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Jayross

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Bad Company 2: Onslaught mode announced!

May 12th, 2010 
 
DICE has announced that 5 million copies of Bad Company 2 have been sold world-wide, great news for EA and DICE, but let's get to the real news. 
 

Onslaught Mode

 
Onslaught mode is a co-op mode for up to 4 people. The mode supports the following maps: Valpariso, Atacama Desert, Isla Inocentes and Nelson Bay. The mode pitches the squad against AI enemies while you and your friends work to complete a variety of objectives. The maps are said to be "redesigned" with time of day, added vehicles, and new effects. 
 
Senior producer Patrick Bach had a few words to say about the upcoming mode: 
 

We want to consistently support the fans playing the game with new ways to get into multiplayer and also challenge the elite players with new experiences to improve their performance online. Effective squad play is the key to success in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer and this new mode will provide players with a dedicated environment to test their team skills and rank against the competition.  


The announcement also comes with a new trailer: 
 
    
   
The mode will also have leaderboard support, and will be coming to Xbox Live and Playstation Network.
Update 1: The PC situation for this looks grim, Bazajaytee of DICE explains why:
 

The problem we have on PC is that all our servers are dedicated with providers. Changing a server from Conquest 32 players to Onslaught 4 players cuts out 28 player slots from the total ammount available. This could have a dramatic affect on the PC online environment if enough servers changed to Onslaught.  

Update 2: The DLC has confirmed by Bazajaytee to not be free. (http://bit.ly/9jaxDX)
   
Follow me on twitter, or on Giantbomb for updates.
34 Comments

The Kill Cam Sucks

  You may be aware of the big outrage about the kill cam a few months ago, mainly from Battlefield Veterans. People complained that it would be cheap, and it would take away depth from the game. At the time I was still playing Bad Company 1, and was doing (for the most part) pretty well, I never thought that the addition of a kill-cam was necessary, but at the same time I didn't have a big problem with the idea of one. 
 
Back then I just assumed it would be exactly like MW2's, a slow-mo replay of how you died, but then I saw some beta footage and witnessed the glitchy-camera-circling-live-not-interesting kill cam. The BC2 kill cam gives more information than MW2's, which seems pretty ironic, since BC2 is supposed to the more 'hardcore' of the two. The way the camera collides with objects and how it follows the player makes it pretty uninteresting to watch. It could have been so much better.. 
  
What I would like to see: 
 
There are so many awesome ways to die in Bad Company 2. Don't believe me? Okay, here we go, in order of least interesting to most.
 

  • Shot by an M60
  • Shot by an assault rifle
  • Shot by a SMG
  • Shot by a pistol
  • Shot by a grenade launcher
  • Shot by a shotgun at close-range
  • Shot by a G3 or other alternate weapon
  • Machine gun emplacement
  • Very lucky grenade throw right at your feet
  • Carl Gustav from across the street
  • A recon headshots you from across the map, while you are sniping
  • A tank runs over you
  • A car runs over you
  • A tank kills you with splash damage
  • A tank fires a shell directly at your body, causing you to launch into the air.
  • A recon headshots you from across the map, while you are running.
  • A recon headshots you while you are parachuting down from the spawn, from across the map.
  • An apache gunner fires 8 shots near you and kills you.
  • An apache launches 6 rocket pods at you, causing your body to fly into the air.
  • A blackhawk guns you down while circling around the base.
  • An RPG hits the front of your Blackhawk, killing everyone inside and making the blackhawk explode.
  • A recon headshots the pilot out of your blackhawk, causing it to crash into the water and kill everyone inside.
  • A UAV gets a direct hit on you with a hellfire missile.
  • A UAV roadkills you.
  • An engineer gustavs you from across the map, while you are running.
  • Someone C4'd a building, and you unwittingly walked inside and died.
  • Someone put C4 on a crate, and while you and your 3 friends are disarming, he blows it up.
  • An apache fires missiles at a building you are inside, it starts to collapse but you don't make it out in time.
  • Someone shoots the oil tanks behind you, killing you, and causing you to fly forward.
  • An apache shoots the giant oil tanks, killing you.
  • Someone put C4 on an oil tank, you walked by, and died.
  • You are driving in a jeep with some friends, then a tank shell comes out of nowhere and flips your jeep over,  but the debris hit some other enemies and killed them.
 
Now, imagine an action-movie stylized kill-cam showing how you died.   
Headshotted by a sniper? The camera will follow the bullet in slow motion bullet time, and show the impact on your head. 
Someone shoots oil tanks behind you? The camera will go slow-motion, following the bullets towards the oil tank, then it will zoom to your character being engulfed by an explosion.  
Apache rockets? The camera will show the missiles flying through the air and hitting you. 
Tank shell? The camera will take the path of the shell and impact the character, then zoom out to show you flying through the air in slow motion. 
C4 trap? The camera will show you trying to disarm the crate, then switch scenes to the player pulling the C4 trigger, then switch back and you will see the light on the C4 turn red, then half a second latter it explodes. 
 
The technical feasibility of this type of stuff is unknown to me, but if BC3 had this, it would be awesome. What do you guys think?

23 Comments

Map Pack 3 details. Dr. Pepper Kit-upgrades get dated, priced.

Dr. Pepper Kit-upgrades

 
DICE released some information on their official blog concerning the Dr. Pepper DLC, which was originally planned for a March 9th according to the VIP store, but is now releasing on Wednesday, March 21st for Xbox 360 users. No date for the PS3, but Sony is in the process of certifying it. 
 
The DLC pack will contain new in-game awards and 4 achievements. Here are some pictures of the re-skinned gear. 
 
USA: 
   
Russia: 
     
Gamers in the North America will have to use their Dr. Pepper codes to obtain the items, and people outside of the area can purchase the kits for 160ms points per-kit, or 440ms points for the bundle. Here are some pictures of the weapons that are the same for all sides. 
 
  

Map Pack 3 Details

 
As of  April 20th that has been no word on this from the Official Battlefield Blog, but the in-game store has been updated with information on this upcoming map-pack. 
 
This future map-pack will be free to all who have entered a VIP code. From the in-game store: 

Map Pack 3 contains Laguna Alta (Squad Rush mode) and Nelson Bay (Squad Death Match mode)!

No release date is given for this map-pack.  
 
How does this sit with people? For me, I rarely play squad deathmatch, and while I enjoy squad rush, the scale of the maps pale in comparison to the previous two map packs. I have made topics asking which rush and conquest maps people would want to see, I never saw anyone post saying they would rather have a squad rush or squad deathmatch map over a full conquest or rush map. 
 
While this map-pack may not be a lot to look forward to, there are two untitled and unannounced items in the store cleared for VIP access. Most likely these are upcoming map packs, but the contents and release dates of them is unknown. Other game-modes have also been briefly discussed by DICE. 
   
Jayross, April 20th, New York.  

Images obtained from Planet Battlefield
17 Comments

Atacama Desert: The epitome of poor design

 Ahh, DICE.

You could have had something great. Something brilliant. Woe... where did it go wrong?

Atacama Desert is indisputably the largest conquest map in Bad Company 2. It has 6 heavy tanks a few light vehicles, and a UAV. The flags are separated by large distances, but there are a lot of opportunities for mid-range combat near the flags.

I could picture large-scale firefights in one of the towns. One team desperately trying to defend their last capture point while the opposing team encroaches from all angles.

I could picture tanks firing at each other from across sand dunes, or shelling buildings around a flag.

I could picture a lot of things, but will I ever be able to experience them? Most likely not, and it is all because of the helicopters. 

I like... no... I love helicopters. I love flying them. Atacama Desert is really the only map with helicopters. (hey... buh' wat abt port valdez. No. Ridiculous, I like Port Valdez but I can't get a proper Heli fix from that map)

Everyone else who likes helicopters is going to play Atacama Desert. Because of people like me, Atacama Desert is no longer about long-range tank combat, or close-quarters infantry fighting, but instead a game that circles around obtaining the helicopters.

Each team has a helicopter. Now the only way for one helicopter to stay in the sky is to keep the enemy helicopter on the ground (by spawn camping the other base), or by stealing the enemy helicopter and getting air superiority. 

That is dumb on multiple levels. Firstly, it makes no sense to allow the opposite team to enter the other team's base. If the other base was placed into an off-limits zone like the bases are in Rulalalala would solve the problem of people camping or trying to steal helicopters. Also give no points for kills in the base, that will encourage helicopters to stop spawn raping the other base.

Next is the issue of the helicopter having to monitor the enemy base to prevent the other heli from taking off. What is the point in that? The helicopter should be helping the team by providing air support to infantry capture flags. If one helicopter spawned at the center flag then it would encourage capturing flags, and then once the heli was in the air, it could do something other than camp the other base.

What are the chances of DICE making any changes to this map? Pretty much none. We can still look forward to Map Pack 3, although DICE hasn't said anything about it.

My choices for Map Pack 3 are Port Valdez conquest and Atacama Desert rush.

Atacama Desert would be awesome if the entire map is used, and given intelligent helicopter placement.

Port Valdez is also something for us helicopter junkies to look forward to.

But in the meantime... I am off to play some conquest on Atacama Desert.

Also DICE: Please increase ticket bleed... by a lot.    

52 Comments

A return to Serdaristan, and Bad Company.

With Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on the horizon, I decided to journey back to the original game. ( BC1)
 
I wanted to finish the entire campaign, and I wanted to do it fast, so I started it up on easy so I could breeze through it, but still get the story and epic experiences.
 
On one of my first missions I used an artillery gun to fire upon a convoy of jeeps. Once I was done with that I drove through the town in my jeep, where I could witness my destruction first-hand. The houses were in shambles, and flames were blazing from the wrecked Russian jeeps. We then moved to secure a river crossing, only to have a tank roll up. We didn't have any means of taking it down, but suddenly an Apache flies by hitting the tank with 4 rockets, it explodes, and the orchestrated Battlefield music started to play. For some reason, that moment surpassed any moment from any other game, and it only got better from there.
 
I continued blowing stuff up, tumbling jeeps off bridges into the ravine below, calling mortar strikes on tanks, piloting a helicopter and doing strafing runs on dams, driving a buggy through a base while dodging RPGs, running from evil helicopters, trying to blow up bridges before American tanks could get over them, the list goes on and on.
 
Jeff was right when he said Bad Company had a really unique feel, the constant chatter was refreshing, and I was disappointed when Sarge learned he wasn't going to go fishing anytime soon. The mission structure was far from linear, and on easy I was able to drive past most of it in my jeep, I was also able to think of different routes I could take, I could drive the jeep along the roads, dodging tanks, or I could steal a boat and drive it down the river. There were a lot of choices.
 
Despite all of those fun moments, the pacing in Bad Company 1 did seem a bit slow at times, the scripted action was limited to spawning enemies after completing an objective, and the vehicles didn't always feel crucial to the campaign.
 
I have read some reviews for Bad Company 2, and it seems like the campaign is much  different. Instead of being able to grab a random vehicle, you are now funneled towards the vehicle sections, I have even seen more "on-rails" type of action, which is fine, but this isn't a Call of Duty game, and I hope for every on-rails section there is an equally lengthy "drive your own vehicle" section.
 
The environments in Bad Company 2 seem really exotic and well done, but at the same time I will miss the typical countryside that BC1 featured.
 
Another huge difference in the campaign seems to be the story, and tone, in addition to it being more linear, it is also much more grounded. Well, maybe grounded isn't the right word... the first game wasn't very realistic, was it was probable, and it was an easily followed story. If BC2 really did take "some major cues" from Call of Duty, like the IGN review claims, then I hope we will not be presented an incomprehensible story of globe-trottin' bad asses. The fact that we will play the same character throughout the campaign means that we will at least know who we are playing the entire time, but at the same time might making changing from locale-to-locale even more confusing than how MW2 links its action scenes.
 
I am very eager to play the new Bad Company 2 campaign, almost as eager as I am to play the multiplayer. If you have any thoughts on the Bad Company 1 singleplayer, or have any thoughts about the new direction of the Bad Company singleplayer, post them here.  
 
EDIT: If Miss July is not in BC2, I might get very upset :(
EDIT2: I have confirmed that Miss July will not be appearing in Bad Company 2... I will miss her sweet voice, and she never did tell me what her favorite color was...
12 Comments

Port Valdez tips and tricks!


Port Valdez Tips and Tricks

 
Now that the Bad Company 2 demo has ended, I can look back at my 63 hours of playtime and give some tips, tricks and strategies for Port Valdez (Rush).  Most of these tips are going to be map-related, so I am not going to tell you to "fire in bursts" or anything general like that. 
 

Tier 1:

 

Defenders:

This base is fairly open, and defenders have a pretty clear view of any attackers coming towards the base. Defenders should prevent tanks from getting into their base by using the two AT rockets. Snipers are also useful on defense, they can lay C4 along the road and counter-snipe to protect people who are using the AT rockets.
 
Alpha is very vulnerable, and if a tank is hammering it from the top of the hill it might not last.
Bravo is very open, and if the defenders can stay in places with a good vantage point of the crate then they should be fine.
Make sure the attackers don't gain control of the construction building, or the two-story next to Alpha. 
 

Attackers:

This base can be easy, or can be very difficult, but it all depends on your opposing team. Snipers can pick you off as you come down the hill, they have two AT rockets, and a heavy machine-gun (+ two on the two-story next to alpha). It might be tempting as an attacker to snipe, but more than 2 or 3 snipers will hurt your team. The snipers should keep people off the AT weapons, and spot all infantry.
 
The tank should be used to hammer alpha or the construction building from the top of the hill.
 
Alpha can be easily destroyed by a tank or C4, or arming the charge and getting into a spot in the woods, or in the two-story are also good tactics.
Bravo can be tricky, especially if the attackers have got Alpha already. If the defenders are doing their job and watching the crate arming Bravo can be difficult. Placing C4 on an ATV and driving it into Bravo, then exploding it, can do good damage to Bravo.
 

Tier 2:

 

Defenders:

Both of the crate buildings can be collapsed, Alpha is particularly vulnerable. Ideally your team should split up, one side for Bravo and the other for Alpha. Taking out the tanks that are shelling Alpha is crucial. The squad defending Bravo should try to control both of the two-story buildings, or colapse the one next to Bravo.
 

Attackers:

Use the heavy and light tank to collapse Alpha, get engineers to keep them repaired. Meanwhile, a squad or two should go to Bravo, with some people going into the building next to Bravo, and some others going to Bravo to arm the charge. Watch for people camping behind the stairs or in the roof. The team in the building next to Bravo should blow some holes in the wall so they can see Bravo crate. From there they can easily defend it while the charge is set.
 

Tier 3:

 

Defenders:

The defending team has been pushed back to this point, the good news is that this is a fairly easy base to defend, if you move quickly enough at the start. Snipers do well on this map, the walls of Alpha and Bravo can be blown-up so that snipers on the construction building can get a good view of the crates, and can easily defend them. 
 
It is very important to have a skilled heli pilot and gunner for this part.
Use the choke-point! There is a major choke-point on Tier 3, if you can move most of your team up to that point, with medics, engineers, and assault classes, you can easily hold the choke-point with good Apache support. Make-sure no one gets past, a common tactic is to go along the ocean-side, or climb the surrounding cliffs. If a squad gets past your front-line, you will need to fall back and resort to a more traditional, and challenging type of defense.
 

Attackers:

Attackers need to act quickly to move their tanks and squads into the base, the attackers should not get pushed back at the choke-point at all costs. Once inside the base it is fairly easy. Alpha can be armed and then guarded from the many surrounding buildings. Bravo can be armed and then defended from within the warehouse using the corners.
 

Tier 4:

 

Defenders:

Don't abandon Alpha. While you should work on defending Bravo, you should also have an ample squad near Alpha to prevent it from being destroyed. The blackhawk is a cool toy, but not very useful to the defenders.
 

Attackers:

Get Alpha first. Enough said. For more info about Tier 4, read my other blog post that goes into more depth:
http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/jayross/crate-a-on-the-last-base-is-a-total-bitch/30-38269/
 
Or: things to avoid when using a tank:
http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/jayross/tanks-are-huge-hunks-of-metal-on-treads-but-they-suck/30-38224/


And, if you try to follow these tips, but the rest of the team is running around making snowmen, you might be interested in joining Tactical Gaming:
http://www.giantbomb.com/battlefield-bad-company-2/61-25246/tactical-gaming-is-recruiting-for-bad-company-2-ps3-360-pc/35-389099/#37 
 

Next up: What is the deal with the multiplayer maps in Bad Company 2?

 
 Thanks for reading, until next time... look out for menacing helicopters.
4 Comments

Carrier Sickness (Short Story)

     

Carrier Sickness

 A short story. Part One.

 
      The sun shifted through the radioactive, midday haze and beat down on the steel and iron hull of the large, beached aircraft carrier. Many consider Rivet City as the most secure place in Washington D.C., which isn't saying much considering the second largest town is composed of scrap metal and was constructed around a Chinese atomic bomb that never detonated. Compared to the rest of the D.C. Wasteland, Rivet City is a pretty nice place to live, although at times one can think that the iron walls that are meant to keep the super mutants out, do a better job at keeping everyone in.
    It is with those thoughts Henry found himself looking through a porthole and scanning the ruined D.C. skyline. The Washington Memorial was half stone, half skeleton.
        "Do you ever wonder what it's like out there?" He asked Buck, who was tossing rusty bolts into the pale green water.
        "I've heard stories and that's enough for me, besides, Rivet City has everything we always needed," replied the adolescent of 16, only one year older than Buck.
        "But don't you get tired of the darkness? Don't you wish we could see the world? See what it's like?" questioned Henry.
        "The only thing I need to see is the safety of these 4 inch metal doors, and if you cared for Ma, you would too," answered Buck. "Speaking of her," he added, "we need to get down to the mess hall by 6 o'clock, Ma says."
        "You go on ahead," insisted Henry "I'll catch up, I just want to watch the sunset just one more time..."
        "What do you mean 'just one more time'? That sun isn't going nowhere, and neither are you," stated Buck, grabbing Henry's collar, who struggled only a bit.
    The two brothers retreated from the deck into the dim steel staircase towards the decks below. A dull murmur could be heard from the mess hall, accompanied with the clangs of plates against the grimy floor. A damp smell of sterilized "Pork N' Beans" greeted the two teenagers, who were more interested in getting a plate than finding their mother.
        "Wait, we were supposed to find mum before dinner," remembered Buck, tugging at his brother's arm, and pulling him away from his plate, causing him to drop it. The people in line turned around at looked at Henry.
        "You better clean that up!" Shouted one of them.
        "Henry, get a rag and clean that up, now," demanded Buck.
    Henry dipped his hand into a crusty bucket and pulled out a greenish rag. He got on the floor and started cleaning up the brown, chunky liquid off the iron floor. Buck watched to make sure he did a good job and didn't miss any spots. Once Henry was done, and Buck was satisfied, they started walking to The Muddy Rudder. However, Henry was not going to put up with Buck any longer.
        "Buck! That was my food! And I already gave them my meal-card! I am starving!" yelled Henry, extremely irritated.
        "Well I never said you could get food, Henry, you need to listen to me.
        "Buck, I don't need your permission to get my food!" said Henry.
        "Quiet Henry! You are making a scene! Let's just go find Ma."
    Buck hurried off to find his mother, with Henry in tow. By now most of the residents had took their plate of pork n' beans and had found a table, however the bar was still open, and Buck knew that's where they would find their mother.
    The Muddy Rudder was even darker than the rest of Rivet City, the rays from the few bare bulbs were engulfed by thick smoke. Henry coughed, but he saw their mother at the end of the room sitting at a table by herself.
        "Hey Ma! Sorry we were late, Henry made a big mess in the mess hall," informed Buck.
        "No I didn't!" Insisted Henry, "You were the one who did that! And now I don't have any food!"
        "Anyways, Ma, do you want us to bring your dinner for you, or are we going to eat in the mess hall?"
        "Let's go to the mess hall," begged Henry, "I don't like it in here..."
        "Quiet Henry! No one's asking you!" Said Buck.
    The woman took a swig from her pale-yellow glass and leaned back, a cigarette was clenched between her gums.
        "Sorry Ma, Henry will go get you your food, won't you Henry?"
        "Alright..." he replied, as Buck handed him the meal-card for their mother, but Henry had other plans for the meal-ticket.
    Henry walked through the iron corridor, past the Church of Atom, into the mess hall, although this time chatter did not echo off the metal walls, and it was nearly empty.
        "Uh oh," thought Henry, rushing to the counter where he would normally present his meal-card in exchange for a ladle of food.
        "Ah shoot," Henry muttered to himself looking at the empty, sauce-coated vats.
        "Dinner starts at 5:00, you're too late, " sneered the lady sitting behind the counter. "But if you give me your meal-card I can give you some old C-class rations.
    Disappointed, Henry returned to The Muddy Rudder with the C-class biscuits and presented them to his brother, who was not happy with what Henry brought back.
        "Henry, I asked you to do a simple task, bring Ma a plate of pork n' beans, was it that challenging so that instead you brought her some biscuits? Ma will love these, I'm sure! What, were you afraid of dropping the plate again? Can't I ask you to do anything? I am so sorry Ma, Henry failed to bring you any food tonight. The woman coughed, closed her eyes, and breathed deeply through her cigarette, which was considerably shorter than at first, now almost at her wrinkled lips. She opened her eyes and Henry was gone.  
 
 
If any of you read it fully, wow, thanks, it was quite a read, but I hope it was terribly boring. The next parts should have more more action, and won't be all emotion and sibling rivalry. If you liked it please say something, if you have some suggestions, say something.
 
Thanks,
~Jay
2 Comments

DICe has a big task ahead of them...

Battlefield games, and the entire FPS genre have changed a lot from 1942 and BF2. The Bad Company series polished infantry combat, vehicles, destruction, and many other Battlefield aspects. Many would say Bad Company 2 is the best Battlefield game yet. Sure BC2 is coming out on PCs, but lets face it, BC2 is not what we would want from Battlefield 3. But what do we want from Battlefield 3?
 
DICe has the huge job of making BF3, by making it bigger, while incorporating some of the stuff from BC2. BF3 will have to have everything BF2 had, but more, bigger and better looking.
 
Having a 64 player cap is so 2005. Games have advanced a lot from there, so having a cap at over 100 seems like it wouldn't be too much to assume, despite DICe seemingly scaling back the scale of the battlefield games in favor of close-quarters combat.
 
Maps: The maps are going to have to be even bigger than BF2 to support the increased playercount, but at the same time look good and be interesting. They should also try having more CQ stuff.
 
Destruction: If it is frostbite, it is going to have it. But will it be better than the destruction in BC2? Maybe... maybe not. BC2 is only 32 players for the PC, DICe will have to take significant steps from there to BF3 in terms of destruction, and with larger maps, the potential for over-stressed servers is a major problem.
 
Vehicles: Obviously the return of jets is a must. And with an increased playercount there can be even more vehicles, such as UAV predator drones, bombers, helicopters, and all of that good stuff.
 
Game-modes: Lets be honest, BF3 needs to have more than conquest. Would they bring over Rush from Bad Company? Will they have some of the other modes from Bad Company? I think we might see some variations of Rush, but DICe is going to have to think about what gamemodes would suit such a game.
 
Structure, map design and vehicles: If BF3 were to have a playercount of 100+, UAVs, jeeps, tanks, jets, cobras, blackhawks, they have to think of a way to balance everything, balance the maps for the vehicles, optimize vehicle spawn points, vehicle damage, vehicle health, rpg damage. 
 
Getting people to be team-players and work as a squad in a game with such a large playercount, maps, and vehicles is going to be very challenging. DICe should look to MAG, but I encourage them to improve on it immensely. 
 
DICe has a pretty big project on their hands, and I hope to the gaming gods that they can succeed.

3 Comments

Crate A on the last base is a total bitch.

I have no idea why DICe made the last base such a bitch, but here are a few tips so that you don't get bitten.
 
The attackers can be rolling along through the bases just fine, that is, until they get to the last base, that is when the problems start.
 
Chances are that a few people are going to run up to Bravo, set the charge, then camp in the corners. Then once that happens, there is an even better chance of them getting Bravo. "But you are supposed to get Bravo, right?" you might ask, but actually by those people getting Bravo they just screwed over their entire team. 

 Once  Bravo is gone all of the defenders are going to be focusing on Alpha, and since there are multiple buildings that have a good view of Alpha, the attackers have to clear out the entire perimeter to allow them to plant the charge. If the attackers somehow manage to arm Alpha, the attackers can swiftly clear the area and disarm. It is a joke, really, and the attackers spawning on each other is even more annoying because of all the hiding spots they have, but at the same time have a good vantage point on the crate.
 
Also, there is no way an attacker's tank can operate sucessfuly anywhere near Alpha, there is no vertical terrain or any cover for a tank at all, and since all of the defenders are in such a close vicinity to Alpha, you might aswell Start>Suicide like before.
 
However, this can all be avoided by a skilled and coordinated team. There are a few ways to avoid defeat on this stage of the map, but proper execution of this strategy is crucial.
 

Method 1: stealthy infiltration

Once the map moves to this last stage, the defenders  tend to advance to the Bravo building and along that hillside. Your squad must access the base undetected by following the road to the left and heading up into the treeline towards the helipad. Alternatively, you could risk going along the right side, but the chances of detection are higher, although it is much faster.
Once you have infiltrated into their back part of their base, you must now take up positions with good vantage points of Alpha crate. There are two 2 story buildings with a decent vantage point onto A. The sandbags near the helipad, the small warehouse near the anti-tank gun, or the shack near the oil tanks all have a decent vantage point over the crate, pick your location based on the range of your weapon.
Your squad should set-up in these positions, while one man runs to arm the crate, then runs to a defensive position.
 
If your squad is competent, they will be able to defend the crate, while staying alive until Alpha has been destroyed.
 

Method 2: Dual Charge

 This method is the same as the first, except you arm both Alpha and Bravo at the same time to divide the defenders, making it twice as easy to get the charges.
 
Next up: More helpful posts, and less critical ones.
12 Comments

Tanks are huge hunks of metal on treads, but they SUCK!

Tanks are pretty cool, but lets face it, they aren't very good at all.
 
Here is the list of things to avoid:

  • Anti-tank guided missiles.
 These things are everywhere, there are two on the first base alone. One shot can cripple a heavy tank, or even destroy a light tank. You gotta look out for these, they are everywhere.
 
  • C4
If you see a sniper even a few feet away from your tank, you should probably just go to the start menu and select "suicide". Chances are the sniper got two or three charges on you and you are about to die. But there is C4 everywhere! I personally like to put some C4 on the road and wait for an unsuspecting tank to stroll by and BAMMM@#@#$!!! They are dead.
 
Or, you might happen to see an assault class. "Oh, hes harmless, what is he going to do? Use his grenade launcher on me? Pff" 
 
WRONG!
 
He could be using a shotgun and might be putting C4 on your tank as we speak! Quick, do that thing we practiced earlier: Start > Suicide , there we go! just like the Japanese in WWII. And while we are at it, you might want to avoid crazy people driving those quad bikes, there is a chance they might have C4 on them too.
 
  • Rockets and red blinky things
Well well Johny, what do you have there? Oh thats nice, a little red light thanks blinks, very cool Johny, your tank looks mad pimped.
 
Oh but wait, what is that over there? Missile Lock? Look out Joh.. KABAM@%$#!!! Adios Johny! See you! Sayonara! 
 
  • Other tanks
 I remember back in Bad Company where light tanks were a joke to us heavy tanks, but now they can hurt you pretty good with their HEAT rocket and increased normal shell damage. So look out for those too.
 
  • Helimachoppers
Say hello to the Best Game with Evil Helicopters of 2010! These things are viscous and will tear your tank to pieces. And if it has a competent gunner, then you might just see a hellffire missile heading your way..SHABAMKABAMMAMDAM#$!#@!
 
Next up: Why the last base is a total bitch.
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