Wednesday, March 28, 2012

WoW Battleground Strategy: Warsong Gulch

Warsong Gulch is a classic capture the flag scenario. It is a 10v10 map in which both teams have a flag, and in order to make a capture your flag has to be at its base. This post is an overview of a working strategy for this battleground.

Firstly, at the low levels, there is absolutely no reason to guard the flag in the flag room. Rogue stealths in grabs the flag, dashes out, and then everyone guarding the flag has no way to catch up - taking them out of the fight completely. So, at lower levels there is a slightly different strategy than at levels when you can use mounts. At low levels (before mounts) anyone playing defense actually needs to be controlling the middle of the field, and run interception in case of an enemy flag carry (EFC). Other parts of the strategy remain unchanged. There are two schools of thought, and we will cover them both.

Strategy 1: Just like in CTF on FPS, there are 3 main positions. However, these are even further broken down. Each "position" in this case is actually a team with positions. The teams are: defense, assault, and freelance. Each team needs a healer.

The defense team will most likely be made up of ranged. They need to be able to slow the enemy down somehow. The goal is to keep them enemy from getting away with the flag too quickly. Hunters, Mages, and Priests all make good defense. Hunters especially, as they can place traps around the flag to freeze/slow the enemy. Death Knights also can use their ranged slowing ability.

The assault team will have your flag carrier, a healer, and another DPS to help kill attackers. The flag carrier has to have high stamina and high resilience. Typically a plate wearer with a protection spec will be the flag carrier, due to high survivability. The DPS can be any class. The healer can also be any healer, but instant cast heals are better than cast times due to having to move to keep up with the FC.

The freelance team is a healer and a DPS that is wherever they need to be. They run interception in the middle, as well as general harassment for incoming enemy.

In the case of an enemy flag carry, the defense's job is to get the flag back. The freelance also goes after the flag. The assault team keeps doing its job.

Strategy 2: This strategy is similar to the first, except that there is no freelance team. The defender and assault teams are split evenly, with five in each team. The defender team has one healer, while the assault team has two. The defender team's job is defense and retrieval, while the assault team's job is capture. This strategy seemingly is used more often, and is easier to implement in a pick up group.

The main thing is gear. The FC has to have high armor, high health, and high resilience. The healers have to be able to heal. And communication is key.

All in all, this is a simple game type that can be won as long as you have communication and don't simply fight in the middle.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Proper Flanking Maneuver

I was struggling on whether or not to post this strategy for two reasons. First, the advantages to flanking should be obvious. Second, I wasn’t sure exactly what in my military training was made available to the public. So, I went online and did some Googling, and found out what the general public had access to, and am keeping my explanations within that boundary so as to not accidentally reveal any information not available already.

This post will be more applicable to cover based shooters, like Gears of War where you can shoot from behind cover, but will also apply to other shooters like Call of Duty where someone can duck behind cover quickly.

First of all, everyone flanks in FPS whether they know it or not. The enemy is behind cover? Oh, move to the side and shoot him there. This is flanking at its simplest. At the core of every FPS player, he knows this. If you can’t shoot him from where you are, move and shoot him there. This post will talk more about flanking as a team maneuver rather than a single player maneuver. We will treat a team as 6 players.

Proper Movement: When moving as a team (6 players) it is important to stick together. It is especially important in games where you can revive a fallen teammate. Gears of War has done this well. In games where you can’t revive (Call of Duty) it is also important so that you can overwhelm any opposing forces with superior firepower.
   The drawback to this is twofold. A lucky player might be able to spray his way into killing the entire moving team if they are together. This can be negated by proper cover, however.
   The second drawback is that if you are too close to your teammates, a single grenade can kill several of you. This is where communication comes in handy, as well as good situational awareness. When a grenade is tossed into the group, the first person to notice it needs to inform the others. Everyone then gets behind cover, or dives/rolls away as the game allows.
   To properly move in order to conduct flanking, a 6 player team will be divided into 2 3-man teams. One 3 man team will move forward of the other.
This will allow the second team to flank the enemy, instead of getting caught up in the enemy’s fire.

Actions on Contact: The team that takes fire (whether it be the front team or the back team) will “get on line” parallel to the incoming fire, and behind cover. For a simple illustration, we will say that the front team takes fire from the front. The enemy is behind cover. (See illustration, left.)

The team taking fire will immediately move to cover positions, and continue to fire at the enemy. In a best case scenario, the enemy dies there. If not, then the flanking maneuver begins.

The rear team will move off to whatever side has more cover (in this case, the right side), and (keeping behind cover) will then shoot at the enemy’s unprotected flank. (See Illustrations)
   



1. Team Taking Fire gets behind cover

2. Rear team head up behind cover to begin flanking

3. Rear team sets up behind cover to fire at enemy's unprotected flank.

  1. Front team on line behind cover
  2. Rear team flanking the enemy, remaining behind cover
  3. Rear team firing at enemy’s unprotected flank
As you can see, the process is simple, but not used to great effect very well in FPS. If you were to try and use this exactly, it would probably fail in video games. But, use this as a guide to keep in mind during firefights, and you’ll find that even though doing this “by the book” won’t work very well, using these principles will.

   - Woody

Setting up a Working Capture the Flag Team

First of all, there are three positions on a CTF team. There are the runners, midfield, and defenders. This works on any FPS, but is geared towards the COD franchise. Here is a description of the three positions:

Runner: The runner (R) is the person who tries to capture the flag. He is as light as possible. He uses submachine guns to run quickly, and uses perks which allow him to run faster and farther.

Midfield: The midfield (MF) is used as a front-line defense against the enemy. They work the center in order to keep the enemy at bay. They also work as a line that the enemy runners must get through to capture the friendly flag. He is equipped with either assault weapons, or outfitted like the runner in order to catch an enemy flag runner.

Defender: The defender (D) is just that. He has heavy weapons in order to spray any incoming enemies. He needs to be patient, as under perfect circumstances, he never sees the enemy. He is a lot like the goalie in ice hockey.

Setup: In a 6 person team, you will have 2 flag runners, 2 or 3 midfieldsmen, and 1 or 2 defenders. If you are finding that you are on offense most of the time, have only 1 defender with 3 midfieldsmen. However, if you constantly have to divert your midfieldsmen to defense, then have 2 defenders and 2 midfieldsmen.

Strategy: There are 4 possible scenarios, or stages, of the strategy.
    Both Flags at Bases: This is the “reset” scenario, and will be the state of things most of the time. In this stage, the 2R head up the most unused routes to the enemy’s flag. Their job is simple: grab the flag, and get back. The MF set up watching likely travel routes, attempting to stop the enemy Rs from advancing. The D just wait at the flag, as a last line of defense.
    Enemy Flag Taken: As the Rs take the enemy flag, they obviously start running back. The MFs stay in place to slow down any enemy following the R that has the flag. If the R makes it through the MF line, then the MF fall back to cover him and pick up the flag if necessary.
    Friendly Flag Taken: In the case of the friendly flag taken, the Rs continue to try and get the enemy flag in hopes of creating a standoff. The MFs also assault the enemy flag, serving to help create a standoff and also collapsing in on the most likely route for the enemy flag carrier. The defender really can’t catch the enemy flag carrier, but he can move to midfield in order to just make havoc for any enemy.
    Both Flags Taken: In the event that both flags are taken, it basically becomes the same as the first scenario. The R needs to leave the flag with the D. If there isn’t already, there needs to be 2D. The Rs and the MF need to assault the enemy flag as a group, to overcome the enemy D. Upon taking the flag back, the D holding the flag caps it.

Tips:
1.      No one can be selfish with this strategy. The R must be willing to give up the cap in order to go after the enemy flag carrier if he must. The MF must realize that they aren’t going to be getting many caps, if any. And the D needs to realize that the better team he is in, the less he will be doing.
2.      A proper loadout is important. The R needs to be as fast as possible, and be able to run as long as possible. The D needs to be able to pump out a lot of rounds, to either kill or suppress the enemy until the MF can come help. The MF need to read the situation, and know whether they need a lighter loadout or more firepower.
3.      When the R is running for the flag, make sure that you can sprint when you get into the open going for the flag, and back. Don’t sprint just before going into the opening, or you will risk running out of sprint in the opening, making you be out in the open much longer.
4.      Communication is key. If the D needs help, he has to let the MF know to collapse back. If the R has the flag, he needs to let the MF know which route he is taking back, so they can converge on that route and stop the enemy that is following the R.
5.      Get to know the maps before a match. Know the routes to take, the places to set up, and where the enemy is likely to set up and what routes they will take.

   - Woody

Camping, or Ambushing?

Currently, I am still deployed to Afghanistan, so I haven't been able to play the new Modern Warfare 3 online yet. But some fellow gamers and myself were able to set up a network, and connect several XBOX 360s together to play over LAN.

While we were playing, I was accused of the unpardonable sin. Someone called me a "camper".

I had been sitting in a building, and made 5 kills without dying. All in that same building. Because of this, they said that I was camping.

Scenario: Someone was in the building. I went upstairs and killed him. I saw a firefight outside and knew that they would be coming upstairs. I killed two people coming upstairs, then knew that they'd be coming for me. So I placed a bouncing betty, moved into a corner, and killed them again when they came up. I then moved on to play regularly.

Basically, the purpose of this post is to explain the difference between bad camping, good camping, and ambushing. To start, I'll explain the term "camping".  When someone calls someone else a "camper", it is used generically to describe someone who doesn't run and gun. It is used negatively of anyone who doesn't play the game like others think it should be played.

There is a time to camp, and a time not too. It's actually a very good strategy in Free for All deathmatch types. Hide, and kill people passing by. The misuse of camping is actually damaging in team deathmatch modes, though. A single person camping somewhere where no one passes by hurts the team in overall kills. In objective based games, camping can be used to great effect.

So, bad camping: this is when someone sets up somewhere in hopes that some random person will pass by so that they can get some easy kills. They don't want to be found. They just wait until someone randomly passes by to get the kill. Snipers are often accused of this, and in fact many people who claim to be snipers are simply campers.

Good camping is setting up where you can do one of two things. Either setting up where you can see the objective clearly, and are keeping the enemy from the objective. Or, setting up in a high traffic area where you know the enemy will be passing by. Both of these help your team in the long run. Snipers who really know how to be snipers are utilizing this type of camping.

Ambushing is closely related to good camping, but instead of setting up where you know people will be passing by, you are actually waiting for a specific person. Maybe someone is following you, and you step around a corner and hide, waiting for him to pass by. Or, you know that someone is using "Sit-Rep", so they can see where enemy equipment is. So you set out a bouncing betty or claymore, and wait for him to show up to destroy it.

Ambushing and good camping are actually very valid strategies in FPSs. Even though the term "camping" has a negative connotation to it, due to all the bad campers. But, just let the numbers show for themselves. If you are winning, keep playing like you want. Let the others call you what they will.

My next planned FPS strategy post will be on how to set up a well-rounded Capture the Flag team.

   - Woody

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Video Game Review: Goldeneye 007 Reloaded

          Upon putting the disc in my 360, I was expecting to hear the familiar music of Goldeneye. Instead, I heard a James Bondsy soundtrack that was a little amped up. Reminded me of the theme to “Evil Genius”.
          I started a new campaign, and selected not the easiest, but the second easiest difficulty. After all, I beat the original on the hardest level; how hard could it be?
          I am greeted with a Call of Duty style tutorial. Grab a weapon and shoot some targets. No jumping right into the dam this time. It was your standard shooting range. Shoot the targets. Now aim and shoot them, showing the auto aim feature. A new addition was utilizing cover, and using the aim button to lean out of cover to shoot.
          Vaulting, sprinting, ducking: they’ve made Goldeneye into COD:007. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. I can’t play the old Goldeneye anymore with the old control scheme. Go back and try it; see what happens.
          After the tutorial, I am greeted with a familiar mission: use the dam to infiltrate a weapons manufacturing facility with 006. Upon starting the mission, I see that the first little area has a layout almost exactly like the original. I am liking this so far. The graphics are great, and I feel like Bond.
          As soon as I am past the tower, however, the experience changes drastically. I am not saying that I am upset; I just don’t feel nostalgic anymore. I get in the passenger seat of a truck, and there is a rail sequence. Obviously my driver is retarded, for he ran into a gas truck and killed us both. The screen filled with a familiar dripping of blood. Back to the last checkpoint…
          At the end of the first level, I was happy to see that they added a parachute to Bond this time around. I always felt bad for him in the original, just jumping off the dam. Then the amazing happened. After being ambushed, he jumped without it anyway!
          Roll opening credits. Parents be warned, the typical swimming silhouettes of women in the background that are a trademark of Bond are very detailed this time around.
          In the beginning of the second level (facility, of course), I am greeted by a classic Goldeneye moment: crawling through the vents and killing a man using the toilet. The restroom is a lot dingier this time around, however. Looks more like a truck stop toilet.
          The facility is nothing like I remember it. The father I get into this game, the less nostalgic I am becoming. After a few minutes into the level, I am bored. This is just another shooter with an old story. It doesn’t have anything to add, and it’s too far from the original to keep my interest. I feel a little let down.
          All in all, the game isn’t bad at all. Graphics are great, sound is great. But I was expecting Goldeneye 007, and I got COD:007 instead.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Skyrim: My Rogue Class

The interesting thing about the rogue class is its versatility. I found out that the armor cap in the game is 567, and this can be reached with light armor in the endgame. This means that (in my opinion at least) light armor has a huge advantage over heavy armor. While light armor can do everything that heavy armor can, heavy armor can't sneak as well. This means that a light armored character can join any faction and do well, but a heavily armored character will struggle more with the thieve's guild and assassin's guild.

   This spec takes level 60 to get, so you'll have a few extra points to spend at endgame.
   Below is the spec I chose, and the reasoning behind them:

Light Armor: We have to get these light armor perks in order to reach the armor cap
   Agile Defender: Take all five of these to get a 100% boost to armor rating
   Custom Fit: Another 25% bonus to armor rating
   Matching Set: Yet another 25% bonus to armor rating
   Deft Movement: 10% less damage in melee is effectively 10% more health

Pickpocket: You'll be doing some of this for the thieves' guild, and it has the huge benefits of adding 100 to your carrying limit
   Light Fingers: The spec says to take all five ranks for a pickpocket bonus of 100%. However, it is possible to reach the pickpocket cap of a 90% chance to pickpocket well before taking all five ranks. This ability is more of a "starter" to help you level up your pickpocketing. If you are patient, only take one or two ranks, then spend the extra points later.
   Nightthief: Just a perk that helps somewhat, but is really used to get the higher perks.
   Cutpurse: Again, used as a bonus to get gold, but not exactly necessary if you're patient.
   Extra Pockets: This is the bread and butter of the tree right here. 100 more carrying capacity means much fewer trips to unload your inventory.

Sneak: The reason for taking perks in this tree should be obvious. As a rogue, you'll need to be unseen for many of your assassin/theft missions.
   Stealth: Take all five ranks for a 40% bonus to sneaking.
   Backstab: 6x sneak attack damage with one-handed weapons will greatly increase your ability to accomplish assassinations.
   Deadly Aim: 3x sneak attack damage with bows. A great thing, and allows us to get:
   Assassin's Blade: 15x sneak attack damage with daggers. Combine this with the assassin's guild gloves for a 30x sneak attack with daggers. Instant kills most of the time.
   ---If you find yourself still getting caught while sneaking, put a point into Muffled Movement. This generally isn't necessary though.

One Handed: As you will be using daggers to kill, you want some bonuses to one-handed. This will help you in "toe-to-toe" combat as well.
   Armsman: Take all 5 for a 100% bonus to damage with one handers
   Bladesman: Take all three for the maximum critical chance with swords

Archery: Why sneak up to a target's back when you can kill him and still remain hidden from his friends? I've used archery to take out groups of people. Kill one, hide, then kill the others.
   Overdraw: Take all 5 for a 100% bonus to bow damage.
   Critical Shot: Take all 3 for the maximum critical chance with bows.
   ----optional (included in the total for level above)
   Eagle Eye: Zoom in while firing a bow to improve accuracy.
   Steady Hand: Slow down time while zooming for even greater accuracy.
   Hunter's Discipline: Retrieve more arrows from dead bodies means not losing your valuable ones.

Enchanting: Enchanting is such an important tree that I include it in all my class builds.
   Enchanter: Take all 5 to make your enchantments 100% stronger
   Soul Squeezer: A pretty good perk until you get:
   Soul Siphon: This will make it so you don't have to ever recharge your weapons. You'll be fighting enough creatures in the game to keep them recharged automatically.
   Frost/Fire/Storm Enchnter: These  perks make your resistance enchantments more resistant.
   Extra Effect: Why only put one enchantment on an item, when you can put two?

Alchemy: Stonger potions and poisons will help you out greatly, as well as make you some more coin.
   Alchemist: Take all 5 ranks to make your potions 100% stronger.
   --- Optional (not included in level total)
   Take any that you think you will use.

Smithing: In order to reach the level cap, you need to be able to improve your armor's rating. Also, you can make armors to make money with extra materials you have.
    Basically, take all the perks from the left side (including Dragon) plus Arcane Blacksmith. This will allow you to create all the light armors. If you want, with extra points, put perks in the right side, to make armor from extra materials and make money.

At endgame, you are going to feel overpowered. Enjoy your rogue!

   - Sapper Woody