Rule Number 1 - relax when you play. Are you the type who sits upright, your body tense, your eyes glued a few inches from the screen? Eagerness and the need for quick kills will ultimately leave you with more deaths and frustration.

A comfortable chair with good padding is a must. Sit back and run the battlefield with all your energy focused on sight and sound. This will allow you to move fluidly through an environment, not hurried and desperate. Your keyboard and mouse become your body. Be the character, rather than controlling the character.

I?ve found over time that the best playing position is with your mouse on the upper tier and the keyboard on the lower tier. This allows you to sit back with your key arm extended at your mid-body allowing for less reach. Your arm is more relaxed.

Your mouse hand is directly in front of you, minimizing reach. This is much more comfortable than having keyboard and mouse at an even height, causing your upper body to tense and reach. Without even knowing it, your back will arch and you?ll be leaning forward five minutes into a round - not good. Try the two-tier system; you?ll feel the difference.

Weaponry ? are you the type who gets a feel for one type of weapon and wants to use nothing else? You dread using another weapon, but in tournament play you will be playing as Axis and Ally so don?t get that sick feeling anymore when you face use of a weapon you?re not comfortable with.

Force yourself to master all weapons. Switch around and get a feel for available weapons in your general play and practice. Each weapon has its own feel, sighting, re-load sequence, etc. Mix it up, so when you need to play with a particular weapon you will be ready for it and comfortable. The Springfield, Enfield, Kar98 and Mosin Nagent are vastly different. Take your time with each, but give equal time to all.

Especially with our single-fire rate (all weapons are at the same rate of fire to even up with bolt action rifles) and no crosshairs, the pistol is especially difficult, but is a great tool in a tight situation. When engaging an enemy and your rifle ammo goes, the re-load time most of the time gets you killed. Switch quickly to the pistol and fire for the head, you?ll surprise yourself. Practice with the pistol as much as you can. Thirty-three percent health drop per shot so place them well and hopefully your enemy is low on health.

Plain and simple, always with any weapon, aim for the head. It?s a smaller target but does the most damage and forces your eye to sharpen and your aim to tighten.

On occasion, you must shoot the parts of the body as the situation calls for, such as:

Someone is behind a train for example, so you drop prone, hope he?s low on health and go for the knees.

As much as you possibly can, even from long range, practice shooting without scope or iron sights. Without a crosshair it?s difficult, but in time, your senses will kick in and you?ll develop a feel for shot placement.

Believe me, in time, with patience, you?ll get extremely sharp. You?ll be accused of using an Aimbot, lol, and you?ll amaze yourself with some of the kills you?ll pull off. Then when you use a scope or iron sights your auto senses will kick in and your target focus time will dramatically decrease allowing you to get shots off more quickly. Pick up an MG on another server; you?ll be absolutely deadly.

Picking spots at various times, especially if you hear an enemy approaching, gives you control over that area and immediate engagement. But a good hunter follows a few general rules in his environment.

1. Never stay in the position of your last kill. Move on and stealth out of the area and re-position. Learn to hunt, don?t become the hunted.

2. Run like hell ? in two situations:

A. When engaging the enemy, move; move quickly, side-to-side, back, crouch, stand, etc. Never give him a clean kill target, but continue to focus on his head, always.

B. To gain position ? ?sprint to your destination, then stealth that destination?. As illustrated, would I cross the open area stealthily? Of course not. In any open area that leads to another area of position, you sprint, moving side-to-side to avoid the shots that will come your way. But once you reach your destination, immediately drop to stealth position and scan the entire area. Be the hunter. Use your entire 360-degree field of vision. Don?t get fixed on only the view in front of you. Look to your sides, rear, up, building windows, etc. with each section of that area. Focus on bushes closely; you may be walking into an ambush. Always keep moving, if you stop, make sure there?s good cover.

3. Corridors and Tight Throughways As the Point Man

When traveling alone you are in the ?point? position. As illustrated, always travel a corridor or tight throughway from the outer wall in coordination with the end of said corridor. As you approach, you will get a wider and wider view of the end?s opening, exposing an enemy more quickly. At the end of said corridor, make a rounded turn as to expose the entire opening. NEVER travel a corridor from its inner wall, making a blind turn. You will surely meet a quick death. Practice this technique and apply it to every corridor and turn; be patient. This is the point position.

ILLUSTRATION

4. Doorway Entry

As illustrated, in maps with doors that you open manually, always position yourself to the side, usually the knob side, and activate the door open. Then, do a sweep, a rounded stealthy movement, taking a step back as you go to gain full vision of what?s inside before entering. Open a door, position yourself straight in front of it exposing a blind room, and an enemy on the other side will blow you away before you can even react.

**These apply to EVERY corridor and door you encounter. In time, you will do this with speed, and without even thinking about it.

This plays probably more of a part in survival than visual. My recommendation is headphones; good ones, 5.1 surround headphones and a good surround sound card can?t be beat. A sound blaster, Audigy 2 or better is recommended.

1. GIVING UP YOUR POSITION

One step, one rustle of a bush, the creek of an opening door, and especially the picking up of ammo (most likely un-needed ammo), gives up your position quicker than a spectator on Ventrillo, lol.

When stealthing an area, listen, listen very carefully. If he takes one step, drops from a box etc., you?ve got him! But remember, one wrong step, and he?s got you.

2. DON?T RUSH

You?re stealthing, hunting, a shot rings out. Your instinct is to rush to that area to kill someone, you?ve forgotten there are others just waiting for your impatience, and they?ll get you on your way to the fight. When you hear that shot, follow its direction if you choose but remain in stealth mode and patiently engage the area. When the enemy comes into view, take him or them out. It happens to all of us; this game is about survival and shoot on sight.

3. ISOLATE YOUR ENEMY

It?s your responsibility to stick closely to structures as much as possible. Try to engage the enemy out of open view if possible and watch your surroundings. Other enemies will exploit an open fight, two easy kills, be careful.

1. CORRIDOR TRAVEL

Just as if traveling alone, the point position with a partner, the backup position, you?ll implement this in the same way but your backup will travel the inner corridor. As you, the point man, approach the opening, your backup will approach the end wall on the inside, thus being the element of surprise to the enemy. The backup can lean out, or pop out, to finish off the enemy after the point man?s initial engagement. The point man always engages the enemy first. If he is taken out, he makes the sacrifice, and the backup finishes the job.

2. DOORWAY ENTRY

This is where ?point? and ?backup? reverse roles. The backup is the one to position himself to the side of the door to activate the opening of the door. The point man positions himself directly in front of the door and gives a quick scan into the room from center view to left, then right. He again would engage the enemy first, if he is taken down, the backup can be the element of surprise and hopefully finish the job.

My servers have always been geared towards realism, making the experience as close to real life as possible. My motto is, ?If you wouldn?t do it in real life, we don?t do it here.? None of these field tactics contain ?bunny hopping?. Jumping was made for obtaining access onto boxes, jumping over objects, etc. not for use in battle. ?Type killing?, we don?t do this as a courtesy. I suppose if you barged into a room in real war and a German was at a desk typing, you might kill him, lol, but not in the game. ?Leaning? was made for peaking around corners and objects. To lean constantly back and forth during battle is just not real. Read our ?Rules of Conduct?, they should be implemented in your general field tactics, which makes you a fair and honest player. Also, we never take advantage of flaws in maps that you may find, it?s cheap, and a dishonest use of a mapmakers errors.

I have been trying to come up with a quick brief way to explain the type of game I promote here at {LFNY} , A lot of new players get a little confused and that?s not my or our intention . Ultimately we promote a game that provides realism , fairness and an opportunity for the newer player to improve his game thus increasing confidence and fun . Well I?ve Found what I?m looking for . ?Black Hawk Down? . Have you seen the movie ? If not , see it . It displays exactly what I?m trying to convey. Watch the soldiers and the tactics they use when engaging the enemy . They are more or less Hunters , they stealth , seek , find and are very careful with every section of the environment . In Open area?s they move quickly to gain access to their destinations , but then stealth and hunt that destination . You wouldn?t see them just running around blindly gunning carelessly . That?s the Point I?m trying to convey to you in the battlefield.

Stats are basically posted for fun. They give you the opportunity to get a general idea of your kill to death ratio, but they are not a true measure of skill compared to others. A lot of circumstances dictate an individual?s stats. Some players only play a few hours a week. Some players only play at times when the general public, containing a lot of newbies to the game, are present. A true measure of skill is your actual implementation of tactics and the result in a given round or competition. The stats are broad and even reported to be inaccurate at times for whatever reason. They can aid you in analyzing your own performance, but don?t live and breathe by them; you?d only be hurting your own game and confidence. When I assign teams, I take into account the rounds played in coordination with your ratio, not a literal account of your skill level compared to others. Take stats with a grain of salt. Pay too much mind to them and you?ll lose the fun factor and drive to improve?have fun, focus on your game?that?s number one.

Don?t for a minute think that having a better Ping has any bearing on your skill level. Ping has to do with basically how smooth the environment is rendered on your end. If Ping were a deciding factor in skill, then at the end of every round, the scores would line up with the Pings?they don?t. Play in servers with very low Ping, then play in servers with Pings well over 100, your application of tactics and skill are the same and will dictate your outcome, and they will be comparable. I play in servers with very high Pings, play my same type of game and the outcomes are always comparable to low Ping games.

Human reaction time when two players fire at each other at the same time determines who gets the shot off first. Ping having to do with the bullet time is a farce, rendering that bullet travel time is different than the actual milliseconds the bullet is taking to reach its target from human fire time to destination. A low Ping doesn?t make human reaction time any different?it?s a technical matter?do some research on it, it has no bearing on your skill. Your game, and its results shouldn?t change because of low or high Ping.

Retreat! a solid tactic avoided like the plague because people think if you retreat its the next best thing to being shot or beaten. The fact is that a good retreat is one of the finest tactics available.

1. LONG RANGE

If you hear a shot and can't find the source within a few seconds then retreat back the way you came or to the nearest cover, if someone has you in his scope and you can't find him don't try to look for him or god forbid slowly creep out of your cover... Odds are 10-1 he will kill you. if you must move go to pistol and run. You will live to get the jump on someone else or circle around the map untill you can find the guy who took a shot at you.

2. SHORT RANGE

If you come face to face with someone fire 2 shots as fast as you can at the target while moveing side to side and backward go through a door find a place to kneel. Alternate between kneeling up against the wall 90 degrees from the door and at a 45 degree angle.Most people expect the 90 degrees and the skilled players learn quickly to mix up their position so they can never be sure. this could cause them to delay just enough for you to kill them) and wait for him to follow (90% of the time they WILL follow) When he walks through the door take a calm shot and if he is still alive THEN circle and fire your last 2 at him dont forget to go to pistols right after the 2nd shot(unless you have the Russian rifle) use the pistol to either end the fight or use the pistol run speed to get away and reload your rifle.

3. THE ATTENTION GRABBER

When playing only a few players on a map , fire a shot in mid-air after you re-spawn to grab their attention and draw them toward your location , most will certainly follow. Move to cover (preferably with a view) ASAP after your shot into the air so as not to be a easy target or become riddled with bullets (pun intended).

1. German-The German weapons seem to be more geared for the percise long range game. The German sniper rifle has excellent view down the scope and seems to be a hair easier to hit with at a distance. Same thing goes for the lugar. The lugar like the German rifle seems a little weak or maybe just a hair more inaccurate then the others in close quarters but is very reliable in medium and even does well in the rare long range pistol confrontations.

2. American/British-The Springfield sniper rifle seems to have alittle more wobble and just a hair more difficulty with the long range shots while its close and medium range shots are very good.Same goes with the 45 which in unserpassed in close range but has trouble with accuacy once the range increases.

3. Russian-The Russian sniper rifle stands in the middle ground in both catagories. It has decent long shots(though less than the German rifle) and has a decent close game(again less than the Springfield) but its true value comes from the very quick reload who's usefullness can not be overstated. The Russians use the lugar identical to the Germans.

These tactics are the ones most frequently used on the field of battle because they do not require much of any practice to accomplish and have virtualy no need for team messages in order to work.

1. Half and half where the team splits and moves about the map as seperate groups.

2. Moving as a large group and staying in fairly close proximity to each other.

3. To each his own where every team member moves about as he pleases and hope for the best.

These are tactics I have come up with in the field to combat the above tactics. (it is best not to choose your tactic untill you have a feel or understanding on how the enemy team is moving)

1. THE HOLD AND ORBIT

This is where part of the team holds a section of the map while the other part make a quick or slow orbit around the edges of the map untill you meet back up with the rest of you team at the hold point (best to switch jobs every orbit to avoid boredom). You WILL come in contact with the opposing force and it seems to be equal contact between both the hold and orbit team members. The key to this is that only the hold team asks for help in which case the orbit team comes at a run to their aid (usually right behind the opposing force) while the hold team stays entrenched and holds off or (hopefully) kills the assalting force.

This tactic works well against the half and half tactic, The each his own tactic, and is very very effective when you outnumber the opposing force.

2. THE SCOUT AND CRASH

This tactic dosnt require much coordination. The scout and crash is where one team member moves very quickly (still quietly) around and through the map in order to gain a location on the enemy team without exposing the main body of your team to fire thus reducing your total casualties (even if the scout is shot you know thier position while they wont be ready to belive there was just one and will usually stay there looking for the scouts backup that dosnt exist). The trick to this is that the scout needs to know the map well and be a good delay fighter (avoids close contact and keeps alot of fire on the enemy team). This is nessesary because its noise you want to make because in a 3-5 on 1 there is no time to write messages to your team telling them where you are so your team learns to wait for the commotion and then comes running (this lets the main body avoid ambushes). The scout must be the best player in the group.

This tactic destroys the moving as a large group tactic, has average success against pairs, and is useless against the to each his own tactic.

Of course most of the tactics that I am suggesting in this are geared mainly for the TDM matches. As search and destroy tactics they require a little more caution and finese.

3. THE RECON TACTIC

Similer to the "Scout and crash tactic" in that it requires a single player to work on his/her own. However in this tactic the scout simply finds a good vantage point on the map and keeps an eye on both his team and the opposing force without engaging the enemy which would reveal the scouts position and compromise the scouts objectives. The exeptions to this are:

A. When your team mixes up with the enemy force at close range the scout should make long distance shots to bail out any struggling teamates.

B. When the scout sees a lone sniper trying to flank your team.

The scouts job is to keep his team constantly aware of the opposing forces movments and numbers so that they always have the advantage on the field.

This tactic is devistating to the "large group tactic", "The pairs tactic", and has decent success against the "everyone for themselves tactic", it even has average success against the "hold and orbit tactic" (although against the "hold and orbit" the scout may have trouble staying hidden and getting back unseen to a usefull hiding spot when shot)

These are indivigual tactics that you can use in both DM and TDM matches.

1. CLEARING THE ROOF

You have spotted or know that a bad guy is on the roof above you. In that situation it is best not to try and circle around or try to charge up the roof in order to eliminate the threat from above. The best tactic that I have found in this case is to set up below the roof and fire a few shots down the street or in the air (this is done in order to get the roof top opponent to come to the edge to look for you) when the guys pops his head over the ledge you pop him and move on (its importent to use the rifle for this, a pistol may make him suspisious if he has heard no rifle fire before it). You want him to think that a close range rifle fight is happening below him so that he will come running to try to kill "both" of you. Also dont use more than 2 or maby 3 bullets to attract him/her because you may miss the first shot and need an extra bullet or 2 to finish the kill.

2. ARMED TO THE TEETH

As you know, when you kill an opponent they drop what ever weapon they were carrying at the time. If it is the same as a weapon you carry then you will automaticly pick of the weapon and take its ammo. Now this tactic refers to the weapons you are NOT carrying.
For example, you are a german and are carrying a kar98 and you run across a Springfield use the F key on your keyboard and pick up the Springfield. The game allows you to have 2 main weapons in addition to your pistol. You can switch between them by hitting the 1 and 2 keys. So at this time you are carrying TWO rifles at one time which is of incredible value in a prolonged fight where you use up all the ammo in your first rifle.

Simply switch to the second and resume while you opponent (exept for the Russians) will be forced to either reload (giving you a chance to kill him without having worry of his return fire) or he will switch to pistols (in which you will have the more powerful weapon out of the 2 of you)

IMPORTANT-When you pick up the second rifle make sure to check that it is fully loaded or it will be of little to no use to you when you need it.

3. WORK THE TEAM

This tactic is for when you are attatched to a team that likes to stay together but dosn't like to have a plan or decides that their approach is better than the one you are suggesting (but they dont lead the team they just simply move on thier own and the rest of the team decides to go with the flow). Now for most of the skilled players this can be a frustrating point especially if the opposing team is fill with players that:

A. Work well together or

B. Are individuals who are skilled enough to put a hurting on your team if nothing is done by you the indivigual to offset your teams charge headlong strategy.

Now although a charging team can be annoying it can also be used by a skilled player as an opportunity. When your team wants to charge off...let them. Your job is to:

A. Follow at a distance and provide long range sniper cover for your team or

B. Wait until your team is engaged with the enemy team and then you flank the opposing team and hit them either from the side or from behind.(if you're lucky you will be in a position to turn the tide of the battle to the side of your team by making your teamates into an unknowing partner in a very effective trap.(basicly you turn your teams unwillingness to corrdinate into a winning strategy).

4. VENGENCE

One aspect of this type of fighting that a skilled player needs to be aware of is the Vengence Probability. This is when you kill a player and that same player charges right back to your position to try and take you out. Now this is done for several reasons:

A. No player enjoys being killed and when they are they feel the need to take revenge or to prove to themselves and others that although they where killed they can also kill thier killer.

B. After being killed you either know where your killer is or have a good idea as to their whereabouts and it is hard to ignore the chance to have the jump on someone especially when they dont know where you respawned at.

C. if your killer is in a good spot it is in your best interest to take him/her out in order to cut off any more kills he might make thus protecting your chances to outscore him/her.

Also in order to take advantage of this very common thing you need to understand that you must move from the spot where you killed someone and then move to a spot where you have a good view of the spot you just left and simply wait for the revenge type player to show up and then shoot him again.

CONTENTS

A seldom thought about aspect of the game is your players clothing or camo. However it is an important aspect to stealth and should be thought about before jumping in a map.

DEATHMATCH

Each map differs in what uniform your player may have, for example some of the snow maps allow the Germans a white uniform and helmet while the Allied players wear their green or brown uniforms. Which stands out more, white on white, or green on white? That split second that your enemy has to ask him/her self Is that a snow covered rock or a target? may save you from certain death and allow an oppurtunity for a shot.

This decesion is also an important one on the street and city maps that have dark corners or stone buildings as can be seen in the following images.

Of course for this to be effective you must be able and willing to use all weapons available in the game. IMPORTANT-if you decide you need to be German for a certain map but don't like the weapons you can always pickup the weapon of your choice somewhere along the line (see Armed to the Teeth under INDIVIDUAL TACTICS FOR DEATHMATCH AND TEAM DEATHMATCH.)

TEAM DEATHMATCH GAMES AND MOVEMENT

In Team Deathmatch games you don't get to always choose Allies or Axis, therefore you don't have control over your uniform or camo as it is. So now your uniforms effectiveness as an advantage or disadvantage is up to you (this also applies in DM games). While moving throughout a map you can use walls as cover even if you are on the same side of them as your enemy. Don't stand in front of something that sharply contrast with your players image, you will stand out like a sore thumb. Look for backgrounds that you can blend into and use them as saftey points. Stay crouched and move slow and presise (9 times out of 10 it is movement that catches the enemy's eye), resist the urge to quickly and randomly move unless you are under fire. Use boxes, shrubs, trees and other objects as vantage points to look around and scout your path from (both ahead and behind you). As stated in previous tactics move quickly across open areas. In team movement move in a line not as a wad or pack, dispersing for cover when confrounting the enemy (a wad or pack of players is more visible than a single person).

I hope you will apply these tips and tweaks to your game. I promise you, you will see a whole new player within yourself?

Pete {SniperHunter}

CREDITS

Created By : John {Bocefus}{CA}

Written By: Pete {SniperHunter}{A}, Wacko, & John {Bocefus}{CA}

Dictation And Editing By: {Manon}{MM} & John {Bocefus}{CA}

Illustration Actors: Pascal {Eltarkus}{CA}, Pete {SniperHunter}{A}, Jon {BulletRiddled}{JA}, & John {Bocefus}{CA}