Here are some more things I've learned recently that will assist commanders and squad leaders.
1.) AIMING ORBITAL BARAGES - In my previous post I noted that the rounds in an Orbital Barrage pretty much land in the same spot over and over again with some slight variation. If your getting hit in a barrage, you will continue to be hit unless you move. I've also learned that the exact spot you place your barrage icon will have a round land in that spot over and over again during the barrage. That’s right. You can actually aim one of your barrage spots with complete accuracy. This opens up a couple of useful barrage tactics and considerations.
2.) Flag Cap Prevention - I mentioned in my guide that unlike BF2, artillery in BF2142 is not as effective at stopping players from capping your undefended flags. This still holds true versus 2 or 3 organized flag cappers. But, versus 1 or 2 cappers tight together, an excellently placed barrage icon can kill them both in one shot. Max zoom and place the barrage icon right on top of that prone enemy capper for the kill. Other factors are the flag cap radius and hard cover near the flag.
3.) The EMP + Orbital Barrage Combo vs Vehicles - One thing I forgot to mention in my guide is that unlike BF2, artillery in BF2142 is very effective versus vehicles. In BF2 its not uncommon to drive your tank onto a flag right in the middle of an artillery barrage to begin the capping process under the protection of artillery fire. In BF2142 this is not the case. For vehicles, artillery kills. And since vehicles are larger targets, it can kill quickly if they don't move fast enough. Since you as a commander have the ability to aim your center barrage round directly on your barrage icon, combining this with EMP can be deadly to enemy vehicles. There are some great advantages and some drawbacks to this tactic. To use this powerful combo attack, you basically EMP the target vehicle, then quickly use an orbital barrage with the icon directly on top of the vehicle. The EMP prevents the vehicle from moving away as long as possible so it can be hit with your aimed barrage shot. Best case scenario is, if the vehicle is already damaged, odds are you'll kill it. Worse case scenario, if it had full health and the driver is pretty good, he'll use his counter measures and get out of there quick. He'll be pretty damaged but easier to take down. I've seen some commanders do the orbital first, then the EMP. Since the EMP has a longer fire delay, I prefer EMP then Orbital first. There are some caveats. If the vehicle is moving around a lot , its highly possible that you may miss on your EMP and Orbital Barrage completely. If no other enemy is around, you've wasted two of your commanders assets on dirt and snow. So make sure you attack at the optimal time. Either when the vehicle is at a choke point and doesn't seem to be moving or if its trying to cap a flag etc.
4.) Other Considerations - Its pretty common for commanders to find an area packed with enemy troops, click a barrage and place it in the general area of the troops. Since you can aim your center barrage round, commanders should take a little extra consideration on where they place the barrage icon. Try finding a tight group of 3 or 4 enemies within the area you are going to barrage anyway. If nothing else, you'll kill those troops. And since artillery kills count the same as if you shot the poor bastards yourself, you may get a pin as well. Every once in a while I get SL requests for Orbital Barrages. This is good because we know the SL needs that barrage in that area. Since we can aim with our barrage icon, its possible you may have to decline the SL's request, then re-aim the barrage center point on a sweeter target near the SL's request. If you do this, make sure you let the SL know through VOIP that you declined his request so that you could aim the barrage center point better. This lets him know that you aren't ignoring his request. If the SL's point is as good as any other, then accept his barrage request.
5.) DENSITY OF FIRE - I had quite an interesting weekend of BF2142. I managed to land on a server and team that was winning on a regular basis. I'm not the kind of guy to join a side just cuzz its winning. My wins:loss ratio shows that. During my time commanding that winning team I noticed a common factor. And this applies basically to conquest maps more than titan maps. During those maps, all of the squads were pretty much close to gether. They were moving around the map together in a densely packed group. We all know that squad members should stay with their SL's as much as possible. This combined with two or three SL's side by side working and moving together allowed a density of fire that was ruthless. I bet everyone knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this kind of tactic. You shoot one guy, and his buddy shoots you and then revives his buddy. Your dead and they get kill+revive+teamwork points. Everywhere you turn, your getting shot at. The enemy is all over the place and at your best, your getting 1:1 kill/deaths the entire game. Its common for a team to loose all of their flags except one, then move out of their last remaining spawn point in a strong cluster and cap the nearest flag with ease. Its because they are grouped and clustered due to everyone spawning from one point.
a.) What can you do as a Commander and SL to prevent this from happening to you - As an SL its vital that you keep your squad together and moving as a group. This is the nature of the game anyway. Anything you do with your squad is worth more points than if you did it with other people on your team. If you revive a squad member, you get extra points. Shoot a target your teammates are firing at and you get assist teamwork points. Some awards require high Teamwork scores. This is how you get them. Moving and working together as a squad. As a commander you need to keep this in mind and make some suggestions to your SL's as well as give grouped attack commands. If you've got two 6 man squads, rather than send each squad to a separate enemy flag, keep them together. Let them attack the same target and over VOIP let each SL know to move together with another SL. I'm not talking right on top of each other, but at a good distance. VOIP would sound like this, "Squad 1 and 2, please attack the Harbor point together. Squad 1 take the lead and squad 2 follow closely with your squad. Don't leave each other behind and you'll take the point easily with your fire." Whenever you make a suggestion to an SL, tell them why. They are more likely to do what you want if its for a good reason. Keeping your troops together is the key.
CONQUEST: END GAME TICKETS During my play this weekend I played 3 maps where the score was 1 to 0. That’s right, one team lost by 1. I played many more maps where the score difference was less than 10 to 0. When a player dies and then respawns 15 seconds later, that player uses 1 of his teams tickets. I cringe every time the ticket counts get low and close because I’m wondering which hyped on BAWLS, living in their parents basement, pimply faced, carpal tunnel, hairy palmed Paladin of forced abstinence is going to click in and ruin the win for his team without giving it a second thought. To improve your odds of a win in this situation, commanders should remind their SL’s to remind their squad members to NOT click in with less than 10 tickets on their team if the ticket count is really close. The commander should also type in team chat not to click in as well. Let your current forces on the field get the kills, and let the enemy spawn in for their loss.
Terminator (Rated 34 In The World)