Each weapon has a set time that it takes to get ready to fire. It also takes a certain amount of time for the weapon to steady and hit what you are aiming at. This can be magnified when recovering from running. Obviously any SMG's are going to have a shorter readiness time than a Assault Rifle or LMG. So what the person running down the corridor is doing is betting that you will wait to fire until they can get into position to fire on you.

The best option is to fire on them as soon as they are visible. If you wait for the perfect shot they will hit the crouch button and glide a few feet and be firing on you before you can get your gun into position. And don't think that it is only Recon that can do this. Pistols have an almost instantaneous recovery time and with the heavier armor of a Assault or Support more time to kill you with it.

So basically the best way to keep from getting whammied is don't wait for the perfect shot. Fire as soon as you can and keep firing until they are dead.


The ready times have been changed as recently as the 1.2.0 release.

*Modifying the weapons in modmaster will change these stats.

These are large maps and you like to run to get into position. However, the enemy also likes to run and you run into each other. Unfortunately for you the enemy is a Recon with a SMG and you are an Assault with a long barrel Assault Rifle. There isn't a contest in this situation. It will take him less than half a second to get his weapon ready while you are hoping he misses for the full second that it takes you to get your gun ready.

Not much you can do in this situation except when you run make sure your pistol is selected. A pistol is ready almost instantaneously and you can empty your clip into the guy as you glide right towards him. Even those Recons with that pesky P90 can't get it ready before you unload your pistol into them.

So again someone is running down the corridor and you pop out of cover and a sniper picks you off before you can kill the runner.

Like the title says this is a classic. The easiest way to deal with this is to have a better sniper pick off the other sniper. And then you can race each other to kill the runner. However, you can't always have a better sniper up your sleeve. The other trick is to back out of cover a little, not so much that you can be targeted, so you don't have to worry about weapon readiness time and wait until the runner is in your sights and fire and keep firing until they are dead.

So you're in cover when all of a sudden a torrent of gunfire hits your cover and somehow your character and you die. This is known as Elbow Glitching. It's not really a glitch, but an aspect of the game you need to be aware of. Sometimes when in cover parts of your body are visible to the enemy and they can fire and hit those body parts causing damage and sometimes death. It's annoying, but manageable.

The trick is to make sure that your cover is always adequate for your entire body. Don't crouch in cover when you can stand and don't lie in cover unless you are positioned in the middle of the cover. Body parts tend to stick out more when crouching and even more when lying down in cover.

The trick to grenade throwing is very simple. Don't throw it at cover or players. Throw it at a surface nearby that will deflect the grenade towards the target. Try to do it when not in cover or from an angle when in cover. Otherwise you will pop out of cover and most likely get shot. Here are some screen shots of some of the throws that can be pulled of with ease.

I'm sure some of you have noticed that on some of my screenshots that the keymappings to switch weapons are different. I find it easier to have weapon switches be conducted entirely with my left index finger. Which is why my primary weapon is the 'G' key, pistol 'H', grenade, 'B', and smoke 'N'. I also changed crouch to 'V' and disabled the wheel scroll weapon change because the game kept on switching weapons when I was zooming in and out of scope. Sometimes the keymappings will give you an edge other times it is just more comfortable.

As with any online game there are those who will use any trick that they can to get ahead. Whether it is an exploit or a hack it tends to ruin the game for others. However, 90% of the time the problem isn't a hacker it's lag. Even with a good 30 to 90ms ping you will encounter lag issues. I've emptied a clip into someone without touching them only to die, I've slid into cover only to die of a sniper shot a second later, I've sneaked up on someone and melee'd them only to have them turn around and kill me. These are all instances of lag. I've also seen people run around with a smg and every bullet they fire hit someone even across the map.

The best thing is to be skeptical. Not everything is a hack or exploit. Most of the time it can be put down to lag, skill or some combination of the two. If you suspect someone using a hack or exploit use the report player function of the game. Try not to accuse them of hacking over match chat or complain about it in squad chat. It gets annoying and won't do anything.


For your amusement or edification I've posted a screenshot of my ping on a night when my ISP was doing unannounced maintenance. Playing with a 2.1 second ping is not fun.

I classify the primary devices into two categories: Passive and Active. Scan, Oracle for us oldtimers, and Cloak are passive. ADS(Heat), APS(Aegis), Blackout, and Blitz are active. With the passive devices the tactics are simple, use it at its greatest effect. Is the best time to use Scan when the enemy has pushed their way on to the point? Probably not. Use it, but only to verify that they are either staying put or pushing forward. The best time to use Scan is when your team is advancing or capturing a point. Don't flick it on and off but let it run as long as you can and change where you look. Cloak is best used at a distance from the enemy or to flank them. I can't tell you how many recons have tried to attack me head on while cloaked and been killed before they could fire.

Active devices can be further divided into defensive and offensive categories with a couple devices that could be fit into both. Let's start with Blitz. It's both the simplest and yet the hardest device to master. The best time to use blitz is to forestall a device assisted push or to prevent a device from turning a push. The trick is make sure you are facing the ones you want to hit directly and don't try to change the angle of your blitz while someone is shooting at you. You will still end up dying 4 out of 7 times even if you do everything right. ADS or Heat is a very useful and easy device to use. You turn it on when the enemy attacks and you turn it on when your teammates are making a push. APS or Aegis is also very easy to use. You can use it to advance into enemy held territory without fear of being shot or you can turn it on to protect yourself from enemy fire as you kill and advance on the enemy. Blackout is my personal favorite. You can use it to stop a device assisted push and when I say stop I mean stop it cold. You can also use it offensively and stun your enemies while your teammates or you kill them. It's also useful against those pesky blitzes.

I can't post basic strategies for devices without following up with device strengths and weaknesses. Let's start with Cloak. Those of us who have played the game for a while have become hypersensitive to the blur that a cloaked player makes when running across our sights or path. If you use cloak make sure that it's not where people are going to be looking at with a scope. Scan really doesn't have a weakness except that you never have enough juice to use it when you really need it.

APS drains with each bullet strike and sometimes bullets can penetrate it right before it goes down and be deflected into you. I can't tell you how many times I've just unloaded into a shield and kill the specialist before they can get to cover or kill me. If you are using Aegis and someone starts shooting at you just stop drop and roll and then unload into them. While you are moving you can't hit someone who is behind cover shooting at you. You have to go prone for greater accuracy move to a different spot so they aren't shooting at where you are and then kill them while they are still trying to figure out what is going on.

Blitz you always make sure that you are directly running at the people you intend to run down. If you are angled even slightly they will be able to kill you easily.

ADS is a tough one to counter. Unless the person using it is not in cover. Then you just need to wait until it dies out or use ADS yourself; Blitz and blackout are both effective against it too.

Now blackout is probably the toughest one. It's probably the reason why I use it too. There are three ways to counter blackout. Use blackout first, kill them before they can use it, or run away when you hear the blackout charging for a strike.

Tactics and strategy. On the surface they tend to be the same. However, they are fairly different. The best way to look at them is think of the strategy as a list of goals needed to accomplish your objective. Tactics are the way you accomplish your goals.

In this game the basic strategy is to suppress the enemy team, ensure that they don't flank you, and take the objective. Snipers and Light Machine Gunners are excellent for suppressing the enemy, they are however the most vulnerable to a flank or other attack because their positions are known. There are steps you can take to mitigate this like choosing a spot where you can see the enemy, but makes it difficult for them to get at you. You can have a friend with a shotgun or smg nearby to take care of those pesky recons or assaults that make their way to your position or your team can do a full court press making it difficult for the opposing team to catch their breath or balance. Another part of security is knowing the most common places that the opposing team will use to flank or take the objective from. Members of your team that have ADS, APS, or Blackout should also keep them handy to blunt or stop a device assisted push. If you successfully suppress the enemy and keep them from flanking you, taking the objective is simple. Just leave 2 teammates to take the point and push the enemy away from the point and you will take the objective. Watch how far you push though. It is considered crass to spawn kill and even worse to spawn camp.

Let's face it teamwork takes planning, familiarity, competence and luck. And if you're like me you tend to be the lone wolf in the group. That is where team support comes in. You don't have to be John Wayne, James Bond or even Scooby Doo when you are playing on your own. The best way a lone wolf player can support his team is to provide security. Make sure that the enemy doesn't flank the others or at the least provide warning when you are overwhelmed. And security isn't just camping in a certain spot and shooting anything that comes at you. It's being a stopgap when the enemy is overrunning your team. It's being a rallying point for a push on the flank or a counter push to keep the enemy from controlling the area if need be. You can also provide security by being a distraction running around behind the enemy lines. Also, when you are providiing security you tend to see opportunities that others miss, like the enemy ignoring a line of advance when doing a push and you can roll it up with a flank attack or a grenade or device activation at a critical moment.

Security isn't the only way you can provide support. You can beef up your device and support pushes or even use a device to stop a push. Just remember to keep your head down when you can and remember that the team hasn't played with you that much and can't read your mind. Talk to them. Let them know what you are going to do. And remember it's a game. Smile and have fun.