocking down a jet pilot who thinks he has free rein over the entire game map?

[Toast]

My strategy with antiair (almost 300 kills now  :-D) is to keep lock-on on them first (which will usually get them use their chaff), then fire off both rounds quickly, not one at a time. If they're not dead in 2 shots, they'll be dead after I reload.

I'm not sure what's better though...Knocking down a chopper with 4 or 5 guys packed in, or knocking down a jet pilot who thinks he has free rein over the entire game map?

I've never been able to get the jets. What's the strategy? Do they need to be flying away, across, or toward me?

[stray]

My strategy with antiair (almost 300 kills now  :-D) is to keep lock-on on them first (which will usually get them use their chaff), then fire off both rounds quickly, not one at a time. If they're not dead in 2 shots, they'll be dead after I reload.

I'm not sure what's better though...Knocking down a chopper with 4 or 5 guys packed in, or knocking down a jet pilot who thinks he has free rein over the entire game map?

I've never been able to get the jets. What's the strategy? Do they need to be flying away, across, or toward me?

I guess I've had the most luck when they're flying across. That's the easiest way to hold a lock on them and wait for them to use their chaff. After I knock them down though, they almost always come back to bomb me....And in that case, they're flying towards me.

[Sky]

Yeah that was one of things I hated about BF1942 -- on a lot of maps if you didn't have vehicle transport it took forever to get anywhere. BF2 is better in that sprinting allows you to cover ground of foot quickly but it's still very annoying when teammates pass you by in transports even after you message that you need a ride (look on your damn minimap!).

This is exacerbated by the APCs having very nice weapons for the driver.

But really, it's just that a lot of people aren't considerate or are outright stupid. 1942 was ripe with them. Like the tards that would hop in my artillery piece after I had driven it to the perfect spot. I'd switch to the gunner seat and some tardwad would jump into the driver's seat and drive it into combat as if it were and armored tank.

And then the planetards who will take a vehicle just to drive to the airstrip and abandon it there after taking a plane/chopper.

I have a pretty low tolerance threshold for that shit, that's why I still think Planetside kicks BF2 to hell and back - less tardery overall by a pretty huge margin.

[stray]

Are you still subbed to Planetside? What's been going on with that game? I'm curious.

[WayAbvPar]

My strategy with antiair (almost 300 kills now  grin) is to keep lock-on on them first (which will usually get them use their chaff), then fire off both rounds quickly, not one at a time. If they're not dead in 2 shots, they'll be dead after I reload.

That is how I do it too- get a lock, wait for a bit (the tone will make them dump their chaff often), then fire 2 in succession. I love AA stations. I usually end up being such a pest that I get an arty drop on my location  :-D

[AcidCat]

Anti-tank kit. Vehicles are powerful, and it seems like there's always one around to shoot at. This kit also really helps against flag-hovering copters.

Depending on the map, I find myself going Anti-tank almost automatically, even if I don't particularly want to play that role, I know it will be the most effective. You're right, there are always targets when you've got that missile on your shoulder.

I do prefer the city maps where being a "regular" soldier is more effective. I've come to really like the one gun I've unlocked, the G3 for Assault.

Anyway, I don't find myself playing for the points/medals, the gameplay itself is addictive as ever - but it is a nice extra on top of that to know that every round you're making a bit of permanent progress on your character ... it adds a small feeling of accomplishment even to a fairly uneventful round.

[Merusk]

Lotsa good info here, thanka. I'd figured some things out on my own and it's nice to see I'm not the only one who 'primes the pump' on the blackhawk gatling.

The great thing about BF2 is that you can get points for doing things other than killing people. In fact you could argue that it's easier to get points doing "non-combat" stuff than combat stuff. So be a medic (probably easiest way for newbies to rack up points) or engineer or support person and get points that way. Or just run/drive around behind enemy lines and cap unguarded control points. At 300 points you are already almost 1/3 of the way there to your first unlock so the first one really is not bad. From then on, though, it gets brutal. I currently have 2789 points (which doesn't include the hundreds and hundreds of points I've "lost" because of disconnects and crappy ranked servers that aren't reporting points and awards properly) and from the bar it looks like I'm only 1/5 of the way to my next rank. Somebody said you needed 2.5 *million* points in the game to get the highest rank. At 1000 points a day that'll take almost 7 years. Talk about catassing!

Yeah, all of the support tasks are my preferred role.  When you know you're not Joe-WTFPWN it's best to avoid the sniper/ bunnyhopper infantry. However, I have a hard time finding low-ping servers where folks are showing more intelligence than fucktards and actually, oh I dunno, form squads or the commander isn't running around trying to up his own score with individual kills instead of leading.  No squad means I'm usually running around in medic mode getting shot as I try to revive before the next incoming arty from the other team's more competent commander WTFpwns me.

 I tried engineer the first few days, but was getting constantly kicked for TKing because people are too dumb to see the BIG FUCKING SKULL that says 'hey dummy, there's a mine here.'  Well, that and I was getting run-over by all the guys I was trying to repair. Joy.

The best time I had was in the support kit when I joined a 3-man squad. The other two were Spec Ops and behind the lines blowing shit to hell with C-4.  They seemed amazed when I pulled out the reload kit and, tada, they had more C-4. 

I know my first unlock will be one of these 3 kits. Just need to decide which will be the better choice.

Yes that is one of the problems with BF2. There are a bazillion ways to die in one "hit" in the game and much of the time you have no idea where you were attacked from. As you play more and get familiar with the maps you'll learn which cover will actually hide/protect you and which will still leave you exposed (like to a sniper from above). Also remember that shots in the game have penetration values so hiding behind a wood fence is not such a good idea if somebody is firing at you with a machine gun.

Yep, I just read about that last night.  Though, some of them weren't kills of that nature.  The two that I vividly remember are: 1) The guy I was standing on top of (in the gulf of oman, on the field area) according to the UAV who never appeared on my screen.  I ran right back there, and he was still on the UAV but I still couldn't see him (Yes, dead again.)  And #2) Hunkered down one one of the US/China maps (the one with the temple) on the hill with the pagoda I was sniped (2-shot dead) from some guy all the way out at the temple according to the damage indicator.  Since I'd crawled up there to avoid sillouetting myself and we'd blown their UAV trailer I still have no idea how the hell he saw me.

My strategy with antiair (almost 300 kills now :-D) is to keep lock-on on them first (which will usually get them use their chaff), then fire off both rounds quickly, not one at a time. If they're not dead in 2 shots, they'll be dead after I reload.

I'd been using the same strat as Fabricated.  I'll give yours a try now, thanks for the tip!

Depending on the map, I find myself going Anti-tank almost automatically, even if I don't particularly want to play that role, I know it will be the most effective. You're right, there are always targets when you've got that missile on your shoulder.

I had such a moment of joy when I realized that the missile was wire-guided.  One-shotting full buggys is pure, pure love.

 So am I the only one who's experienced your entire team respawning in one location because you've lost all the other flags, and everyone is STILL only spawning as a sniper or Spec Ops trying to run up and c-4 the Tank/ APC/ AA combo that's ripping you all a new asshole at range between Arty strikes? 

[WayAbvPar]

So am I the only one who's experienced your entire team respawning in one location because you've lost all the other flags, and everyone is STILL only spawning as a sniper or Spec Ops trying to run up and c-4 the Tank/ APC/ AA combo that's ripping you all a new asshole at range between Arty strikes?

Sigh. I wish you were the only one. Between that and the fucktards who run from flag to flag, running up cap scores without regard to strategy, defense, etc, I often end up quitting the server in disgust.

[Sky]

Are you still subbed to Planetside? What's been going on with that game? I'm curious.

Actually, haven't played much in the last month. GTA:SA then BF2/demo. Right now I'm playing Age of Wonders Shadow Magic for a change of pace.

I tried engineer the first few days, but was getting constantly kicked for TKing because people are too dumb to see the BIG FUCKING SKULL that says 'hey dummy, there's a mine here.'

I was playing sniper when showing my girl the game, so she'd have time to ask questions without me constantly under fire. I'd find a nice concealed spot and then cover my back with the two claymores. Almost every time my vision blurred...I look up and see I "teamkilled" someone. Not a huge grief tool or anything...

[Jobu]

I haven't bothered learning how to pilot a chopper or a jet yet- I assume it is better with joystick (which I do not have installed). I DO enjoy being part of a good crew though- chain guns are pure luv.

I found, much to my surprise, helicopters are much easier to pilot with the mouse. You can make far more subtle adjustments to keep yourself at a rock solid hover for your gunner. Jets though, yeah... joystick all the way. Even then I only last 2 seconds. They fly too fast so I end up hitting trees trying to line up targets at the last second, or just getting wtfpwned by player who actually knows what he's doing in the jets. I'll stick to the Apache and terrorize all the armor on the map, thank you very much.

[Trippy]

I know my first unlock will be one of these 3 kits. Just need to decide which will be the better choice.   

You can unlock all the weapons in single-player by doing the following:

Go to your Battlefield 2 directory

Go to the python\bf2\stats directory

Make a backup copy of unlocks.py

Edit unlocks.py and change line 38 that reads:

defaultUnlocks = [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]

to

defaultUnlocks = [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]

Make sure you preserve the original indentation otherwise Python gets all pissy.

[Merusk]

I discovered I'm pretty decent at command last night.  I'd almost even say fantastic compared to some of the 'tards who just grab the position hoping for the point-doubling and never drop arty, supplies or UAVs at positions other than the one they're trying to solo-conquor.   It's a hell of a lot of fun as well, and if your squads listen you can wrap-up games PDQ.I I even made it 1/2 way to Lance corporal I was doing so well.  Good times.

[Triforcer]

You guys are torturing me so much...I had to return this game, I assumed like all games with "minimum" vid card requirements I could play below minimum with no problems, but as I discovered later it won't even let the game start with a card below specs.  The worst part is my laptop is an IBMT42 with an integrated card so I can't even replace it :(