Battlefield 3

[Mr Bean]

DICE is famous for their static guns being utterly useless, but then it's a trade of most mod teams out there as well. As they try to "balance" IE make useless static guns so they are not overpowering. The BF2/BF3 guns are even worse since they are wire guided missiles which means you can use them across the map if you so chose. They could take the sensible route and stick the guns on top of destroyable buildings but no, better to stick them in useless locations or places just perfect to splash shells off at a distance.

[Losonti Tokash]

I've been using the Kornets on Tehran and Caspian to murder enemy vehicles. Maybe you're just not being cagey enough? :V

[Artemas]

lol

do you know how many tow stations are on caspian los? i only remember the hill ones and the one at the us base

im actually not sure if i've seen a mounted mg yet:/

[Losonti Tokash]

I'm not familiar with conquest on Caspian, but in rush the first point has a kornet looking down the highway where most tanks come down. It's especially useful if you're not on it and the driver goes past, so you get the rear armor since his sight lines are so fucked.

ps do not drive down the fucking highway

Edit: I'm not surprised by a lack of mg emplacements, Dice pretty much obsoleted them by giving support players bipods and ammo boxes.

[Artemas]

i think their lack of use may have to do with having so many players. 64 players games = instant death at exposed at stations

smaller games allow a lot more "hide then shoot them in the ass"

and oh man when you get a good position as support you can dominate

doing seine rush, i climbed to the top floor of an apartment and basically held down one of three ways to the objective by myself

incidentally, i think hardcore helps in the suppression department, as people are less willing to take risks sprinting around

also, does anyone know if suppression actually degrades your accuracy, or is it just the annoying blurryness

[CaptHawkeye]

DICE is famous for their static guns being utterly useless, but then it's a trade of most mod teams out there as well. As they try to "balance" IE make useless static guns so they are not overpowering. The BF2/BF3 guns are even worse since they are wire guided missiles which means you can use them across the map if you so chose. They could take the sensible route and stick the guns on top of destroyable buildings but no, better to stick them in useless locations or places just perfect to splash shells off at a distance.

Player deployables have always been the solution to this shit, but no, that would take work.

[Stark]

I'm fairly certain suppression is just a pretty effect, becuase I've been headshot from the hip by sv98s and then got a 50-point suppression bonus while dead. :v

And seriously the kormets are great if you just don't use the two that are at the point you're on; there are so many on Tehran that you can pop tanks all day so long as you're not 'in front'of the tank.

[Mr Bean]

Player deployables have always been the solution to this shit, but no, that would take work.

Yes work, Find-Replace "player dropped spawnpoint/tugs" replace with "static AT". Then like with the spawnpoints you get credit if someone else mans and uses it. I'd sure Engineers would love to drop a AT gun anyone can use then focus on keeping the tanks repaired.

Been talking with a few BF2 modders, depending on the tools released there is all sorts of interesting things that can be done in engine, from a map makers point of view lots of interesting statics to build with. First up the first person to build the first level out of 99% of every destructible building in the game with a halfway decent map layout will win the "most popular BF3 map" award.

[Artemas]

I'm fairly certain suppression is just a pretty effect, becuase I've been headshot from the hip by sv98s and then got a 50-point suppression bonus while dead. :v

And seriously the kormets are great if you just don't use the two that are at the point you're on; there are so many on Tehran that you can pop tanks all day so long as you're not 'in front'of the tank.

its too bad that suppression is just a "bullets are being fired at you" indicator.

project reality (i know i know) as far as im aware, did suppression first, and most radically. a single guy can pin down an entire squad, both because the suppression effect is so heavy you seriously cant see past 10m, but also because it fucks your accuracy.

in other news, its bullshit that mortars can fucking pinpoint

[Stark]

Dude in the fuckin 90s games did wandering aimpoints, so that without ironing you had literally no idea where bullets would go, and anything that made you flinch would cause the sights to be unaligned for a bit

but bf3 is clearly very counterstrike lol

the mortars wouldnt' be so bad if the fucking spawn areas weren't off-limits to one side

ie so the mortar gyus are literally invincible behind invincible walls

[Artemas]

we need to accomodate the pro players somehow stark

[Stark]

It's clear that the zoning is just to protect vehicle spawns, because in most areas with no vehicles one side can get into the other team's spawns in moments and ruin them forever, not least because the spawn logic is happy to place you directly in front of, one meter away from, and facing away from a spawn camper.

So they 'solved' a problem in a stupid way that makes more problems while totally ignoring a related 'problem' that I'm reliably informed is totally fine and not bad at all by pro players.

[CaptHawkeye]

It's been 10 years since BF1942 and apparently DICE is still too lazy to make a vehicle entry/exit animation so a guy in a tank can't just teleport out of his vehicle and gun you down.

I just played a map with the Tunguska and am blown away by how poorly balanced it is. First of all the Americans have NO mobile AA whatsoever even though the Linebacker and Vulcan were obvious choices. Secondly why the HELL does it have more health than the game's tanks? A rocket to the back doesn't disable, apparently it just tickles the fucker.

Oh look! A rushjob game because big bad MW3 was around the corner.

[Stark]

The maps with jets don't even have any mobile AA, which makes the missiles near-useless because the guns bring down choppers in the time it takes to lock on. I'm going to try the air radar/thermal combo next time to see if it makes any difference to missile utility, but I doubt it.

The animation thing is really a lol because the single player is chockers with that stuff. But come on - they still don't have a method of selecting seat beyond 'press a lot'. Toggle between driver/gunner? FASTER TO GET OUT LOL

[CaptHawkeye]

Yeah the secondary weapons on the aircraft are basically worthless because the machine gun is perfect in every way. I get more tank kills with the machine gun than with the rockets, which are totally useless because they don't converge properly and do piss damage.

[SylasGaunt]

I just played a map with the Tunguska and am blown away by how poorly balanced it is. First of all the Americans have NO mobile AA whatsoever even though the Linebacker and Vulcan were obvious choices. Secondly why the HELL does it have more health than the game's tanks? A rocket to the back doesn't disable, apparently it just tickles the fucker.

Are you referring to that map or overall? Because there is an American AA vehicle in the game.

[weemadando]

Uhh, don't THE MARINES her the LAV-AD on some maps?

[weemadando]

Turns out THE MARINES get their SPAAGs on PC only.

Consolification complete.

[Stark]

That is some funny shit right there.

Do the PC guys get the AA trucks on maps where the air units are actually meaningful or effective?

[weemadando]

Not a clue. Never seen one in the wild.

[Stark]

The only map I've ever been killed by a plane is Kharg Island, and the defenders could reasonably be given an AA truck. I guess they're so massively overpowered that they'd make the defender's plane a 100% ground attack guy?

Turns out jets just don't fucking make sense on these maps. Stay out of AA truck range - OH WAIT YOU CAN'T LOL!

[Artemas]

yeah, jets just dont make any sense here

maybe if the conquest maps were really large, like the old battlefield maps, but that means ages of walking

caspian conquest has the lav-ad, and i think a few other conquest maps do as well

i dont think aa shows up on many rush maps at all, except canals

[CaptHawkeye]

I'm starting to feel the same way, that jets should have been applied in a WiC style Tactical Aid role rather than direct player control.

[Artemas]

that would have been interesting, with laser designators being carried around to call in different types of strike? give it a variable cool down depending on how powerful it was?

[weemadando]

Squad talents are a fucking great move. Love it.