Strategy Basics

So far we've talked about a lot of "low-level" tactics. In this section we'll take a step back and look at the game at a larger scale.

Introduction

Strategy is all about what roles everyone on the team does, and how they interact to win against the enemy. When you play you should try to understand your role at a high level, and how it helps your team. Try to think about what your "mission" is. For example, don't just focus on all the little things you do like "kill this guy", "blow up that objective", etc. You should know exactly what kind of help you are providing to your team- are you fragging, are you distracting the enemy, etc? You should also be aware of what other people are doing and whether what you're doing is really of any benefit. For example, if your team is getting severely outgunned, maybe you could better serve your team by choosing an aggressive role.

So, here's a list I made of some of the main "roles" people fall into:

• Mass Fragging
  If your role is "mass fragger", remember: all that matters is getting lots of kills. It doesn't matter if they're cheap. Some people run around trying to be "sneaky", and getting knife kills or something like that. You might feel very proud that you were sneaky, but in the end sneaky doesn't pay off much. You have to be aggressive and put yourself out at the front lines to really be effective.
  
  This is one of the most important roles in the game. A lot of people look down on rambo medics, panzers, or arty spammers, but often they're the reason you win the game. This isn't hide and seek with guns, this is war. You can have the best strategy in the world, but if the other team is pwning you in frags, you're going to lose.
  
  If you're on a pub where skill levels vary a lot, there might just be 2-3 guys on your team getting most of the frags. This can work well, and often the team that has more of these good players will be the one who wins. In a clan, fragging is usually more distributed among the players and everyone is expected to help.
   
• Assassination
  Instead of running around and fragging everyone, you focus on taking out specific enemies. This is one of the valid uses for sniping. In particular, if you can take out a pesky field ops or engy, you can save your team some grief. Another good idea is to get a uni, then sneak behind enemy lines and then knife the enemy's mortar to death.
  
  Note you don't necessarily have to be a covert ops to do this. One thing I love to do is go rambo medic with adrenaline, when I'm playing defense. Then I run around killing enemy engineers and gibbing them. I don't care if I get into a fight with 3 guys at the same time and die, as long as I kill the engy I'm happy because now the enemy's entire rush has lost its purpose.
   
• Support
  This means running with teammates and supporting them in firefights. Medics are probably the best support class, since they can watch your back, AND heal you or revive you as necessary.
   
• Resupplying
  Keep your team stocked on ammo/medpacks. This is something that's nearly always in demand. If you're a medic, make sure to keep giving out health packs, and try to travel with other people as much as possible- especially engineers who need support. If you're a field ops, pay attention to "need ammo!" requests, and make sure to resupply people on the way out of the spawn point, and any MGs on your team. If people run out of ammo during fights, that's going to seriously screw your team's effectiveness, especially if you're playing in a competitive setting.
   
• Defense
  In this role, you aren't too aggressive, you just stay back and kill enemies who come near the objective, or through a choke point. You might also be the one who watches your team's back. If you suspect a covert ops has gotten in your base for example, you can do a sweep to check for him.
  
  Defense often has the advantage. You have many defensive measures you can set up, such as MG's, landmines, small sub-teams devoted to holding a choke point, etc. You may also be able to get on high ground before your enemy comes, so that way you have a height advantage. Defense also has the element of surprise- you know exactly where your enemies will be attacking from, so you can set up ambushes and use stealth tactics like corner whoring very effectively. Holding an objective for an entire game isn't easy, so use what you have to your advantage.
  
  Meanwhile, offense is going to look for any predictability they can exploit, and ways to neutralize your defense, or get you to thin your defense out. For example, one tactic I have seen in clans is that everybody attacks through one route, then the next time, everyone attacks through another route, etc. They may also gather at some point, and then storm the objective together. This is why you should not confine yourselves to your base- some players can play pure defense, but other players should be going out and weakening the enemy's offense and containing them within choke points so that they never have the opportunity to gang up on you like this. Also, by having some people go out and fight, they will also be able to detect problems ahead of time. For example, "Oh no! I just saw 5 Allies all coming over the footbridge route!"
   
• Going for the objective
  This includes engineers planting dyno, or people stealing radar parts, etc. You always need a good number of people doing this. However on the other hand, when you're in this role you tend to be cannon fodder and die a lot. So to complement the people going for the objective, you need a lot of help from the team: mainly support and mass fraggers. If everyone goes for the objective, you'll have a lot of people just running around with pliers while the enemy pwns you in fights.
   
• Gathering info
  This is a much-neglected aspect but can be very useful. The idea is basically to gather as much information as possible on your enemies and give that info to the rest of your team. The most basic way to do this is with team chat- tell your teammates if you lost your uni, tell them where enemies are coming from, etc.
  
  If you're a covert, make sure to spot landmines and enemy locations. Spotting enemy locations is pretty useful, which is why I think it's often good to have at least 1 cvops on a team especially if you're on a pub with a large team where you can afford to have covert ops.
   
• Blocking the enemy
  Here, the goal isn't to frag, but to simply block off some area. Landmines are great. Also, artillery strikes are good for this purpose- it keeps the enemies from going somewhere. Even if you don't even frag a single person, it will still make the other team have to pause for a while. Another great way to slow down the enemy is to use a flamethrower. Probably the best example of this is on Seawall Battery- after the allies plant dynamite at gun controls, have a flamethrower right outside of the axis spawn to block everyone from rushing to the dyno.
   
• Cover
  Basically, this means keeping the enemies off your teammate's back. Especially important for engineers trying to get a job done. This is why I think teams need to be aggressive. When I'm on a team full of wusses it's very frustrating because if I'm trying to complete an objective, I'm always the first one the enemy sees because I'm the only one willing to put my neck on the line.
  
  One strategy which works very well here is "creating chaos". Basically, the entire offensive team runs in guns blazing and turns the enemy base into havoc. This atmosphere makes it much easier for engies to run in unnoticed and complete a job, whereas if they run in alone they'll get mowed down instantly.
   
• Misdirection
  This involves things like throwing a smoke grenade in the wrong place just to divert your enemy's attention, blowing up one objective while an engy plants at another objective (just to distract the enemy), etc.
  
  Keep in mind that while you're running around distracting the enemy, there's lots of other things you could be doing like fragging or being an engy. So, only do this if your team is large enough that you can afford to lose an engy or a fragger, etc.

Class selection

Here are some general guidelines on what classes teams should be made of. Keep in mind this is very general, and certain situations or strategies may call for something completely different.

• Engineers
  The number of engineers on your team can vary based on what's going on. If there's nothing the engies really have to be doing at the time, you can get away with just 1 engy or even no engies on the team. For example, on Railgun, for the majority of the time, engies aren't that crucial.
  
  As you get to the point where you need to plant dyno, repair tanks, defuse dyno, etc, then I would say 1/4 of your team should be engies. So if you have 7 people on a team, then 1-2 engies. If you have 12 people on a team, then 3-4 engies is good.
   
• Medics
  I would probably have at least 2 medics at any given time, firstly so they can be available to revive, but also so that your team gets a nice +20 HP bonus. Medics are also sturdy fighters and can be quite deadly if you're a good gunner. For this reason, you often see lots of medics in clan matches.
  
  There are some times when you may be able to get by with just 1 medic. For example, on Battery when the Allies are constructing the assault ramp, often it's better to have 1 extra engy than having 2 medics.
   
• Soldiers
  Skilled soldiers can really help your team. I'm not talking about a panzernoob, but people who really understand how to use heavy weapons. The number of soldiers you have may vary especially with heavy weapon restrictions, but in general it's a good idea to have at least 1 soldier- perhaps an MG if you're on defense or a panzer if you're on offense. With a larger team like 12 people, 2-3 soldiers is good.
   
• Field ops
  It's always good to have some field ops for calling airstrikes and passing out ammo. Especially if you're playing on a campaign, it's so useful since they can get level 3 signals skills. I'd recommend always having at least 2 field ops. Probably in general 1/4 of your team should be field ops.
   
• Covert ops
  The covert ops is mainly useful on pubs where you have lots of players. In a clan match where you only have 7 players, you simply can't afford to have a covert ops because you need more of the other classes. This isn't always true- there are some instances where a covert ops is handy, but for the most part they are nonexistent in clan matches.
  
  If you are on a pub though, it's good to have 1 or 2 covert ops around, if you're trying to infiltrate. The other main place where a covert ops comes in useful is if you're playing Radar as Allies, you need a covert ops to satchel the command post so that you can construct it for yourselves and gain the side entrance as a spawn point.
  
  So in general, you should have from 0-2 covert ops, depending on the situation. More than 2 covert ops is probably too much.

Offensive strategies

• Infiltration
  This generally involves covert+engy, basically you just get a covert ops to open a door for the rest of the team. I've already talked about infiltration in other places, so all I'll say here is, try to take a medic along with you, and try to make the first infiltration attempt count because if you screw up once, it gets much harder since the enemy is prepared next time.
   
• Neutralize their defense
  Spot mines. Rifle nade or panzer their MG's. Disable their crew-served MG's. Spawncamp them to prevent them from reinforcing their defense, or just call artillery to trap them, while you go steal an objective. Use smoke grenades if you are a covert ops. Be unpredictable, so that you don't give the benefit of the element of surprise.
   
• Timed assaults
  A well-planned assault can accomplish much more than individuals charging in, but the reason it involves a lot of teamwork. As always, here is my usual suggestion for dealing with uncooperative teammates: if they don't want to rush with you, then find someone to follow, and go with them. At least then you'll have 2 people!
  
  The best example of a timed assault I've seen is on Seawall battery, when allies are trying to build the assault ramp. First, two field ops run up the beach and throw two airstrikes up on the ledge (one on each side). This causes the axis to run away, buying your team a few moments of peace. At the same instant, two engineers build the assault ramp. (It could even be 1 engy, but with 2 it's faster). Meanwhile, the rest of the team is getting ready to run up the ramp the second it's built.
  
  Another good example on Battery is, once allies get a uni, tell people to spawn in the alternate location near the backdoor. Once you have 5-6 people gathered up, have everyone EXCEPT the cvops rush to the backdoor and take out the axis who's on the MG if there is any. When it seems safe, have the cvops quickly run to the backdoor and then flee for cover, while everyone else rushes in
  
  If you are having trouble coordinating your team, you could set a gathering point, like "Everyone meet by the bridge. We will attack at 15:30". However, don't spend too much time waiting around for teammates. Defense tends to get thicker and thicker if you give it time- mines get planted, dead enemies get reinforced, panzers recharge their bars, etc. So be aggressive and don't let up on the enemy. Get in their base and hurt them, don't just stand around right outside their base waiting for something to happen.
  
  The above "strategies" aren't rocket science, but so many teams fail (especially when playing allies) because they can't work together properly. On pubs, you will have to really pull teeth to get this level of coordination. You can try talking to the better players on your team and get a fireteam going. Or just join a clan ;)
   
• Taking control of an area
  The most typical type of offense you see with less experienced players looks something like this: Allies run one by one into the Axis defense and are slaughtered like monkeys. You have to remember that going for the objective (like stealing parts for example) is very risky, you're instantly everyone's target if you do that.
  
  So, sometimes it is good if not everyone goes straight for the objective. Instead, some people can just stay in the enemy area and camp them. One good example of this is if you're on Oasis, while your engy is going to plant at the anti-tank gun, one guy can get up on the Axis' crew-served MG and mow down anyone coming to defuse.
  
  The best example of this is spawncamping. This is when your team has completely taken control of the spawn area. In this case, you aren't even going for the objective any more, you're just focused on making this area impossible for the enemy to go out of... Meanwhile, your teammates can go for the objective without much interference.