By milky
* At the start of the game, if you are one of the first people at the INV's, get assault armor and an dep. INV and deploy it very close to base and the other stations, either inside or outside, wherever the crowds are. You can destroy it after the crowd disipates if you want, so it can be used elsewhere.
If there are only two base INV's, then you will be giving your team an extra INV right at the start, and your enemy probably *won't* be doing the same, so you'll have a *big* advantage right off the bat. Depending on your mission, consider deploying a couple of INV's outside, in key spots but preferably out of the usual line of fire. Don't forget to beacon the INV's or no one will find them.
* If you're headed for the Vpad to get a shrike, wait until bombers and havocs are spawned. Don't spawn a shrike right off (see section 'stations: what to buy' for more info here).
If you're on the pubs, most of the time shrikes will be spawned first. To make up for your teammates lack of strategy, you can spawn a bomber first and leave it at the side of the pad for someone else and then go get your shrike.
Don't forget the MPB. Depending on what you're wanting to do at the start, watch to see if anyone spawns an MPB. If no one does, you will be at a big disadvantage. Wasting the MPB resourse is like throwing gobs of money down the drain. Use it or lose the game.
* Deploy turrets, motion sensors and mines quickly. If the enemy is smart, they will be hitting you hard before you can get setup. Spike and clamp turrets have a pretty high velocity, so you they don't have to be super close to base. Put some of them a little farther out so incoming mortars won't hit them. Motion sensors should be placed 'around' the base, not in the line of fire (unless there is no choice). They have a good range which you can check on the CC screen.
* Swap out base turrets immediately. A lot of maps start with plasma but most of the time that is the worst choice. (General rule of thumb here.....) Use AA for very heavy and multiple type vehicle activity. Use missile for lighter activity or if there are very few bombers and havocs coming in. Also use missiles for lots of jetting players around your base and cappers. (lots of exceptions here, use your best judgment).
* Watch out for that first speed cap of the game. (See 'stations: what to buy' for more info here) If you spawned a bomber first, I think that is smart, but your enemy may have spawned a shrike and will get that first cap if you're not ready. The only thing you need to prep for that first cap is a mine on the flag, and an ELF gun, grenade launcher, spinfusour and energy pack in your loadout. If you don't like using the ELF, well, learn to like it, but in the mean time use the chaingun instead of the ELF.
As the capper comes in, ELF him early as he is *coming in* and then run and jet along with him while continuing to ELF him. Disc and grenades will finish him off and by then your team should be ready to help at the flag.
* Your team needs an O-sniper on the enemie's Vpad STAT! Just make sure O-sniping is legal on the server. O-sniping is most effective in teams, so if you can get a few people together, that's great. If you get 3 or 4 people coming after you, then you're doing your job well, even if you've only fired one shot. If you have an O-snipe team, then you can work on heavies as well as lights.
* If you've been playing a few games and you know the enemie's offense is very quick and heavy, then tank D is crucial. Spawn a tank and wait for the action. Now, in a lot of situations, just running people over is much more effective than trying to mortar them, so that's what I usually do.
Be carefull, because those tank mortars will kill your teammates with TDon (bad idea), and will take out all of your deployable turrets and sensors. When trying to avoid those to problem areas, just drive around and run people over....it really works great. I get my highest scores playing that position.
* If the enemie's vehicle offensive is heavy, then Shrike D is also crucial. Piloting those shrikes takes a lot of skill, so if you can get good at it, then you can turn the whole game around for your team, all by yourself. Good bombers will have flares and maybe jammer packs and also good pilots, so they aren't going to take *any* damage at all. The only solution is a good shrike pilot.
* If you're team is getting beaten badly, you should be able to find the reasons for it quickly, and they are probably pretty basic.
1) Are your turrets down and have they been swaped?
2) Is anyone defending the backup gen tower? Force the enemy to keep hitting both towers instead of just one.
3) Is everyone on Offense or Defense (lopsided, unbalanced??) ?
4) Are your MPB's deployed? Are your bombers in the air?
5) Do you have ZERO deployable turrets, sensors and INV's out?
6) Do you have TK/BK'ers with big negative scores?
7) Is everyone too lazy to go after Vpad snipers?
8) Do you have ZERO flag D?
9) Do you have any cappers on your team? Anyone covering your flag carrier?
10) Are you playing on a server with a total of 8 people and it's virtually impossible to man every position and keep everything running?
* At the start of the game, if you are one of the first people at the INV's, get assault armor and an dep. INV and deploy it very close to base and the other stations, either inside or outside, wherever the crowds are. You can destroy it after the crowd disipates if you want, so it can be used elsewhere.
If there are only two base INV's, then you will be giving your team an extra INV right at the start, and your enemy probably *won't* be doing the same, so you'll have a *big* advantage right off the bat. Depending on your mission, consider deploying a couple of INV's outside, in key spots but preferably out of the usual line of fire. Don't forget to beacon the INV's or no one will find them.
* If you're headed for the Vpad to get a shrike, wait until bombers and havocs are spawned. Don't spawn a shrike right off (see section 'stations: what to buy' for more info here).
If you're on the pubs, most of the time shrikes will be spawned first. To make up for your teammates lack of strategy, you can spawn a bomber first and leave it at the side of the pad for someone else and then go get your shrike.
Don't forget the MPB. Depending on what you're wanting to do at the start, watch to see if anyone spawns an MPB. If no one does, you will be at a big disadvantage. Wasting the MPB resourse is like throwing gobs of money down the drain. Use it or lose the game.
* Deploy turrets, motion sensors and mines quickly. If the enemy is smart, they will be hitting you hard before you can get setup. Spike and clamp turrets have a pretty high velocity, so you they don't have to be super close to base. Put some of them a little farther out so incoming mortars won't hit them. Motion sensors should be placed 'around' the base, not in the line of fire (unless there is no choice). They have a good range which you can check on the CC screen.
* Swap out base turrets immediately. A lot of maps start with plasma but most of the time that is the worst choice. (General rule of thumb here.....) Use AA for very heavy and multiple type vehicle activity. Use missile for lighter activity or if there are very few bombers and havocs coming in. Also use missiles for lots of jetting players around your base and cappers. (lots of exceptions here, use your best judgment).
* Watch out for that first speed cap of the game. (See 'stations: what to buy' for more info here) If you spawned a bomber first, I think that is smart, but your enemy may have spawned a shrike and will get that first cap if you're not ready. The only thing you need to prep for that first cap is a mine on the flag, and an ELF gun, grenade launcher, spinfusour and energy pack in your loadout. If you don't like using the ELF, well, learn to like it, but in the mean time use the chaingun instead of the ELF.
As the capper comes in, ELF him early as he is *coming in* and then run and jet along with him while continuing to ELF him. Disc and grenades will finish him off and by then your team should be ready to help at the flag.
* Your team needs an O-sniper on the enemie's Vpad STAT! Just make sure O-sniping is legal on the server. O-sniping is most effective in teams, so if you can get a few people together, that's great. If you get 3 or 4 people coming after you, then you're doing your job well, even if you've only fired one shot. If you have an O-snipe team, then you can work on heavies as well as lights.
* If you've been playing a few games and you know the enemie's offense is very quick and heavy, then tank D is crucial. Spawn a tank and wait for the action. Now, in a lot of situations, just running people over is much more effective than trying to mortar them, so that's what I usually do.
Be carefull, because those tank mortars will kill your teammates with TDon (bad idea), and will take out all of your deployable turrets and sensors. When trying to avoid those to problem areas, just drive around and run people over....it really works great. I get my highest scores playing that position.
* If the enemie's vehicle offensive is heavy, then Shrike D is also crucial. Piloting those shrikes takes a lot of skill, so if you can get good at it, then you can turn the whole game around for your team, all by yourself. Good bombers will have flares and maybe jammer packs and also good pilots, so they aren't going to take *any* damage at all. The only solution is a good shrike pilot.
* If you're team is getting beaten badly, you should be able to find the reasons for it quickly, and they are probably pretty basic.
1) Are your turrets down and have they been swaped?
2) Is anyone defending the backup gen tower? Force the enemy to keep hitting both towers instead of just one.
3) Is everyone on Offense or Defense (lopsided, unbalanced??) ?
4) Are your MPB's deployed? Are your bombers in the air?
5) Do you have ZERO deployable turrets, sensors and INV's out?
6) Do you have TK/BK'ers with big negative scores?
7) Is everyone too lazy to go after Vpad snipers?
8) Do you have ZERO flag D?
9) Do you have any cappers on your team? Anyone covering your flag carrier?
10) Are you playing on a server with a total of 8 people and it's virtually impossible to man every position and keep everything running?