Infantry 101 - Part 1 - It's all common sense..

As a battle simulation based game, some of the gaming community has held a low opinion of the Battlefield series. With the inception of the series, people have been gaining a better respect for, and migrating to, the BF style of infantry play. Lets face it, players of CS and it's clones have a strong distaste for BF2's infantry play. It may be because they are limited by their familiarity with small maps, limited options on each map, and camping style. Most likely, much of what you have learned about FPS gaming comes from Quake, UT, RTCW, ET, and CS. In BF2, this past expereince becomes useless. Although some things don't change, a lot of decisions you make about where to be and when is often the determining factor in your skill rather than your reaction time or accuracy. Therefore, to give everyone a better idea about how the infantry flows in BF2, we at GotFrag have developed a few helpful reminders of do's and do-not's.

Bunny-hopping is NOT an exploit - First, let us explain what actually constitutes someone being labeled a 'bunny-hopper'. If you are someone who jumps before they fire, and then try to dive in mid air to burst at someone's head, you are a bunny-hopper. If you hit the other guy more than you hit the ground, you are a bunny-hopper. If someone has unloaded multiple clips on you, and you are still at full health, you are a good bunny-hopper. Now that we know who a bunny-hopper is lets debate on it's legality.

The bottom line is that if the game allows it, it's not an exploit. Can you imagine how utterly boring BF2 would be if you couldn't jump up and down at will? Think how many times you jump during one life-span in BF2. If they took this away or nerfed it, we'd all look like idiots running out of stamina constantly. Once again, this game is not CS, bunny-hopping enables the infantry to be more mobile to dodge splash damage from APCs, tanks, or grenade launchers. If we were glued to the ground, we would stand no chance against a grenade launcher or an Eryx rocket. So if you're still on the sour-puss, 'bunny-hopping is for no skill losers' bandwagon, you are most likely going to get dominated in BF2.

Handy Grenades - Use them, a lot, you should never die with grenades still in your kit, unless you're getting spawn camped, in which case you're screwed. Take some time and go through some city maps, look at the angles from which you can hit a flag radius with the grenade. Take note of how the grenades move when you throw them on the run. Remember you can jump when you toss them to get them higher. Also, BF2 nades bounce so be ware that if you hit a solid object with one, it might come back to bite you.

Grrrrrr-nade Launchers - Call them 'noobtubes', 'jerk-launchers', or just plain old lame, they are the most effective method of killing infantry in BF2 (with using armor or air assets of course!). Although, some would like to argue that C4 is more effective, the frisbee and blow method. Most of the time the person committing the C4 spam takes himself out as well, unless they've managed to camp a roof and drop it on their prey. In this case, a good commander will artillery him if he's causing any problems. The grenade launcher is the only 'semi' reliable weapon in BF2;. but lets face it, yes it does do it's job when you place it in the right spot. Alas, even this weapons falls victim to the notoriously unpredictable hit detection of BF2. The assault kits have been the most traditionally used weapon. It seems as of late that teams are turning to a more C4 heavy based strat, but this strat only seems effective on teams that are naive to it. The grenade launcher is an effective defense against jeeps, and it can even put the finishing touches on an APC or tank kill. Disadvantages? The assault class poses no threat to a tank, and of course they also get dominated by anything in the air.

Eryx my eye! - Have you gone into a pub to strictly play tank and build your stats, but to your dismay someone is making you the target of their AT constantly? If you have ever had this feeling, you are probably aware of the benefits of a smart AT class player. There's only a few things in BF2 that can stop a tank from advancing. The best way is with a rocket from behind the cover of fog. There's a few steps that one must take in order to make a good shot with their rocket on a tank or APC. First, ask yourself if this tank knows where I am at? If he does, don't bother poking your head out to attempt a shot, you'll have your head blown off before you can unload on the vehicle. Second, ask yourself, "If I fire this rocket? What are the implications of my actions?". Think about what will happen if you do get a shot on him, will your position be given away? Will he just roll back to a box to repair or retreat behind a wall to wrench up his or her health? If either of the answers are yes, then don't bother taking that shot. Remember you only have a limited number of rockets, and in match situations you need to be ammo-savvy. Next, position yourself in a place that provides a terrain advantage to you. Either get low below his turret, i.e. under a bridge, or get the height advantage so he has no possibility of returning fire to kill you. Now do all of this within the course of a second (at the most) and you will be a much better AT player, and a valuable asset to your team. Keep in mind that the SRAW/Eryx is very effective un-scoped, but you can't guide it. If you are in a pinch and need to get a rocket off to make a kill shot, practice making long distance shots without zooming in. It will improve your Sraw/Eryx accuracy against vehicles as well as infantry.

Stay alive or I'll kill you - A dead teammate is no teammate at all. The best thing you can do as infantry is to practice being a team player. The longer you stay alive behind or near enemy lines, the more attention you draw to yourself. This can benefit your teammates carrying on a fight on a completely different side of the map. Provide a squad for your teammates to jump in when you're making pushes on flags. Give proper notice to your teammates of your intentions, and above all, if you tell your teammates to spawn on you because you think you have your area under control, make sure you stay alive. Don't die when you just told everyone to join your squad. Also, don't get in a spot where you are outnumbered and then decide to lure all your teammates into your perilous predicament. It sounds lame, but you are better off running away from infantry, than risking a death that ruins your team's chances at capturing a flag.

Stop, don't hesitate - If you see an enemy, shoot him. I have watched counless demos where instead of taking the first shot, a person will attempt to close in for a closer kill on their enemy. Sometimes this is ok when you're playing on a public server or in practices. However, in match time you need to kill everything you see. If you can, try to catch flankers before they become a threat. Also you'll need to understand that all out aggressiveness is not healthy for matches. So much about who wins and who loses in 1v1 infantry battles depends on who gets the first shot. The cone of fire has limited your accuracy, so remember that bursts are more effective than spraying and hoping for the best. You might want to practice your pistol skills as well, they'll come in handy when you're in a pinch.

What's your favorite position? - Don't play it, whatever you love to do the most in BF2, just stop doing it. Take on other roles for your side in pubs. Try not to have a normal routine on any map. While routines are effective ways of learning the feel of the game they can also develop bad habits that are hard to get rid of.

Taking a flag - Be aware of your surroundings, and always go through a few steps before you stepfoot in a flag radius. First, you need to clear the area, look at the ground for C4 or claymores. Take time to check the buildings or high ground around you for campers. If you're slaughtering infantry on your way in, then take note of when you killed the first one because he will surely spawn again before you get the flag grey. Stay moving! People that just prone in a corner are prime candidates for a grenade launcher in the face. Elminate your risk of someone sneaking up on you by chosing a spot that requires less than a 360 degree scan to see everyting. (like back to a wall, corners, inbetween buildings, or even the landscape itself.

Defending a flag, boring - Ya it's extremely boring to be the guy stuck to a flag for a whole round while the rest of your team gets to frolic about the map and have good times. You have to realize that as a back base defender, you are the failsafe. If things are going wrong and the enemy attacks your teams back base, you are the guy that has to end the push before it becomes a direct threat to the flag. Don't assume everything is quiet mid-match and decide that you will push up with your teammates on their attacks. You will more than likely leave a vacancy at your flag that will more than likely be filled by your opponent's team.

The artillery doesn't lie to you G.I. - The artillery in this game was designed to exterminate infantry in it's radius, if it gets a vehicle every now and then, that's a bonus. Especially on 16 player maps you will need to listen for the artillery firing from the opposing team's base. Keep in mind how close you are to your teammates. Commanders are greedy and if you are caught grouped closesly with your infantry teammates, the artillery you hear in your headset is most likely comming for you. The best way to survive is to sprint in any direction, or dive for cover. Even though some cover looks save it's really not, ecspecially if any part of it is open to the outside. Artillery splash damage is heavy so try to find the sturdiest object to use as protection.

These are just a few helpful things to think about during your next round of match play. There have been many details ommitted because everyone has their own style of overcomming obstacles as infantry players. For the next couple week we will be reviewing some basic lessons the average player can learn to step up their play. Most of these tips are common sense to competitive BF2 infantry players, but we hoped everyone took something away from it. Tune in next week for part deux.