Battlefield 3

Cool I didn't know you could crawl underneath it to repair it.

The Attack Heli is pretty rape but only on certain maps like Kharg Island where the jet spawns are closer together. They can barely et out of spawn before they are in lock on distance.

I've been doing loads of jet flying and have found out that the Hornet is faster turning side to side, can fire off it's two missiles quicker and is way more manoeuvrable at min speed.

The Flanker is not quite as good but still a match, the main thing that it has going for it is that it can go up and down quicker. So don't try to beat a Flanker by doing a loop.

Pro tip: OP Firestorm is the best jet map ever. Loads of stuff to put in between you and a missile if someone gets a lock on, plus the spawns aren't too close.

I really wish there were jet only maps, or aircraft only maps. I can only imagine what it's like on the PC with customisable servers. It would be sweet to have the option of playing a game every now and then where everyone was just in a scout heli.

Chanchai you might know this: Have you ever played on a map where its one of the DLC ones. There's the sea on half of it, desert on the other and a few big sky scrapers on the land. The jets are Flankers and F35s. I've played on this once, it's like a weird form of conquest that looks different from normal conquest and you can't select it from the quick play menu. I really want to play it!!

 

I'm pretty sure you're talking about Gulf of Oman and I love that map! One of my favorites (Strike At Karkand takes the cake for me now)!

You're talking about: There's a small motel/housing in the desert called Veteran's Retreat, then across the bridge you have the core of the map which is the Construction Yard (2 tall cranes and quite a few buildings) and a small marketplace block with a lot of fights from building to building and between alleys?

You have jeeps, tanks, helicopters, and jets fighting it out on this map. Rush also has an Amtrac and it ends at a hotel with a fountain and a swimming pool.

The view on this map is beautiful when flying in a jet and I can only wonder if the PC version lets you play in those areas lol. It's almost as beautiful as being in Oman itself (I went there for one part of my honeymoon, beautiful country--especially around the Gulf!).

The biggest challenge of a map for me right now is Sharqi Peninsula. This map owns me, but I'm steadily learning it more and more. I'm utilizing the wall a lot now in battles around the shoreline/parking lot (down the ramp from the TV Station). I love utilizing destruction on walls to create pivot points and customizable cover in battle!

I also love stealthing my way through the TV Station to take out the enemies camped in there. The hardest part for me, the reason this map can be brutal, is the construction yard fights! I'm not doing so bad at them, but I know I can do much better than I am.

 

"The view on this map is beautiful when flying in a jet and I can only wonder if the PC version lets you play in those areas "

which part you're referring to?

btw, congrats on the baby! this makes 2 VF players expecting (the other one being rodney)

 

Oh wow! Congratulations to Rodney!!! That is wonderful, wonderful news ^____^

I'm referring to the area beyond the hotel (beyond the pool side) I think... If I'm flying from the carrier to the action, it's off to the right, it looks like you can see a city, but I think it's way out there (I don't spend enough time in jets lol).

Still really loving this game, but the one thing that's kind of grating on me is how often I see quitters now. While I used to see a lot of people hover their quitting at 20%, I'm starting to wonder if I'll see 30+%

Personally, I never quit intentionally unless it was a personal emergency. My record of 2% Quits is because of the game crashing or getting disconnected somehow. I think only once I deemed it necessary to actually quit the game and did it manually.

That said, I never really held it against some other players who had Quits below 20%.

But the amount of quitting lately makes me think I'm playing League of Legends or DOTA. It gets really bad....

The only one benefit to it that I've seen is that it gives my platoon a better chance of starting off all on the same team. But that's about the only benefit.

 

Wait, Rodney is pregnant?

 

I just looked at the weapon charts for the first time in ages. Very surprised to see that the pp-19 is now rubbish, that used to be amazing. Also the AEK has gone from mid to top tier.

Kind of annoying that the FAMAS is still OP.

 

How up to date are the weapon charts? Last time I checked them they were still based on December 17th. Though for console, I think that's accurate (Only PC has been updated since I think).

I think the Famas + Foregrip combo will be nerfed in the big February patch since that's going to be an overhaul of accessories.

I'm wondering what they plan to do about USAS + Frag. I'm not complaining much about it, but I think it's definitely one of the strongest combos in the game right now and it's probably the one case where I'll say it's a weapon is overpowered. It's not as easy as everyone makes it out to be, but I imagine if you were able to get the stats of the guns racking in the most kills per minute used, that gun would be on top by a good margin.

It's likely Famas is up there too though, but somehow I'm not frustrated by the Famas at all.

Team Deathmatch in BF3
I'm playing more Team Deathmatch these days. More as in, I'm playing it more than I used to. It's still my least favorite mode, but I really like it in BF3. I think it's a testament to BF3's class system and gadgets that imo, this mode works well--it just doesn't play like normal Battlefield or like the Deathmatch of other games.

I feel like the best games are those where a sanctuary or base is established for the team and the team works with it. The respawn points will float around a bit, but usually that only happens in the case where one team either pushes too far ahead (thus flipping the pushed team's respawns on the other side of the map) or overextends (they're running ahead, not necessarily pushing the other team back). Here are some of my thoughts on how some of the Team Deathmatches seem to play out (these are just my thoughts and they are not to be taken as fact, just personal observations that could be right or wrong--it's like my team deathmatch journal notes):

Seine Crossing: This one might be the simplest to describe (UPDATE: actually, Tehran Highway is the most straightforward map to explain, though I don't talk about it in this post). It centers around two particular points--The "Hotel" as I call it where the Rush MCOMM B of Zone 1 is housed, and the building on the opposite corner with two archways that act as chokepoints for the opposing team. Everything else is almost peripheral, but very important to protect too as a good squad can do damage to one team or the other from these points. The advantage goes to the "Hotel" and whoever maintains control of it. The opposite team does not want to get confined and choked into the corner-opposite building with the two archways as exits. If they do, the Hotel becomes support and sniper heaven to keep them stuck in there. The contained team does not want to have the whole team running down the long alley towards the hotel either because this can become a chokepoint as well. A few people will get through though. The main street is dangerous, the white van being one of the few places of temporary safety and cover. Again, advantage goes to the Hotel Building. Being on the non-hotel building side, I have successfully breached into the Hotel as an assault class and just M320'd and killed people trying to re-establish control of that bulding. Once someone is in position to do something like that, the game can be turned around pretty hard as much of the area control for the Hotel team is lost. MAV Tip: I have found that if you are on the Hotel team, then my favorite MAV location is in the opposite corner building's second or third floor "corner rooms" which you can access by getting the MAV through the windows. It's tough to do at first, but once you get the hang of it it is easy and it's hard to destroy the MAV in this position (I think it's impossible without a really well thrown grenade). These rooms are not accessible except through the windows.

Kharg Island: This map seems like pure chaos and you'll probably have more respawn deaths than in any other map. I've found a sanctuary that works exceptionally well though. As a Recon Class (btw, I tend to believe Recon class is huge in Team Deathmatch, their gadgets are so perfect and they can eliminate the random respawn issue with their radio beacons), setup a Radio Beacon near the warehouse facility and aim it sideways. If done correctly, your squad should be able to respawn as a parachuter and land on top of the warehouse. You can establish control of the warehouse this way (or through the conventional way of going inside and setting up a second floor respawn and motion sensor point). The warehouse isn't everything, but it's the safest place for your team to respawn imo. The advantage of being on the roof is many fold--you might lower your kill count from this position but you will certainly lower your deaths and you can setup excellent reconnaissance from this point. If a support or assault can get on a roof, then this position becomes a really powerful attacking point. My tip in this case is to destroy one of the walls of the "top room" that is on the roof. There is no door access, only windows, but by blowing up the wall, you can start cleaning out the warehouse when needed and force the enemy to defend themselves through the shipping containers. MAV Tip: I like placing the MAV on top of one of the taller shipping containers. It's not hard to destroy the MAV in this place, but a lot of Team Deathmatch players are afraid to use the time to kill the MAV (but they should, the MAV is super strong in TDM).

Operation Firestorm: Not my favorite map, but it has fun battles. I'm a bit too conservative on this map, but I think a few units on the rooftops is strong, and the better ground force usually wins. That said, if you do play Recon, then I advise setting up one of the warehouses to be your safe zone for squad respawn and deployment. While I don't normally advocate roadkilling with the MAV because of the use of time, on this map it seems good to be able to roadkill enemy soldiers on rooftops as they can make life hell for your ground forces. Being good at playing on the high "pipes" also seems like a good skill on this map as you will help clear both the rooftop and ground forces. Mortars can be useful if your team is good and your Recon is good. But I only recommend you use Mortar if you're in a squad that is communicating and coordinated.

Noshahr Canals: Intel around the containers is an advantage (you have to determine if your team's skills are good enough to take advantage of it though), so a well placed MAV is one part of the battle. Along the canal are two yellow hollow containers forming a line, I like to setup a radio beacon in the middle where the two containers join--too far towards the bridge will turn your respawn into a camping spot for snipers on the bridge, too much on the other side doesn't give your squadmate the time they need to react to enemies nearby. Make sure the other team doesn't dominate the railroad tracks and the bridge. Those positions are slow positions, but it'll also lower the amount of troops they have fighting around containers. Again, intel around the containers can really benefit your team as it increases the chances they will survive and win in fights in that area, and it's a big area to control.

Notes about these thoughts: These are just some of my thoughts on Team Deathmatch in this game. They are Recon-biased for now, not because I think Recon is the best class in TDM but I feel it is the class that can have a huge impact on your squad by providing a form of control and safety for your squad's respawn and influence on the Map. All classes are strong here though Engineers might be the weakest--but not by much of a margin. They're still good at opening up walls against the death valleys in Seine and Operation Metro. Assault and Support are very strong, though I favor Assault for a number of reasons. If your team takes control of the map, I think Support becomes much stronger. Assault class gives you a better chance of properly occupying an area of the map.

If anyone cares for whatever my pidly thoughts are on the other maps, let me know. I'm still trying to learn these maps in and out on all modes, including Team Deathmatch. And of course, I really would love to hear what others think too, I'm more interested in a dialogue ^_^

"Amtrac is your best friend!" revisited
My whole "Amtrac is Your Best Friend" rant got a decent reception on the BattleLog forums and a lot of people expanded on the content to provide more tips and pointers with regards to the AMTRAC. The thread's a good read! Say it with me: "Amtrac is your best friend!"

 

I just checked to see how far away I am from the jet service medal (20 hours).

I have thus far spent 17h 3m in jets Nut's lol. But it is pretty much all I've been doing for the last month. Really want to get that jet service medal because as good as Battlefield is, shooters are all kinda similar. So the vehicles are what keep this game alive for me.

 

Jets are awesome! I suck in them, I can fly around and maneuver a bit but I'm just bad at using the cannon. I have the heatseekers but I know it's all about the cannon. I can't even kill tanks (but at least I sometimes disable)... I even setup strafing runs... I'm guessing that in those moments when I'm not being hunted by another jet and I've setup a run on a tank or land vehicle, I'm not slowing myself down enough.

I even setup loops where I end up aiming straight down on a target for a long period of time, and I still can't kill the damn tank or IFV!

I think the hardest part for me is that I'll use the jets, but if our team falls behind in Conquest or Rush, then most likely I will accept that at the very least I'm a resource drain in the jet because of my lack of Top Gun skills so I either bail or do a suicide run and then try to help the cause as a ground troop.

It just feels too selfish staying in the jet when you know you're not contributing well, at least for me. But I really need to improve my skills in a jet...

BTW, Early grats on the medal! That's awesome!

 

i'm on a jet a LOT as well. jets are great for killing those pesky tanks that rape your team, just as long as people spot the damm thing. btw animal, where do u see your total hours in a jet? theres quite a few jets, did you just added all the hours combined from all the jets?

 

Go to battlelog>awards>vehicle medals and there's a jet service medal which tells you how close you are to 20 hours. Once you do 20 hours you get a dogtag that tells you and others how much time you've spent in a jet.

 

ooh the medal! lol yeah i got that one a while ago.

 

Great times playing Conquest with Faceless tonight!

Have to admit I'm not crazy about Conquest Assault--probably because between Rush and Conquest, I choose conquest when I want a more slower paced game and CQ Assault gets damn annoying if you're on the defending team and all spawn points are lost (and a squad wipe means you can't respawn without switching to a squad that's alive).

Finally got the MBT Service Star and got to try out the CITV Station a bit. Pretty nice, wish it didn't have obstructed angles though. I like that the view can be rotated very fast, which is necessary for its laser painting abilities.

While my Kill Death Ratio has been improving lately, tonight was one of those nights where I become the example of hitting decent board positions for score, despite a horrible KDR. Though still nothing like that time I got MVP on a long and full game with a KDR of 0-7 lol.

I hope next week's patch on PS3 fixes the QBU and QBB issues on most of the Karkand maps...

 

On top of what Animal Staccato already wrote earlier in this thread, I found the following link to be a very good explanation of what I've been working on improving and trying to understand myself over the past few months:

Situational Awareness in Battlefield 3 (Real Title: Higher level strategy discussion for BF3)

I will stress again that Animal's post is also a really good companion to this because Animal's guidelines really nail down what factors you have to deal with in quickdraw contests and long engagements with the enemy. What you have to deal with once you and the enemy have engaged.

Situational Awareness however, greatly deals with what you should be doing throughout the map in general and the likely fact that most of the kills and won situations you get in this game will be based on positioning and your "situational awareness."

 

The problem is that there's no way to communicate on PC and there's no commander role, so any talk of strategy is just going to be general FPS stuff like that article.

I'm so much better at CS 1.6 and arena shooters because I can aim decently and the game has a predictable flow. Most of the time in BF3 I get gunned down because I'm alone at a flag that's getting captured or my squadmate died. There's no discernible logic to most matches on pubs and the maps and weapons are poorly balanced and/or designed.

It's impressive tech and an interesting skeleton of a game but it really has no depth most of the time.

 

I am really baffled that there is no voicechat on PC. There's text chat, but it's not the same.

I think, for the moment, the upside for playing the console versions of Battlefield 3 are:

* Voicechat (and it's not just about the voicechat, I think EmX is also pointing out how you are just more likely to meet up with people you would like to keep playing with on your squad if voicechat was just in the game by default--I've certainly met many good squadmates this way). The only downside is the occasional annoying person who uses teamchat to annoy everyone on the team.

* Fewer hackers (I don't know what hacking goes on if any on consoles)

* There is an advantage to fewer players--you are a bigger factor in the battle and your squad is as well. Even a 2 man squad can find some instrumental role for a 12 man team on Conquest AND Rush. Sometimes just one or two more good people is the tipping point you need to turn around a battle.

* Thank goodness console does not have Metro 64! Yes, Metro 64 isn't predetermined, but it sure as hell feels like it's 95% predetermined!

Of course there are tons of disadvantages on the consoles... Jets just don't feel as necessary... at all (but they can be damn good, don't get me wrong). People hardly use laser designators (fortunately I play with friends pretty often). The impact of leavers is pretty frustrating on 12 v 12, but still--the strength of 1-4 people on a game is much greater than on PC so it is not always hopeless, just frustrating.

Personally I feel the game has a lot of depth, but I would agree that the PUG atmosphere on PC often feels very very random.

I can't comment on balance because of my lack of experience with shooters, but outside of USAS Frag being damn annoying (but I still think it's not the weapon that kills me the most, it's just the most memorable and annoying death I've experienced--I've died so much to half the Assault Rifles, the IAR, the QBB, maybe 1/3rd of the sniper rifles, etc...), I don't have issues with the strength of the various weapons and their attachments. I'm not always dying to USAS users, I kill them enough to tell me the fights are fair (again, it's more like I'm just got the USAS + Frag blasts hitting me from mid-range stuck in my head from the shock and awe of those rare moments). I bring up the USAS + Frag because it's the hot topic right now (like the FAMAS was in December before half the population leveled up high enough to have USAS lol).

I'm primarily a console BF3 guy so I can't comment on PC flow. But I freaking love how the maps on BF3 flow on console! Current favorites for conquest being Strike At Karkand (such a competitive map--my favorite map right now), Seine Crossing (This map is just great, maybe it's better with fewer people but Conquest on this map is always exciting for me), Sharqi Peninsula (I consider this the map with a skill barrier--I'm not that high on the skill so it's a hard map for me, but the better team always seems to win this one), Gulf of Oman, Caspian Border (but only if you have a decent mix of great air support and very strong ground/armor game--under these conditions it's a great match on console but without these it's a foot race in circles less you want to get killed by ticket drain). Also, Kharg Island might be my second favorite (behind Seine) for the vanilla maps on Conquest 24.

And I honestly like all of the other maps too on Conquest 24, but those are my favorites.

For Rush, I'm a sucker for any map actually. And Rush is my favorite mode.

Well, I won't ever try to convince you to give up CS1.6. For Counter-Strike players, that game is like the holy-grail of arena AND tactical shooters. It forever changed the genre for the better imo and I'm just not going to argue against it. It's not my game, but it's a damn good game that's earned its place and still does.

If I get the opportunity to play PC seriously, I'll let you know my thoughts. Doesn't look to be anytime soon, I just play it a little bit on other people's accounts and computers. I think BF3 on PC looks amazing and plays great, but I just don't know the flow yet--I only hate Metro 64 lol. But as I said, while people dog the 24 player limit on Consoles, I think it highlights the flow of the maps more and has created its own Battlefield experience which I absolutely love.

Cheers!

P.S. I'm really glad you're sharing your thoughts and your honest opinion. It allows us to have a good discussion about this game, its strengths and weaknesses, and our experiences with it. I hope you keep up the conversation and let me know what you're experiencing on PC, especially on where things are just BS or there's just no flow going on. After all the "YouTube Dreamers" have kind of faded (though they'll of course never go away), I've been noticing that a lot of the videos lately that are at least consisting of good advice is coming from consoles (particularly PS3 of all consoles). The great PC videos that I watch lately (outside of montages which always look best from PC), are often from strong platoons that are playing on player-capped ladder matches anyways, so the flow is similar to console anyways.

Shoutouts to Faceless360, this guy is always playing very well and while I've never spoken to him, I enjoy his company in game (so thanks for joining my games now and then). It's pretty badass too because it's really like having Snake Eyes from GI Joe on your team. You never know when he'll show up, but most of the time he does, you feel like your team is going to win and this guy will do his own thing but he's usually nailing it pretty damn good. Very good times Faceless!

 

Back 2 Karkand are maps from Battlefield 2.

Most of the map design specific to BF3 is centered at the middle of a big field and packed with pre-fabricated buildings. Operation Firestorm is especially bad about it. I don't even care much about corridor maps and I leave when they come up in the rotation.

Most of my complaints wouldn't matter a whole lot if there was a way to talk to people in-game.

DICE balances the game around whiners who think anything good is OP. They made BC2 with this idea in mind and you had to use magnum ammo and a handful of weapons with each class since nothing else had much value. Most of the shotguns in the game are really bad and the USAS with frag rounds only figures into the corridor map shitfests. I can name at least half a dozen more versatile weapons.

The problem is that the weapons for each class also have a ton of functional overlap, so there are a lot that are just subtly worse than other weapons for no discernible reason.

I play support and assault mostly, and support suffered greatly from the nerf from the SCAR-H (everything chambered in 7.62 is pretty bad as it is) and the automatic fire being toned down. Bipod deployment isn't reliable or quick - it needs its own button ffs.

The console control scheme isn't something I'm going to compromise with so I guess I'm stuck with PC and origin.

CS 1.6 was accidentally good and had a handful of weapons that were actually used. I prefer quake but the community is full of old, elitst farts that would make VFDC seem like a vibrant youth community.

 

no way to communicate on PC?!!? good lord....

you have battlelog voice chat, the in-game text chat (i use it all the time, it works), outside alternatives like mumble (my fav), teamspeak (my second best fav), ventrillo, skype...ect ect..

sure, of all of them only the in-game chat is the one to use with complete strangers on demand, the rest you would need friends or people u know. but the choices are THERE and plenty. if im not mistaken, on console you cant communicate with the entire team, just your squad. at least on PC you can talk to the whole team or just your squad using the in-game text chat. and if you have friends its even better on pc! since you can talk up to 32 (!!) of your friends instead of 8 on xbox, via the alternative voice chat softwares i just mentioned. oh, the best thing about pc communication is talking shit to the other team via text chat ooh so good.

no commander mode I agree. its sorely missed.

" but it really has no depth most of the time"

i think its a different type of depth, "large scale team based depth", if you will . sadly this requires coordination with people you at least know (clans..) but when it all comes together...oh boy is it so good. I also prefer arena shooters. i play quakelive quite a bit , i totally agree thas a man's game where true fps skill is measured.

but battlefield, is just fuckign FUN. i wont get tired.

ps. chanchai my brotha...wall of text sometimes is hard to read, i just look at the size of your posts and i get lazy lol. i know its your style but damm! lol. anyways il be playing on xbox now, i gotta bring up my soldier up to my pc rank at least.

 

I use the outside VoIP programs but can't get the fuckheads from the server to join and the TS3 for a lot of servers are empty while the server itself is full.

Fun is fun, I dumped many hours into the game. It's a frustrating shitfest sometimes.

BTW the patch improved MSAA performance so I can finally have it on without my framerate tanking. Now I just need to find the danoc1 injector without the FXAA (just the COLORS!)

 

"Now I just need to find the danoc1 injector without the FXAA (just the COLORS!)" yes!! agreed thas one of the most wanted things i want