A Beginner's Guide to Weapons -by WikingTOR & Pixie
Heavy Weapons
The Soldier is the only class allowed to utilize heavy weaponry. There are several to pick
from and though they are diverse, they have one thing in common; a massive damage output.
Hurray! On the downside there's the fact that they slow you down and some even immobilize
you if you want to use them to their full potential. Tip: running with a heavy weapon is
faster if you switch to your sidearm.
MG42: The Mg42 has a tremendous rate of fire, very inaccurate when fired
from a standing position but deadly accurate from prone position. This weapon is also
fitted with a set of bipods. Just press alternate fire and the gun is deployed. This
sacrifices mobility and almost locks you down in one spot with a limited field of vision.
The good news is that the effective range is increased considerably and anything that comes
within your cone of fire will be mincemeat faster than Forrest Gump can run! Very handy for
stopping enemy troops from moving huddled together, or to stop someone trying to
advance through narrow areas i.e. a gate or corridor. But beware: the MG42 is very
susceptible to overheating. You'll soon find that small bursts are more deadly
than long showers of bullets. (Hmm, haven't you read about burst-fire before?!) You'll
also notice that there are MG42 nests scattered around on different locations on most
maps. These can be used by all classes by just pressing the Activate button.
Mortar: Big and clunky the Mortar is totally useless in close quarters combat.
This is meant as a powerful support weapon for use in large open areas. To fire it you need
to deploy it on the ground using alternate fire and aim trough a reticle that takes some
getting used to. The mortars are lobbed in a curve towards its target so this reticle uses
degrees instead of the normal "place the cursor over the target" approach. What's really
nifty is that your impacts show up on the battle map so you can adjust your fire by looking
at that. What's even niftier is that a Field Ops can assign targets for you to aim for.
This makes it possible for the Mortar to be very dangerous for the enemy without its user
getting in harms way. Tip: play through all the maps and find spots where you imagine
mortar rounds could be effective, ie. near objectives that need to be built or areas where
enemies tend to hang out in groups. Then equip the mortar and find different areas to fire
at those targets from whilst memorizing the data in the reticle. For example: on the map Fuel
Dump know where to fire from and how to hit near where the Allies are trying to construct
the bridge. Or as Allies on the same map; memorize how to aim to send a few mortar volleys
up on the hill where the Axis build their MG42 tower. Great fun when you get it right!
Panzerfaust: Real portable cannons that are very useful in the hands of a skilled
player. A panzer cannot be fired from prone position, crouching doesn't make it more
accurate, and you definitely don't aim for the head using the panzer. A good panzer is a
smart and stealthy player. Stay behind obstacles and peek for the foe mindlessly walking
towards you. The panzer has a short delay so it's a good tip to fire it and then like a
jack-in-the-box jump from your hiding position and take out the enemy. If you jump out of
your foxhole and then fire, a skilled opponent will take you out before you managed to
fire the panzer.
A panzer is really wasted if you use it against single players. If you see a single player
coming towards you, stay in that position if you are not detected. Wait for a larger group
of soldiers! A good tip is to hide near chokepoints because a large group of opponents are more
likely to crowd there than on any other parts of the map. The panzers do have a large
impact dead-zone, so always aim at the ground, wall, roof where the impact will have the
largest effect.
This means that if you see two players that run a bit apart, then aim for the ground in the
middle between them to take both out! Another useful thing is that panzer instant-gibs the
foe so if you see an engineer ready to blow up the objective make an effort to gib him to
limbo-heaven.
Panzer is also useful at both long range and short range. A hot-tip when you suddenly find
yourself in the midst of a larger group of opponents: aim for your feet!
To sum it up: Large area of affect, devastating if fired into a group of enemies.
Flamethrower: The flamethrower is an extremely effective short range weapon and it can be used with great success as both an offensive and defensive weapon. The flamethrower is not a weapon you will normally use outdoors unless it's near a chokepoint or the area is crowded! A good use of the flamethrower is to sit near chokepoints and burst flames so the enemies have to pass your fire in order to advance. Remember that bullets can go through the flames so position yourself so that you fire your flames on an angle; or if indoors in a way that the flame bounce
off a wall and you yourself are not in a direct line of the flame. A flamethrower is most
useful as a defensive weapon because it's very difficult to take out a flamer that has
located himself smartly. As an offensive weapon it's useful to storm into a crowded room
with your flamer on full and take out as many enemies as possible, or even better use it at
chokepoints to prevent them from reaching the objective they are defending. The main
thing to remember about the flamer is that it is devastating indoors or near chokepoints,
like wall breaches, doorways and corridors.
Explosives
Grenade: Grenades can be very useful in many situations. A room full of enemies ahead? Time to bring out your dear friend Mr Green! The grenade is a very simple piece of weaponry, just pull out the safety-pin, throw it away and it goes boom! The trick though is to make it go boom where you want it to and when you want it to. To achieve this, priming is essential. To prime a grenade you equip it, press and hold the fire button.
You will now hear a series of clicking sounds. This is the grenade timer. On the fifth
click the grenade explodes so you should get rid of it before that (unless you want to
go kamikaze-style into limbo-heaven). If you throw the grenade after 3.5-4 clicks, it
will then blow about 5-10 meters away from you and gives the enemy very little or no time
at all to run away. The downside is of course that whilst priming you are unarmed so if
the enemy decides to come after you, then you might be in trouble. Also worth noticing
is the fact that you can throw the grenade longer if you sprint with it. Just work up
some speed, release when you reach top speed, and you will see that it flies a bit
longer. Another useful trick is to use the same prediction tactics as the sniper does,
throw it where the enemy will be when your grenade explodes.
Satchel Charge: Satchel charge is used by the Covert Ops and can be used
to blow command posts fast and effectively. Another useful function of a satchel charge
is to use them as a "booby trap" and detonate when someone is near. Tip: Steal a
fallen enemy's clothes and sneak into their midst and drop one in a crowd. Hilarious!
Land Mines: Used by Engineers to mine and protect the objective. Landmines
are invisible to enemies except Covert Ops, which can use binocular to spot them and mark
them on the battle map. A land mine can be placed only outdoors and only on certain
terrains with a maximum of ten mines per team. A landmine has to be armed and when
deployed you will
see a flag indicating that there is a mine HERE! If you step on a mine you will hear a
click - Step off: boom! An engineer can disarm a mine so stay put if possible and wait
for rescue.
Tip: place mines where the enemy is bound to walk (chokepoints), but avoid areas where
there are normally heavily gun-fighting because a mine is as deadly for your team as
for the foe it's intended for.
Support Fire
Air Strikes and Artillery Strikes: The Field Ops has the special ability
to call in support fire using either a smoke grenade to assign a target for an Air Strike,
or using his binoculars to assign a target for an Artillery Strike. The Air Strike has
the largest area of affect and will kill everything unlucky enough to get caught under
it. The Artillery Strike has a smaller area of affect but lasts longer. Several rounds
of artillery fire are sent towards the area marked by the Field Ops, and these will
also kill anything it hits. Tip: if someone calls in support fire against you, a smoke
signal will appear near the target a few seconds before it hits. When you see the smoke
it's generally a good idea to run away! If you are the one calling for support fire
try to use it near spots where you know the enemy usually shows up, or near areas they
need to go, objectives for example. Though this might not always kill the enemy it
could very well slow him down or mess up his tactics.
