Playing large Maps
Posted: 2011-01-08 18:53
Playing large maps can be a fun experience, if there is a sufficient degree of coordination and leadership among the squadleaders and players. If people are unsure what to do, boredom sets and everybody ends up stranded somewhere. Here are some general tips and elementary tactics on how to play large maps.
-Adjust your expectations. If you are in an infantery squad and everything is going really well, chances are after mortars and shelling through armor There will be not too much to do for you. However thigs can get really hectic really quick as well.
-Avoid being stranded if possible. If you are away from the fight, try to get transport.
-Man the assets. Using very little assets and saving on tickets sounds, but if the redforce puts their assets to good use, it will be more mobile and infantery will be on the receiving end against cas and armor in the long run, unable to hold on to its gains. If you lose your assets do not disband the squad. Do something else while you are down and out, grab hat if you are in an armor squad and man the assets again as soon as they are avaiable. If you cut off the reinforcements of the enemy by disabling their fobs and setting up your own, an infantery squad will be able to gradually wear down an larger enemy infantery force even in areas that cant be reached by armor or cas, while your armor cuts off resupplies. Remember that you can cap the enemy with armor as well.
Keep track of the assets that are down and up for your and the enemy team.
-Be flexible, look at what is needed right now. If you are an air assault infantery squad, you might want to go mechanized at some point to bring more firepower.
-Keep track of what you have and your enemy has and fields. If your team lost a lot of armor while the enemy did not its porbably not a good time to attack.
-Communicate, use the radio if possible let the team know what you know and make sure everyone is on the same page on what to do.
-Go mechanized with your infantery, unless you are an air assault infantery squad. Where a limited number of assets are avaiabel it makes sense to have dedicated armor squads only. On large maps you typically have a big number of assets. If you have a dedicated armor squad, that crews tanks or 2 of the more powerfull apcs on the map along with one or two air assault squads. Not only will that be one less squad for transport to worry about, you have a powerfull weapon against infantery as long as your apc does not lead the charge and access to weapons and ammo.
-Use mortars. Especially on large maps mortars can save you a lot of trouble, by taking out fixed positions such as AA TOWs, but also enemy infantery covering open ground making an approach difficult. Of course that might require the mortar squad to relocate a lot due to the limited range of the mortars, but it is one of the most important assets on 4km maps.
-Keep your CAS alive. CAS is the single most important asset in the game, especially if the the crew can use it. Who told you otherwise is lying.
Here is an initial loadout for one of the 4km maps. Most large maps have an similar composition of assets. Some have less, like Yamalia which lacks tanks, while quinling has more airpower than most maps. Take adjustments as needed.
1 Air Transport Squad 1-2 people
1 Air assault recon squad 2-4 squadmembers. This squad will set up an fob nearby the objective area and scout it out and direct mortar fire on Fobs, Tows and AA emplacements and of course assault the flag later on. Equip it with a HAT to target mobile AA if it gets the chance and a sniper rifle, if it is not possible to take out emplacements with mortars. If needed it can go mechanized and man an APC.
1 Full Air assault infantery squad. This squad will defend a friendly flag. When an objective is capped it can airlift to the next flag set up defenses and look for nearby enemy fobs.
1 armor squad 4-6 squadmembers. This squad will man armored assets such as tanks or well armed apcs. Use it to engage Enemy armor and of course the objective, after threats such as a tow emplacement have been removed by Mortars or AA.
1 Mobile AA squad. 2 people. Crew the AA vehicle if avaiable. Use it to trail your armor.
1 Mechanized infantery squad 6 people. Have 2 squadmembers crew the apc. Use the APC to equip the squad as needed.
1 Mortar squad 2-3 people. This squad will ideally position and reposition mortars in a way to engage all the active flags.
1 CAS squad, 2-4 people. Use cas to gain air superiority first, then help out the attack or defense as needed.
Set up a fobs to protect your flag. Assets can be set up in a 200m Radius around the fob, take advantage of it, else mortar and CAS can take out most of the defenses with little effort.
The cas squad along with the armor is deployed in a forward defensive position, hope for the enemy cas to come after your armor, it’s a good opportunity for your cas and mobile AA to engage enemy cas.
Seek out and destroy enemy armor with your own tank squad. Make sure the TOW is down on the enemy flag before you approach it. Advance with the Armor first for the enemy flag and take it along with the mechanized infantery squad and the Recon squad.
After the flag is capped have the defensive squad airlift to the captured flag and seek out and destroy nearby enemy fobs. Between setting up defenses for the fob and fending off counterattacks eventually damaged or destroyed assets should have spawned back before you can move on to the attack again. If you do not replenish your losses and try to carry your momentum with mostly infantery you run the risk to get stonewalled by an enemy wich received resupply.
Sometimes things go bad and you start losing your assets. When that happens retreat sooner rather than later, you want to retain at least some of your assets, so you can set up a defensive position, while waiting for your assets to spawn back. Do not disband any squads, you want to man your assets again as soon as possible. Grab all the AA and AT you can and set up a defensive position.
Fall back to a FOB area, have the TOW and AA up and manned. Have your remaining armor fall back as well rather than fighting on outnumbered on the frontline. Have your mortars redeploy if they are in a position where they will be discovered by the enemy.With handheld AT the tow AA handheld AA and maybe a surviving tank the team stands a decent chance to at least fight off the enemy long enough for the teams assets to spawn back.
-Adjust your expectations. If you are in an infantery squad and everything is going really well, chances are after mortars and shelling through armor There will be not too much to do for you. However thigs can get really hectic really quick as well.
-Avoid being stranded if possible. If you are away from the fight, try to get transport.
-Man the assets. Using very little assets and saving on tickets sounds, but if the redforce puts their assets to good use, it will be more mobile and infantery will be on the receiving end against cas and armor in the long run, unable to hold on to its gains. If you lose your assets do not disband the squad. Do something else while you are down and out, grab hat if you are in an armor squad and man the assets again as soon as they are avaiable. If you cut off the reinforcements of the enemy by disabling their fobs and setting up your own, an infantery squad will be able to gradually wear down an larger enemy infantery force even in areas that cant be reached by armor or cas, while your armor cuts off resupplies. Remember that you can cap the enemy with armor as well.
Keep track of the assets that are down and up for your and the enemy team.
-Be flexible, look at what is needed right now. If you are an air assault infantery squad, you might want to go mechanized at some point to bring more firepower.
-Keep track of what you have and your enemy has and fields. If your team lost a lot of armor while the enemy did not its porbably not a good time to attack.
-Communicate, use the radio if possible let the team know what you know and make sure everyone is on the same page on what to do.
-Go mechanized with your infantery, unless you are an air assault infantery squad. Where a limited number of assets are avaiabel it makes sense to have dedicated armor squads only. On large maps you typically have a big number of assets. If you have a dedicated armor squad, that crews tanks or 2 of the more powerfull apcs on the map along with one or two air assault squads. Not only will that be one less squad for transport to worry about, you have a powerfull weapon against infantery as long as your apc does not lead the charge and access to weapons and ammo.
-Use mortars. Especially on large maps mortars can save you a lot of trouble, by taking out fixed positions such as AA TOWs, but also enemy infantery covering open ground making an approach difficult. Of course that might require the mortar squad to relocate a lot due to the limited range of the mortars, but it is one of the most important assets on 4km maps.
-Keep your CAS alive. CAS is the single most important asset in the game, especially if the the crew can use it. Who told you otherwise is lying.
Here is an initial loadout for one of the 4km maps. Most large maps have an similar composition of assets. Some have less, like Yamalia which lacks tanks, while quinling has more airpower than most maps. Take adjustments as needed.
1 Air Transport Squad 1-2 people
1 Air assault recon squad 2-4 squadmembers. This squad will set up an fob nearby the objective area and scout it out and direct mortar fire on Fobs, Tows and AA emplacements and of course assault the flag later on. Equip it with a HAT to target mobile AA if it gets the chance and a sniper rifle, if it is not possible to take out emplacements with mortars. If needed it can go mechanized and man an APC.
1 Full Air assault infantery squad. This squad will defend a friendly flag. When an objective is capped it can airlift to the next flag set up defenses and look for nearby enemy fobs.
1 armor squad 4-6 squadmembers. This squad will man armored assets such as tanks or well armed apcs. Use it to engage Enemy armor and of course the objective, after threats such as a tow emplacement have been removed by Mortars or AA.
1 Mobile AA squad. 2 people. Crew the AA vehicle if avaiable. Use it to trail your armor.
1 Mechanized infantery squad 6 people. Have 2 squadmembers crew the apc. Use the APC to equip the squad as needed.
1 Mortar squad 2-3 people. This squad will ideally position and reposition mortars in a way to engage all the active flags.
1 CAS squad, 2-4 people. Use cas to gain air superiority first, then help out the attack or defense as needed.
Set up a fobs to protect your flag. Assets can be set up in a 200m Radius around the fob, take advantage of it, else mortar and CAS can take out most of the defenses with little effort.
The cas squad along with the armor is deployed in a forward defensive position, hope for the enemy cas to come after your armor, it’s a good opportunity for your cas and mobile AA to engage enemy cas.
Seek out and destroy enemy armor with your own tank squad. Make sure the TOW is down on the enemy flag before you approach it. Advance with the Armor first for the enemy flag and take it along with the mechanized infantery squad and the Recon squad.
After the flag is capped have the defensive squad airlift to the captured flag and seek out and destroy nearby enemy fobs. Between setting up defenses for the fob and fending off counterattacks eventually damaged or destroyed assets should have spawned back before you can move on to the attack again. If you do not replenish your losses and try to carry your momentum with mostly infantery you run the risk to get stonewalled by an enemy wich received resupply.
Sometimes things go bad and you start losing your assets. When that happens retreat sooner rather than later, you want to retain at least some of your assets, so you can set up a defensive position, while waiting for your assets to spawn back. Do not disband any squads, you want to man your assets again as soon as possible. Grab all the AA and AT you can and set up a defensive position.
Fall back to a FOB area, have the TOW and AA up and manned. Have your remaining armor fall back as well rather than fighting on outnumbered on the frontline. Have your mortars redeploy if they are in a position where they will be discovered by the enemy.With handheld AT the tow AA handheld AA and maybe a surviving tank the team stands a decent chance to at least fight off the enemy long enough for the teams assets to spawn back.