I just started playing, and I suck. I need people to play with who’ll help me along. My current gaming style seems to be respawn, run for a while and get shot. I need to improve on that…
Hey, I’m playing BF2 as well. It’s an intense game and if you haven’t played 1942, you’ll find that the combat style is much different than that of other FPS games. BF games are more strategic in a way that certain vehicles can easily counter others and mow down infantry like nothing. The point is that you have to learn how to survive in this newer kind of FPS where you are probably unevenly matched if you are by yourself without a vehicle. You will find it to be a lot more fun though once you get the hang of it and actually succeed in a kill/capture. The best thing to do if you are constantly encountering tanks is to choose the anti-tank kit (go figure) so at least you can do damage to vehicles because your machine gun won’t get you very far.
Ahhh, I played a ton of BF1942 (and all of its expansions) but so far no Battlefield 2 for me.
I own the game and have installed it once, but it was a buggy POS requiring a system restore to undo all of the things it borked up on my system.
When DICE gets a patch that unscrews most of the problems I’ll re-install and start enjoying the good times.
Ethilrist if you want to practice you can do it in single-player mode. The interface still does some “starting server” nonsense even though you are starting a single-player game, but you will be palying by yourself against bots. The AI of the bots is much better than it was in BF1942, and at least you can experiment with various weapons, classes, etc without getting killed every three seconds.
I’ve been playing a lot of BF2 lately, and the game is lots fun, when you manage to find a server with decent players. Make sure to to join a squad right away, this make coordinating things easier, and if you have good squad, you won’t die so much, especially if they have a medic to revieve you. Make sure to turn you gun to semi-auto mode (hit the “3” key while having your main gun out - their is a little “A” by the ammocounter, that should flip to a “1” when you go to semi-auto mode) as this is much more accurate. Also, be very careful, and take cover around enemy helicopters, as they are insanely overpowered in this game. I have blasted helos with direct hits from the main cannon on a tank, and they still keep flying! :eek: Hopefully, EA will tone this down in a patch.
And watch out for servers that have complete idiots playing on them. For example, some servers will kick you if you teamkill too often and get punished for it. So naturally, you have these morons who will purposely jump in front of the vehicle you are driving, just to force a teamkill on you and get you kicked. :mad: And then there are servers where the players don’t use a decent balance of different classes. For example, I joined a server that was just starting up the Strike at Karkland map, and I was MEC. So, I choose engineer, and started putting up landmines, to block enemy tanks - a very sensible strategy. However, my teamates all had a different idea - all 31 one of them decided to play as snipers. 
Of course, then the American’s came rolling in with tanks and APCs, and my team mates couldn’t do a damn thing. And the worst thing was, they all refused to play different classes, like anti-tank and enginneers, to be able to actually kill enemy tanks.
Tell me about it. The helo thing is just ridiculous. You’re not the only one to put a tank round directly into the thing and have it keep flying happily past.
The AA tanks might help with the helos except they don’t. Not enough of them on the maps they’re on, and they’re not on that many. And they suck at, you know, AA. The guns are far too wimpy. All they’re really good at is anti-infantry and a little anti-armor.
SAM batteries are totally underpowered - you’re more likely to bag a friendly chopper than an enemy, and there isn’t a chance in hell of taking down a jet unless…well, actually there’s just no chance in hell.
Overall, I think there’s just too many vehicles on every map and those vehicles spawn too quickly.
As someone who prefers infantry I find that irritating.
-Joe
Add onto that the horrible handling characteristics of the choppers.
Choppers can rapidly “turn about a point”. They can spin around a target at altitude, keeping their nose pointed to the target. Except in BF2 Physics.
Agreed on the SAM strength. They also need man portable AA missiles.
Anti Tankers need some more “umph” in their missiles.
The TK Punish option is pretty rediculous sometimes. Run in front of me, , as I’m 1/2 way done with a takeoff roll in a jet… :wally then punish me for the TK :mad: Though this could be the wording of the message that pops up. I know I punished a few folks early on, when I meant to forgive.
I still don’t hear folks using VoIP yet, which is too bad, in a squad, it could be fantastic. It certainly was the key when I played in an UrbanTerror(q3) clan.
Air assets are just too darn strong at this point vs the ability to hit. Airplane to Airplane missiles miss more than they hit, even following behind someone not manuevering (no not distracted by flares). A lack of radar on fighter jets is insane.
IMO BF1942’s Desert Combat, and it’s eXtended (DCX) mods were better than this game. I also find the “feel” of the game much more similar to BF-V than to 42.
I’m certainly playing, but it’s a whole new concept in gameplay, the lone wolf theory just isn’t very successful in the end.
Of course they’ll “fix” all the problems with the upcoming expansion pack, for which I’ll need to spend another $40 bucks for this game… I’m really just waiting for the mods to come out. I find the mods are better than the original game in many (nearly most) cases anyway. The Pirates mod for BF1942 was one of the most fun I’ve ever had.
-Butler
Cool… that should help a lot. I’ve got VOIP going, but haven’t managed to join any VOIP games yet (they’re all full… go figure…). My son plays like a madman; one of his friends has had the game since it came out so he’s been playing over at his friend’s house. Now they’re playing online and I really, really, need to get a second computer that can run this game, then see how much punishment my DSL connection can take…
What the others said Ethilrist
Play in a squad. Follow the leaders orders and you’ll get the feeling of working together towards a common goal which is wonderful in BF2. The problem is that it takes a while to find a good server where you know you’ll find good players to play with.
What role do you play most often?
VOIP is great when it works but people either seem to be shy or it causes problems (VOIP seems to lag some peoples connections).
I’ve just been playing single-player mostly, going through the missions and trying out all the different roles. I’ve had the most success playing assault (because of the firepower) or sniper (becasue of the lack of firepower–I usually jump into vehicles and ride around shooting people). I’m going to try and get into a multiplayer game with VOIP…
That’s just life. I did it accidentally, too.
The “punish/not punish” is a good idea in theory. Unfortunately, what it does is lead to a lot of “u fagit why u pnsh me?”
The VoIP is a problem because people should be using it. A mic isn’t expensive. And it adds so much power to your side to use it.
Oh, and WTF were they thinking with BF2’s server browser? No favorites? It’s a browser that can be described (generously) as “crappy”.
-Joe
I’ve been playing the game for the last two weeks and I am really enjoying it. If you manage to find a server where people actually bother with squads and teamwork its incredible (did you know if you are in a squad you can respawn right next to your squad leader as long as he is alive). As far as choppers and jets go - I’ve only played two or three games so far where there was a pilot that could actually make a difference in the overall score.
The best way to not get killed is to follow a teammate from a safe distance and then avenge their death 
If the air units are getting to you its probably because you don’t move around enough while driving vehicles, also don’t forget about the smoke screens they really do wonders against ATs and helicopters.
I think I’d be happy with helicopters if they changed two things:
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Do not permit people to capture flags from the air. There are too many people swooping down in a chopper, hovering for a few seconds to get the capture, and then flying off to the next flag. I think that if you want to capture a flag, you should have to land (or hop out) and do it from the ground.
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Do not permit people to repair helicopters in the air. Part of the “indestructible chopper” problem is that transport choppers can load up with mechanics who continuously repair damage while the chopper fights. (Personally, I think you ought to have to get out of a vehicle to repair it. That way, choppers, tanks, APC’s and so forth would have to go find a safe place to sit for a minute in order to repair.)
Sounds good to me.
Of course, another huge thing would be to have a helo’s manuvering HUGELY impacted by any hits larger than a rifle. Take a tank shell, missile, or even a good salvo from a SAW?
Start spinning out of control. Crash and splat. Six kills for me.
-Joe
I’m about four or five hours away from reaching corporal and getting the DAO-12 unlock, woo.
Don’t play bots. Play online and watch better players. That’s the only way to get better. The bots are decent, but nothing compared to the four-years-of-Counterstrike-thinking-and-learning-lightning-quick monsters that you play online.
Don’t bother with the in-game VoIP. It isn’t worth it since the radio rose is a lot better. With the rose, not only can your entire team hear you, but things also appear on the mini-map. Using a 3rd party VoIP program with some skilled friends is a good idea though. If you haven’t such friends, try a track down some Dopers online.
You can take out a Blackhawk with one AT rocket by hitting it in the wheel. If you’re one Mashtuur or something though and you’ve only an assault grenade, you can still take out a Blackhawk by putting it into the doorway. It’ll easily kill everyone inside.
Don’t play as a sniper. That class is drastically underpowered. You’ll do best if you’re always on the offensive, which is rather difficult for a sniper. Assault is the best class for city maps, but medic is probably the best all around class. I usually play AT on large maps, assault on city, and medic if I feel like a change.
Most importantly though: don’t punish accidental TKs.
Yeah, my son’s got the DAO. He says it is very cool. He also told me that he can’t get VOIP to work on any american servers… so he looks for UK or EURO servers. He says he actually gets some good, fast games late at night with Russian servers, but they kinda speak a foreign language, there…
He said I should look for games with over 40 players in them so I’m more likely to find a squad of five or six guys doing things as a team.
Also, he’s running teamspeak so we can talk to other team members. I went to plug in my joystick this morning to see if it made flying easier… and his brand spankin’ new PC doesn’t come with a joystick port… guess I’ll have to look into buying a new joystick with a USB connector, or an adapter for the one I’ve got…
Would it be permissible for me to post a list of public Battlefield 2 servers for Dopers to try their skills against human opponents? These are legitimately available to anyone, usually lightly populated, and the people you do meet tend to avoid the OMFG YU SI TEH GAY FAGGORT SUXXOR!!!111oneoneone outbursts you get on the ilivewithmymom.com servers.
If not, is there an (un)official SD BF2 server? With the long weekend coming up you might want to try something that won’t cost north of US$3 per gallon.
An (un)official SD server would be great! I’ll have to start paying attention to the servernames as I join…
Merijeek, try “All Seeing Eye”. I’ve been using it for years, and it’s a much better browser. Though I don’t like having to log onto the account server before joining a game, nor do I like having to wait for the intro script. There is a BF2 launcher out there too, but I’m not at home to find the link…
-Butler
(stats link)
Thanks, I’ll have to take a look at all-seeing eye.
Speaking of that, have I bitched about the manual yet? Total waste of glossy paper.
I finally got to be Commander on Sunday. I hit CAPS lock and…nothing.
How am I supposed to get into commander mode? All I could do was artillery and supplies, and I had to do strictly line of sight.
So, what did I do wrong?
I ended up resigning because I had no idea WTF to do!
-Joe