Battlefield 3

[Strazos]

To be honest, I think the idea was borrowed from WAP. 

Last I played, the shotguns had been nerfed somewhat, so it was no longer trivial to no-scope slug snipe across maps.

[Speedy Cerviche]

On medics: when I first started playing bf1942, I liked the regular grunt gun (assault kit?). But once I was asked to play medic, I never went back. It had a much nicer burst, even though it did slightly less damage you'd get more head shots, so you'd end up with more hits. And of course be able to heal yourself and your squaddies after. Then I got recruited as a pilot and usually went engineer to repair planes (on pubs, usually on private, it's faster to just get shot down and respawn). Another El Alamein story - landing the plane at the edge of the map in the desert, jumping out to repair it, jumping back in, total denial for the plane campers. It was so much fun to take competition level skill onto pubs and just pwn the server...part of why pubs aren't fun for me now that I'm the pubtard :p

I always did better with assault, hated the medic SMG which had a much worse cone of fire. I could go prone and pick off people at medium range with the extra accuracy and damage. There were also healing stations all over so being able to heal self wasnt a huge deal.

[bhodi]

This thread is now about BC2 strategy until BF3, since the BC2 thread is a year old! Here are my (old) stats. Yes, my K:D sucks. I don't care! I have everything unlocked. Yes, I'm a year late on it. I realize.

Always take Smoke on vehicles to stop tracers, or Zoom on UAV for the vehicle spec. I use the G7 for pistol but I have no real favorites there.

Here are current best builds after all the patches:

Assault
XM8 Proto, 4x, Magnum long range, while leveling up
FN2000, Red Dot, Magnum for close range, door-to-door, small maps. Better than a shotgun.
M416, 4x/dot, Magnum - Replaces XM8 when you get it for medium range mobile firing. If you move while firing a lot, get stability instead.
M16A2, Extra Explosive/dot, Magnum - 3 round burst means accurate long range fire death machine and death machine in general. Best assault gun IMO
M16A2, Extra Explosive, Exp MK2 - Team up with another assault, drop ammo, hide and fling a grenade a second and 40mm grenades at enemy defensive positions.

Medic
M249 Saw, 4x/dot, Armor/Magnum - OK long range gun, best option you get till the 2 last. Must be still while firing.
MG36, +healthpack, Armor - Comes with a free dot sight, best long range "sniping" style LMG. Ridiculous accuracy, good firing rate. I personally prefer this. Use Armor to live longer to revive people.
MG3, 4x/dot, Armor/Magnum - Slightly better than the MG36, but you lose the free dot sight.

Engineer:
Eng guns suck. Sorry. AKS-74U is the closest assualt rifle but G1/M1 are both better. Take the tracer as a pistol.
PP-2000, CG, Extra Explosive, Exp MK2 - Best in class close range gun. Gustav is the best gav, but you can swap for mines or the AT4 as needed. Swap PP for the G3, or the M1 if you have it for assault rifle flavor.
870 Combat, Slugs, Magnum - It's like a sniper rifle only your bullets drop only about half normal. A ton of fun and you can get plenty of shotgun headshots. Bonus, you can kill heli pilots with it as well.

Recon:
M24/Gol, 12x Scope, Magnum ammo - Standard camping asshole-on-the-ridge setup. M24 reloads faster, Gol has no zoom sway. Pick whichever you like. SV98 has 10 rounds but is weaker. Also you can swap for a dot scope and pretend you've got a shotgun. Don't silhouette yourself against the sky, hide in bushes half way down.
Saiga, Shotgun Spec, Magnum - Go house to house guns blazing, using sensors to find people.
VSS, Extra ammo, Magnum - Hi, I am the most stupidly overpowered/awesome setup. I am like an extra long range assault rifle with a crazy firing rate that kills in 3 hits and kills in 1-2 headshots. If you are a recon that is a team player, play this like assault with 2nd sight thanks to sensor balls. Throw more sensor balls. Throw them before going up a hill. Throw them at enemy positions. Rack up points for free even if you aren't doing anything. Use single shot or two round bursts at long range, hold fire button down medium/short range. This is currently the game's I WIN button.

[Strazos]

Hey, stats...cool, they finally got that crap working: http://bfbcs.com/stats_pc/%5Bf13%5D%20Strazos

I somehow ended up preferring the Neo2000, able to snipe across maps if you have high res, a good eye, and steady hands.

Also, I had nearly forgotten how much I was starting to love Assault...especially once I realized how hilarious it was to sneak up on APCs and plant some C4; I think I got something like a 6x kill once. Also started to get ok with piloting aircraft.

[HaemishM]

I thought the PP2000 engy gun was total shit compared to the Uzi.

[bhodi]

Patches have made a lot of changes to many of the guns.. the Uzi is awful now.

[Furiously]

Did it stop all the aimbots?

[bhodi]

Mostly, but there are also server side scripts that just boot people who are 25:1 k:d. That, and server admins.

[stu]

I've been playing BC2 again lately. Man, I'm kinda surprised by how much time I've put into this game. Then again, I generally find what I like and then stick with that, + one or two others, for ages.

http://bfbcs.com/stats_ps3/rhenasaurus

Right now, my favorite weapon is the AN-94 plus my dodi finger.

[HaemishM]

Patches have made a lot of changes to many of the guns.. the Uzi is awful now.

This was last week. The PP2000 seemed to have shit damage at range while the Uzi was death on a stick.

[WayAbvPar]

Mostly, but there are also server side scripts that just boot people who are 25:1 k:d. That, and server admins.

I wish EA would do this with their sports titles. Hey look, some guy with 1000 games played and has 7500 goals. That has to be legit, right?

Edited to add this-

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/710950/battlefield-3-could-support-256-players-will-only-support-64-though.html

Why on earth not? 128 v 128 would be fucking incredible.

[NiX]

I wish EA would do this with their sports titles. Hey look, some guy with 1000 games played and has 7500 goals. That has to be legit, right?

Edited to add this-

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/710950/battlefield-3-could-support-256-players-will-only-support-64-though.html

Why on earth not? 128 v 128 would be fucking incredible.

Could is a magic word. Despite them saying it's a design decision, I'm going to say 256 people blowing shit up would do terrible things to any server.

[Sheepherder]

The amount of server bandwidth out (client bandwidth in) to support a given number of people increases by the square of the number of people.  Ergo, 256 people would require roughly 16 times more bandwidth than a 64 person match takes.  In practice, the amount of bandwidth a person requires is variable, and the amount a client need can be reduced with aggressive culling.  But 256 people packed into a small area would be really hard on any home connection even if it doesn't headshot the server.

[stu]

OK now I remember what I dislike so much about BC2. I just loaded more than a half dozen Conquest maps and on each one, the score was something like 10 - 175, with three scoreless low level players against a couple squads of lvl 50s and some straglers.

[Sky]

Levels in fps 

[Mrbloodworth]

Loved 1942, the others? Not so much.

[Malakili]

Mostly, but there are also server side scripts that just boot people who are 25:1 k:d. That, and server admins.

I wish EA would do this with their sports titles. Hey look, some guy with 1000 games played and has 7500 goals. That has to be legit, right?

Edited to add this-

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/710950/battlefield-3-could-support-256-players-will-only-support-64-though.html

Why on earth not? 128 v 128 would be fucking incredible.

Sure, as long as 128 v. 128 is sustainable.  Given the fact that the map size would be absolutely huge to deal with that, the gameplay would probably be utter crap on anything but a highly populated server.  Granted, this problem could be avoided by having maps designed for different player numbers.   

As for levels - they don't matter too much in BC2 from my experience.  The guns are better at higher levels, but not insta-win better.  The bigger issue is that you have is that experienced players will beat the crap out of inexperienced payers.  The fact that they have even BETTER equipment only makes it worse.  I don't think that levels totally ruin any FPS they touch, but I think they do not add a single thing and do subtract things.

That being said, I'm firmly against levels in an FPS and would MUCH MUCH MUCH prefer to have everything available straight away "for free" so to speak (I think Tribes is a good model for this in terms of having tons of options for loadouts).   Its just more of the old "Lets keep people playing longer by dangling shit in front of them to chase."  It worked so well for MMOs that every other genre needs a host of levels, achievements and other meaningless sit to attain these days.

[WayAbvPar]

I would like to see unlocks for cosmetic things like black BDUs or sunglasses or berets...silly shit that looks cool but has no effect on gameplay.

[Sky]

That was one of the cooler aspects of BF Heroes, it had style in spades. Make that the carrot, and nothing that affects the power differential, since that's already inherent in online shooters from time invested.

[Malakili]

That was one of the cooler aspects of BF Heroes, it had style in spades. Make that the carrot, and nothing that affects the power differential, since that's already inherent in online shooters from time invested.

I can deal with this if necessary, but I'd still prefer to just leave it out entirely or make all the cosmetic stuff available right away.   Why does this kind of game need a carrot?

[HaemishM]

To sell you DLC, of course. 

[Azazel]

The classes are "Balanced" as long as you ignore the fact that a Recon with a 12x scope sitting in spawn doesn't really help his team, sniper rifles are kind of lame (from a fun perspective on both sides) and people getting ressed with half health would solve the medic balance issue (which is the fact they can keep a squad up and a push going, not that their weapons are overpowered).

I play a lot of BC2, mostly on the goon server, which is amazing because people actually spot. Which is awesome. Steam says 73 hours, and I only got it in the last sale.

On a normal server attackers have a very tough time these days on Rush. Of course you can often have a walkover on any map, but the amount of times I've been with halfway-decent teams and both sides have stopped the other on the first or second set of M-COMs is really not uncommon these days, compared to on release.

Is it open world, or does it just have really huge maps? I saw that video that italian gaming site took during a closed presentation. At the beginning, they seemed to be demoing a huge height-mapped desert and then proceeded to play in what appeared a pretty large city, because the skyscraper models went pretty far down the map. Or is it just for effect and invisible walls everywhere?

Battlefield 3? I've heard buzz about it going back to larger maps, but nothing official or final yet.

In BF1942 they didn't give ANY classes a .30 calibre MG, shows how dedicated to balance over reality they were back then. They also made fixed heavy MG gunner positions in bunkers and trenches very vulnerable to return fire and sniper fire (your head was really exposed), again for balance.

.30 cal MG? Which one would that be? Oh, none. They're all 5.56 or 7.62, except the Chinese one which is 5.8x42mm. The shielded MG positions can be annoying, but there are just as many unshielded ones, and when you use one of those, you know you'll die a lot faster than if you're running around on foot. Only way to hurt those choppers for many kits, though.

I've had some battles where I've made a significant difference as a stealthy, ambushy sniper. What really fucks teams though is when you have 6 snipers taking potshots from half a mile away and no one taking out vehicles or actually going to cap a flag.

I love (playing against) those teams.

Levels in fps 

I don't mind the way that BF:BC2 has done it. BF2's version was just so fucking long and tedious I stopped playing the game long before I unlocked half of the guns. Especially since I like using a lot of the earlier guns. I also enjoy the ding-grats of getting new shit while also enjoying shooting people in the face.

I would like to see unlocks for cosmetic things like black BDUs or sunglasses or berets...silly shit that looks cool but has no effect on gameplay.

Agreed. This seems to be in BF3 in some form as they've spoken about it already. I'm sure more stuff will be available as DLC, TF2-style 

[Strazos]

I run up and knife them. They're so stuck in their own bubbles, they don't see their lame sniper buddies getting killed by knife on the alert window.

[ffc]

This Brink interview about sniper assholes is pretty funny. 

There is a special face I made every time my squad had 3 snipers light years away from the objectives forcing me to run across the map to the action.  It's the same face I make when the dentist decides it's time for a deep cleaning.

[Strazos]

So sniping will take...2 shots? 

Or, just pick people off in a crowd that's being fired upon. 

[Sheepherder]

.30 cal MG? Which one would that be? Oh, none. They're all 5.56 or 7.62, except the Chinese one which is 5.8x42mm.

 

[Trouble]

One of the things about 2142 was the immense amount of mobility that the aircraft provided. Hopping around the map with an organized squad was just fun as hell and it felt really rewarding to get shit done. It was also very easy to get into the action in a non-cheese and fun way. I like big ass maps but I also want to be able to get around quickly in a fun way. 2142 had this. I've only played bc2 and 2142 so I don't know if this complaint is true of bf2. Theres helicopters in bc2 but either due to the smaller maps or the ease of taking outnhelciopters, its rare I ever see them used outside of fly to target area and jump out the fucking window, explosion. Very unrewarding.

[NiX]

Does 2142 have any servers still running?

[bhodi]

There will be a temporary re-explosion when it gets released on steam, between next weekish and when BF3 comes out later this year.

[Azazel]

.30 cal MG? Which one would that be? Oh, none. They're all 5.56 or 7.62, except the Chinese one which is 5.8x42mm.

 

:p

ok you got me there. My native thinking is metric, but my fuckup. I was thinking of this kind of thing
http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/30cal.htm

To be fair though, his argument was that 1942 didn't give anyone a .30cal MG. Since so many of these are either 303 or 7.xx, I'll assume that Trouble meant the same thing that I did by .30 cal

The BAR
Cartridge: .30-06 Springfield (7.62x63mm) (M1918, M1922, M1918A1, M1918A2)
7.92x57mm Mauser (wz. 1928)
7.65x53mm Belgian Mauser (FN Mle 1930, FN Mle D)
7x57mm Mauser
6.5x55mm (Kg m/21, m/37)
303 British (7.7x56mmR)
7.62x51mm NATO

Degtyaryov (DP)
Cartridge   7.62x54mmR

Type 99
Cartridge   7.7x58mm Arisaka


Sturmgewehr 44
Caliber: 7.92x33mm Kurz

FG-42 (SW)
Cartridge   7.92x57mm Mauser

Bren (SW)
Cartridge   .303 British
7.92x57mm Mauser (for Republic of China in World War II)
7.62x51mm NATO (Post WW2)

[Azazel]

One of the things about 2142 was the immense amount of mobility that the aircraft provided. Hopping around the map with an organized squad was just fun as hell and it felt really rewarding to get shit done. It was also very easy to get into the action in a non-cheese and fun way. I like big ass maps but I also want to be able to get around quickly in a fun way. 2142 had this. I've only played bc2 and 2142 so I don't know if this complaint is true of bf2. Theres helicopters in bc2 but either due to the smaller maps or the ease of taking outnhelciopters, its rare I ever see them used outside of fly to target area and jump out the fucking window, explosion. Very unrewarding.

BF2 had this, and I really do miss it in BC. In BF2 the Blackhawks were used to fly people around to take flags, while the ones in BC2 are basically used as gunships, and if you happen to spawn-on-squad, you might jump out the door into the map proper or the "you die in 8 seconds" zone.

[Surlyboi]

This Brink interview about sniper assholes is pretty funny. 

There is a special face I made every time my squad had 3 snipers light years away from the objectives forcing me to run across the map to the action.  It's the same face I make when the dentist decides it's time for a deep cleaning.

So, basically, Brink is an FPS that pats you on the head and tells you, "it's ok that you suck at FPSes, here, we're gonna lower the bar to make you feel less like a loser." Really?

[Sheepherder]

Bulets.

Don't ask me why they don't do [width]x[length] like metric does, or why they don't have a standard for width rather than using measurement at the lands or grooves of the rifling at will.  I just know it's all pretty much .30 or .303 diameter measured at the lands, with the latter seemingly having fallen out of favour.

[Azazel]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/03/04/dice-on-the-decline-of-pc-gaming-bullshit-battlefield-3-will-give-extra-love-to-the-pc-community/

Interview with Karl Magnus Troedssonfrom DICE comes with various PC-love promises. Promising to give the PC the same full post-launch support that they promised for PC, then pulled gave consoles with BC2. He's talking a good game, but then again, that's what they said for BC2. Not to mention we've heard it before from other devs. Remember Randy/Gearbox's promises for Borderlands?

[NiX]

There will be a temporary re-explosion when it gets released on steam, between next weekish and when BF3 comes out later this year.

You tease.