let the game go for a few years until only the hardcore sob’s are left.
Karkand is easily winnable by the MEC if the following two conditions are met:
[ul]
[li]Immediately at the start, the two main roads leading to the first capture point are heavily mined. This prevents the initial wave of vehicles from breaking through and capturing flags deep in the city, and they’ll get bogged down trying to support infantry on subsequent pushes.
[/li][li]The commander keeps an eye out for enemies sneaking around the side and dispatches squads (or artillery) to deal with them.
[/li][/ul]
I’ve had very good success on Karkand with these tactics, even when I wasn’t in the commander’s seat. I don’t understand all of the frustration that people have expressed with that map… :?
The problem is that no one does that stuff. At least, not consistently.
My frustration with Karkand is that it has all the potential for a Stalingrad-like slugging match. It’s pretty much the only map where that’s possible. The other urban maps are too wide open at the start, and the opponents start at opposite ends of the map–there are basically a dozen ways to approach Sharqi and Maashtu.
Karkand is set up with both sides starting within spitting distance of each other, and there’s only one way for the USMC to go. Hell, the USMC can’t even do any Blackhawk Whoring in Karkand. It’s as if DICE wanted a mini-Stalingrad going down.
I almost want those flank routes physically disabled in the next patch. Make Karkand a pure slugging match, like it feels like it’s supposed to be. No more dancing around the flanks.
I think it points to one of the biggest problems in all BF games…almost no one plays defense. I do have to say, I’m not a big fan of the maps that one team has an uncapturable base, but the other team does not. I know war is not fair and all but games should be:)
Try telling a squad to defend…laugh.
Sure, there are problems with the players and their organization… that’s always inherent on public servers. However, the problem runs way deeper than that. It’s not the map design, it’s not the players… it’s the entire game.
The capturing of flags is horribly implemented. The specific timings are irrelevant, but the basic fact that you can capture any flag at any point in time is just absurd. You wonder why you have so much trouble organizing your team against the enemy and vice versa? This is the primary force behind this problem. If the nodes were linked ala Onslaught (I think there’s a server side mod that does this… I’ve seen it in the Filters on ASE, but I’ve never played a server running it) there would be a central point of struggle and people wouldn’t have to run around playing “musical flags” for 30 minutes of a 45 minute round.
This post on the Shack sums up everything that they fucked up. I’ll copy it in here to save some time.
[i]- Blackhawk transport owns the MEC/chinese transport
- Attack chopper has the armor of a freaking tank and the firepower of 3 tanks
- transport choppers turning flags with engineers repairing in flight is completely stupid
- Spec Ops not getting points for destroying arty, UAV, radar…what where they thinking?
- Engineer repairs too slow compared to medic healing and support supplying ammo
- Engineer shotgun need to have its range increased so they can survive more.
- sniper rifle needs more accuracy(I admit i hate snipers but geez even I know that their accuracy is shit)
- Buff all Anti-Aircraft weapons. Buff all weapons against aircraft. (a tank hitting a chopper with its main gun should blow it up)
- Completely overhaul the punish system. Make it so forgive is the default option(i dont punish). Also make it so if i’m in an APC stationary, and 3 asshats in a jeep crash into me and die that I dont get -12 points punished.
- Remove ONE flag from every map. The game is musical chairs right now. Flag hopping all over the place. We play to fight each other not to play musical flags.
- Buff the infantry class. There is NO reason to play the infantry class when the medic class: 1) has the same weapon 2) runs faster 3) can heal himself virtually instantly to maximum health. Right now all infantry has is a decent unlock(minus the ammo), a grenade launcher, some body armor, and one stinking smoke grenade
- Give grenades to the Anti Armor class and maybe 1 extra rocket
- Limit spamming of things like “Enemy spotted”. Some guys come into a 64 player server and just spam this to grief ppl.
- Increase the number of jeeps/vans in the game. These maps are huge and its no fun being stranded on a flag thats 500 meters from the closest enemy flag to get. Especially if you are one of the slower running classes.
- Slightly increase the time it takes to change a white flag to a captured flag. Turning the flag to white has the right amount of time, because it basically gives the enemy one shot at spawning and defending it.
- Buff the tank and nerf the apc against armor. A tank should almost always win against an APC. Right now APC’s are beating tanks and thats just wrong.
- Nerf the attack choppers damage so that it requires TWO passes to take out an APC or tank. This is unbalanced BS right now. There is NOTHING a tank or APC can do against an attack chopper, not even jump out and run like hell.
- Do not let supply crates repair Arty. Supply crates should be for players and vehicles only.
- Make the support gun a little more accurate in close range fights while standing(not alot accurate but right now its downright miserable)
- Make knives slightly deadlier with a slightly longer range. Desert Combat had this right
- Do not let players shoot while they are jumping. You cant shoot while sprinting, you shouldn’t be able to shoot while you are jumping…this isn’t quake or CS.[/i]
The majority of games I play online suffer immensely from these problems. Very rarely is there a moment where I’m not swearing about a critical flaw in the design, which makes it a bit of a downer. The comments above were taken from a thread on the BF2 expansion pack, which was announced before the 1.02 patch even came out.
I know it’s a complete pipe dream, but if they changed these things and made the game more realistic it’d be so much better. I mean, if a helicopter is smoking and has 2 bars of health left how the fuck does it even fly? Why is there not extreme control problems, oil on the windshield and other severe mechanical issues? If I had 20% of my car I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to drive 3 feet down the street. Seeing these asshats motor away with smoking rotors only to cap 3 more points as they float along is beyond ridiculous.
Do not let supply crates repair Arty. Supply crates should be for players and vehicles only.
A big pet peeve of mine.
The grenade launcher is the biggest asset of the Assault Class. Even the hyper-accurate Spec Ops gives way to grenade spamming on Karkand.
That post had some good points and a few nit picks. Lets hope that the next patch will be out soon and will address at least some of those issues.
One big peeve of mine is the constant, relentless, jarring, annoying, “ENEMY ______ SPOTTED!” from every damn player on the team. It’s nice to have all that info on the map but it drowns out just about every other audio in the game. Keep it restricted to squads, a certain limited area or give me the option to cut out the spotted audio cues all together.
As far as that list, blackhawks dont own anything. One anti tank shot to the wheel blows the whole chopper every time, unless they patched it recently. BH’s are group tombs.
A well crewed BH will slaughter an AT trooper trying to line up that shot. That’s assuming the BH is moving low and slow to make that shot even possible.
Except i’ve actually never seen this happen.
I’m also 100% certain Black Hawks can take more then one hit from the AT weapon. And most well stocked Black Hawks will have Engineers and Medics.
The only way i’ve really wounded BH is to knock about their passengers. And then they just have to wait and respawn.
If there IS a problem, it’s the 15 second respawn. It needs to be 30 seconds although finding this online is implausible (i’ve never encountered it).
I’ll tell you though what pisses Helicopters off more than anything and that is the LMG class. That worthless MG is hell for copters trying to hover over your lines and rack up the kills. Unfortunately you’ll rarely kill a good pilot with it, but driving it away is worth more than points.
TG is experimenting with respawn time. I think they got it up to 20s last time I checked.
TG also has a few custom scripts on their server, which stop some of the annoying crap.
- Blackhawk transport owns the MEC/chinese transport
Only relevant in the maps without Jets or Attack Helicopters, and then one lonly MEC Transport can just crash into the Blackhawk and get 4+ kills. Add C4 for better effect.
- Engineer repairs too slow compared to medic healing and support supplying ammo
This would increase the worth of vehicles, making camping even worse (and wasn’t there a complain about Helis and Engineers?)
- Engineer shotgun need to have its range increased so they can survive more.
They have three vehicle-relevant options, they are fine as is.
- sniper rifle needs more accuracy(I admit i hate snipers but geez even I know that their accuracy is shit)
Practice more. M95 spawn camping is mean as is right now.
- Buff the infantry class. There is NO reason to play the infantry class when the medic class: 1) has the same weapon 2) runs faster 3) can heal himself virtually instantly to maximum health. Right now all infantry has is a decent unlock(minus the ammo), a grenade launcher, some body armor, and one stinking smoke grenade
The GL spamming in Karkand or any close combat situation begs to differ.
- Give grenades to the Anti Armor class and maybe 1 extra rocket
Why? I play Anti Tank exclusively, it’s fine as is.
Also yes you can take down Attack Choppers and Transport Choppers just by hitting their underside once! You get an intact chopper to steal sometimes, too. :D
I seriously don’t know what this “one-hit to the underside of a blackhawk” is all about. They take just as many rockets as a tank in my experience, and it’s all but impossible to hit them unless they are slowing down directly above you as you respawn in. With engies/medics it is absurd.
Only 2 out of 10 shots will I hit a helicopter that I’m leading or tailing with my rocket, and even then it doesn’t do a damn thing. I’ve shot helicopters with tanks multiple times, and the only time I’ve gotten a kill is when the copter was nearly dead and it exploded - or I had a direct hit on a pilot or other crew member. Tell me how I can shoot a pilot out of a helicopter with a tank round yet it’s still mechanically viable and the whole thing doesn’t burst into flames?
- Blackhawk transport owns the MEC/chinese transport
Only relevant in the maps without Jets or Attack Helicopters, and then one lonly MEC Transport can just crash into the Blackhawk and get 4+ kills. Add C4 for better effect.
Right, because the first line of viable air defense is suicide bombing by another aircraft. I’m such a fool for overlooking the obvious. Also, most servers that I join tend to have the maps set so the air power is inherent no matter the size. I’ve been on 16 player servers that have the map size set up so the airbases are still there… it’s pointless. The best games I ever played were on Karkand or Mashtur with 32 people on the 16 player settings.
- Engineer shotgun need to have its range increased so they can survive more.
They have three vehicle-relevant options, they are fine as is.
Uhh, the shotgun tweaks probably weren’t mentioned in relation to combating vehicles. Just hazarding a geuss here.
I do agree the Assault class is fine as it is, and that’s what I tend to play most because the GL owns. The only other class I play is Anti-Tank, and that’s only when I keep getting my ass pounded by vehicles (which is 95% of the time). I’ve never had a problem with the M95/sniper crap so I can’t really gripe there either.
i’m pretty sure the one shot AT deal is for real because it has happened to me. there’s apparently a luck factor involved, just as i’ve killed numerous blackhawks with atk helo missiles; if aimed right 3-4 hits will do (fired at the top of the main rotor from a position slightly higher and on the rear quarter to perpendicular either side) but it works maybe a third of the time
Best AntiChopper weapon in the game is the emplaced TOW. That baby will take a chopper down no problem.
Except i’ve actually never seen this happen.
I’m also 100% certain Black Hawks can take more then one hit from the AT weapon. And most well stocked Black Hawks will have Engineers and Medics.
The only way i’ve really wounded BH is to knock about their passengers. And then they just have to wait and respawn.
If there IS a problem, it’s the 15 second respawn. It needs to be 30 seconds although finding this online is implausible (i’ve never encountered it).
I’ll tell you though what pisses Helicopters off more than anything and that is the LMG class. That worthless MG is hell for copters trying to hover over your lines and rack up the kills. Unfortunately you’ll rarely kill a good pilot with it, but driving it away is worth more than points.[/quote]
I’ve seen it plenty of times, though only when/if the pilot decides to hover-cap the flag. You shoot the wheel, it dies in one hit, it’s a bug. Hit most anywhere else and they’ll barely notice it. And yeah if you miss, the death rays get you.