The Great Dictator Speech

Put together by my mate Stewy. 





This speech is from Charlie Chaplin's first 'talking picture'. I think it's a powerful message that is still very much in context today. Stewy has chopped it together with some more current footage. You can learn more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator

Battlefield 3 Guide & Gameplay Tips Part 2

Note originally posted on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 12:09pm

Continued:
In part one we discussed some basics of Battlefield 3, made some comparisons to Modern Warfare and discussed two classes, the Assault class and the Engineer class.

In part 2 of this guide I will be discussing a few more basics as well as the other two classes, the Sniper and the Support class.

Attacking/Defending:

The objective of Conquest is to capture and hold points on the map, marked A, B, C etc. Capturing points will decrease the amount of tickets you lose per second and increase the amount of tickets the enemy team loses. Holding all points on the map will result in the enemy team losing tonnes of tickets , very quickly. Your main objective when playing Conquest should always be to capture points. Obviously there are many, many different ways to go about attacking points depending on the map, your class, how long the point has been held etc. I will try to outline some basics about attacking.

Firstly, if you are the Squad leader you should be marking any point you're currently attacking. This will (hopefully) rally your squad to you. It is much easier to capture a point with a full squad rather than by yourself. When you enter a certain radius around the point, you will see the enemy control start to decline. Once the point has been neutralised you will see your own control start to increase until the point has been captured. One tactic that you can use in this circumstance is to get into a corner or behind some cover and watch the control meter. If the meter stops moving at any point it means that an enemy soldier has moved into the capture radius and you will need to eliminate him before continuing to capture. It is sometimes advisable to wait for the enemy to find you, as often you will get the jump on him and eliminate him easily.

When defending points (which I don't really tend to do much as I feel it's not as productive as capturing and harrassing enemy points) again, there are countless ways to do this. Again, if you are squad leader mark the point for defence to rally your squad. Common sense says that a 5 man squad will do a lot better job defending a point than one or two soldiers, so rallying your squad is important. Set mines and claymores on roads and around the point itself and then move OUT of the points capture radius. The reason for this is that if an enemy moves inside the points capture radius, you will see the point start to flash and you will know someone is there. It is an early warning system which will give you time to seek and destroy the enemy attacker. Snipers and Support soldiers in particular should set up somewhere that gives them a good field of fire over the whole point, allowing them to neutralise any threats before they get too close.

Breaking Out & Holding The Line:
Sometimes the enemy team will just be too good. They will quickly storm across the map and capture all the points, leaving you with only your squad mates and Deployment point to spawn on. If the enemy team is sitting right at your front door it can be very, very hard to break out and recapture some points. Here are some tips to help break out:

• Explosives are your friends. Often the enemy will be stuck attacking along a road or narrow alley way. This will bunch them up, making them perfect targets for RPG's, grenades and mortars. This is one place where the mortar really shines as you can sit back behind cover and pummel the enemy team with HE and Smoke until your infantry can break through and recapture your first point (the one closest to your base). 
• Use your vehicles carefully. Whatever you do, do NOT charge in and attempt to break through. Sit back and provide heavy cover fire for your team using either your main cannons (MBT, IFV) or your .50 cal machine gun (Hummer, Jeeps). 
• If all else fails use stealth to slip past the enemy cordon. This requires a bit of running around, making sure you're not spotted. When you do break through do not attack your first point. Attack the enemies first point at the other side of the map. You are almost 100% guaranteed that there will be no enemies guarding this point as they will all be at your base, attempting to hold the line. If you're successful, you will provide your team a new spawn point BEHIND the enemy line, which can be very devastating. 

Vice versa to the above point; sometimes your team will be the one storming the map and keeping the enemy locked down. There are again some very important tips to keep the enemy from breaking out and turning the tables on you.

• The point closest to the enemy's base should be disregarded for defence. Forget about it. Spawn on it and attack from it, but do not hang around and defend it. It does not matter if they recapture it as you will still have all the other points to attack from. 
• Defenders should be mobile, preferably in Jeeps making quick trips between your other points to make sure any sneaky stealthers haven't slipped through the line to capture the points behind you. I often play this role and rack up tonnes of kills just driving around picking up strays.
• Tanks and Engineers should be up front. Tanks need constant defence and repair as they will be the bastions of your line. All too often I will see a Tank neglected and then destroyed followed moments later by the entire front line degrading and being pushed back. If you look after your Tanks, they will keep the enemy contained and unable to form an effective counter attack. 
• Snipers should focus on enemy Snipers as they will be looking to pick off Engineers who are repairing your Tanks. If not shooting, Snipers should be using their MAV's over the frontline to keep all enemy soldiers Spotted or SOFLAM's to target enemy vehicles for Engineers with Javelins.

It is very exciting when you are holding all the points and pushing your front line ever closer to the enemies base. Kills a plenty are available in these situations but be careful. All it takes is a few seconds for the whole front line to collapse and the enemy to swarm through.

Classes:

Back to classes; the Sniper and the Support are two very effective classes for their roles. They take more mastering than the Assault or Engineer classes but the rewards are high kill counts and huge points.

Suppression:
I have mentioned Suppression and Suppressive Fire a few times now and before I explain the Support class it is very important to know what Suppression is and how it works. When someone is firing at you and bullets are whizzing past your head and spanking into the cover in front of you, you are being Suppressed. When under Suppression your screen will go blurry and control response will become slightly sluggish, making it very hard to aim and kill your attacker. Suppression provides bonuses for the attacking soldier if the target is killed by another team member. You will gain a Suppression Kill Bonus worth 50 points which makes intentionally Suppressing targets a very valuable tool.

When under Suppression the best thing to do is get your head down. Get into cover as quickly as possible until the Suppression wears off. It's almost impossible to attack an enemy while Suppressed so don't bother trying unless there is no other option.

Support:
Ever since competitive FPS games have been around I have been attracted to the role of Support soldier. From Unreal Tournaments minigun to the latest military LMGs (Light Machine Guns), the idea of laying down huge volumes of firepower has always appealed. Battlefield 3 however takes the Support soldier to a new level with Suppression. Even a few rounds from an LMG passing close to a player will generate almost maximum Suppression and the huge magazine capacity of most of these weapons means that you can keep up the pressure or even Suppress multiple targets at once. Coupled that with the gadgets this class recieves makes it, I believe, the most powerful all-round fighting/support class in the game.

Here are a few ways that I like to play:

Heavy Support:
Using a LMG with the Foregrip, Red Dot Site and Extended Magazine gives you a weapon that is powerful, easy to control and can output a huge amount of firepower. My favourite LMG to use would be the M240 as it packs a 200 round magazine (Extended) full of high power 7.62mm rounds. The objective with this class is to provide your team with covering fire so that they can advance. You should be behind your team mates laying down short bursts of fire at any enemies you see. Firing in short bursts will keep your recoil at a minimum and you will make more kills this way. The exception to this rule is if you are shooting down a corridor or bottleneck. In this case, unload your entire magazine down the hallway. You will Suppress everyone at the other end and probably make some kills too. Make sure you Spot enemies so that your team mates can flank them as you force their heads down with Suppression. Use your ammo pack to keep yourself and your team supplied and drop claymores at choke points so that you can safely retreat if you need to. Squad Suppression is the go here.

Silent Support:
In this configuration swap out the Extended Magazine for the Suppressor. It sounds silly to put a silencer on a LMG but the benefits are huge. Your bullets will still carry huge amounts of Suppression however your recoil will be much lower, allowing you to fire longer bursts without having to correct your aim. Also you will not show up on the map when you fire which is a gigantic advantage on maps like Operation Metro. Your role in this class is essentially the same as Heavy Support. Hang back, lay down covering fire to pin your enemies while your team moves up for the kill.

All-Rounder:
With this config you will be able to do a bit of everything. Use the weapon config from Heavy Support but swap out your Claymores for the C4. You'll be able to hunt Tanks and vehicles and set traps for enemies. I use my C4 like mines, planting it on the road and waiting for enemy vehicles to drive past. This is a VERY effective tactic on maps like Seine Crossing and Kharg Island where vehicles are pretty much forced to use the roads to get everywhere.

Mortar:
I wanted to write a short section on the Mortar as it is potentially a game winning weapon if used correctly. I find that the mortar is almost useless on most maps, especially any large, open map. However on maps like Tehran Highway, Grand Bazaar and Seine Crossing it can be deadly. Swap out your LMG for a Shotgun or PDW as you won't need the long range Suppression of an LMG and sit right back. Use your Mortar to drop bombs on the choke points on these maps, especially on Objective B on Grand Bazaar and Objective C on Seine crossing. The Mortar is also an excellent breakout weapon (see breakout section), allowing you to lay down smoke for your team to advance through.

Sniper:
Last but definetly not least is the Sniper. Without doubt the Sniper is the most difficult class to play. Kill shots must be made on the head or upper chest otherwise you will not get one shot kills. Without one shot kills the Sniper is useless, so accuracy is a must with this class. The Sniper gets a couple of handy tools for it's trade mainly the Radio Beacon the T-UGS and the SOFLAM. The Radio Beacon will allow your squad mades to spawn on the beacon instead of you, allowing you to place it in a safe spot near an objective to get a constant stream of reinforcements. The T-UGS (Tactical Unattended Ground Sensor) will show up any enemies that are moving quickly near your position. Obviously very handy for camping.

SOFLAM (Special Operations Forces Laser Marker):
I think that the SOFLAM deserves it's own section as it is an awesome piece of equipment that NEVER gets used. The SOFLAM essentially is a laser designator that locks on to any vehicle it is pointed at and allows Rockets from your team to home in on that vehicle, even if it is not in their line-of-sight even if left unattended. This gadget is NOT USED ENOUGH. On large, vehicle oriantated maps you should be deploying it high, pointing it at a road or choke point and then leaving it unattended. This will ensure that any vehicle that passes will be marked for at least a few moments. If you are an Engineer and you have the Javelin, USE IT. It is very frustrating to spend time designating targets when no one is paying attention.

There are two ways that I play the Sniper class:

Spectre:
The obvious, classical hollywood Sniper. Set up position somewhere on the map, usually in a very high place. Use a high power, single shot rifle such as the M40A5, SV98 or M98B with a bi-pod. From this position your main goal is Spotting enemy targets for your team and eliminating enemy Snipers. This can be a huge amount of fun as you try and improve your longest headshot score. Mine currently sits at 318m but I have seen headshots as long as 1300m on YouTube. Spotting is very important here as you usually have an unrestricted view of the map and you're not going to be able to shoot every enemy you see. Spotting will mean your team has the advantage of getting a coherent overview of enemy positions. Also you should place your SOFLAM before you set up, somewhere well away from your position as the distinctive red laser WILL give you away if you stay too close. Use the 8x Rifle Scope in most instances. Very rarely should you use the 12x as it is simply too powerful, especially if some of your targets are within 200m. The Marksman bonus is what allows you to rack up points with this class. Any clean headshot over 50m will net you a bonus equal to the distance of the shot, so it's quite easy to rack up a huge score if you can hit a few 100m+ headshots. Squad Ammo should be used here so that you can shoot for a long time without having to go look for a re-supply.

Shoot & Move:
This class is all about moving and shooting. Semi-Automatic rifles like the SKS and the M39 should be used here coupled with either the 8x Rifle Scope or the 4x ACOG to give you a nice, medium range view. If you want to use a higher power, bolt action rifle make sure you select the Straight Pull Bolt for quick shooting. You can use a Suppressor with this class, but I prefer not to the trade off of power for accuarcy is not worth it IMO. Headshots are still the key with this class but don't be afraid to crack off multiple rounds to kill an enemy. This class is also great for Suppression as emptying a clip at someone behind cover will ensure they are fully Suppressed and thinking twice about sticking their head around that corner. Use the Radio Beacon to give you a spawn point close to the center of the map, where you can quickly get to any objective and when you take up a firing position drop your T-UGS to give you early warning of anyone approaching. That being said, do not stay in one position too long. Shoot and move, shoot and move, shoot and move. One of your main targets with this class should be enemy Engineers who are repairing Tanks. It is very satisfying to headshot an Engineer and then watch your squad destroy the Tank he was repairing. Squad Sprint, Ammo or Suppression are generally the go with this class.

Ballistics: Due to Battlefield's realistic ballistics, playing a Sniper is much harder than in any other First Person Shooter. When shooting at long to extreme range you will need to learn to deal with Bullet Drop. This is the effect that gravity has on any projectile fired. It effects every weapon in Battlefield but is much more pronounced when Sniping and sometimes when shooting with an LMG. The rule of thumb that I use is that after about 100m, every addtional 100m requires aiming roughly half a cm higher. Generally I will expend my first magazine on 'practice shots' at various buildings to give me an idea of how much bullet drop I will be dealing with on certain parts of the map. Normally you'll be quite safe doing this as at the start of a round most players will be concentrating on attacking their initial points.

That brings me to the end of the class discussion. In the next episode of this guide I will get into my favourite part of Battlefield; Armoured Warfare.

Battlefield 3 Guide & Gameplay Tips Part 1

Note originally posted on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 3:13pm

Introduction:
Hey everyone. Recently I have been trolling the halls of Google for tips and strategies for Battlefield 3. There is a real shortage of information online for advanced players unless you want to go ahead and buy a proper guide. Well, I thought; fuck that. I have racked up 90+ hours on BF3 now so I feel like I am qualified to throw out a few tricks that I have picked up along the way.

This guide will be written in a few different parts as if I were to put it all in one note it would likely be very long. So sit back, relax, have a drink and hopefully you'll pick up a few hints to help boost your Score Per Minute (SPM).

Guide Overview:
This guide will not cover anything to do with the Single Player or Co-op modes of Battlefield 3. I am focusing solely on competitive multiplayer in the Conquest and Conquest Assault modes as they are the ones I play most. Some of the tips may be applicable to Rush and the other modes and I may write a seperate guide for those modes later. This also will be an Xbox 360 guide as that is what I own the game on.

Battlefield 3 Vs. Call Of Duty:
I think that it's necessary to compare these two games before we start, as a lot of people are moving from the COD series to Battlefield. While both games are First Person Shooters they are very different games. I find that COD is much more of an Arcade style game. It is a fast paced, run and gun, pure adrenalin shooter. Playing COD doesn't require much more skill than to keep moving and be decent at aiming. Sure there are some naunces that take some time to work out, like where to place your Claymores for max damage or the finer points of being a Sniper, however it is essentially still an Arcade experience.

Battlefield 3 is much more of a war simulation than an Arcade game. It features much more realistic ballistics (bullet drop), gun sway, reload times etc than the COD series. As such a player moving from COD to BF might initially be frustrated on most levels, especially the larger ones as quite often firefights happen over a long distance and require a different style of shooting than COD. One thing that people don't realise about BF compare to COD is that kills don't matter much anymore. I can get the MVP (most valuable player) Ribbon on any given map without making a single kill. It is much more important to be focused on your objectives and using your abilities to the full, rather than worrying about kills.

Tickets:
Battlefield 3 uses as a ticket system where each team starts with a set amount and they are drained as each team respawns, like reinforcements. Once you hit zero you lose. Holding all the Command Points causes the enemies tickets to drop very fast, so this is the main objective of any battle.

Squads:
A prime feature and one I feel is much underused in BF3 are Squads. Within each 12 player team are a number of Squads. Each Squad can contain up to 5 players. Squad mates can spawn on each other and receive bonuses for teamwork related activities, such as Spotting (see Spotting section), Suppressive Fire, Healing, Repairs and more. It is highly important that you try to work with your squad as much as possible. Spawn on them and stay with them for support, especially if you are a medic or an engineer. You will survive a lot longer on the battlefield if you are with your squad. Depending on your class you should be using the following tactics:

Storming: 

Medics with M230's, Engineers with Rockets and Mines and Support with shotgunsor smaller LMGs (not the M60) and C4 should be up front laying down a heap of fire, attacking vehicles and storming towards the objective.

Supporting: 

Medics with Medpacks, Snipers with Radio Becons and SOFLAM and Support Soldiers with Ammo kits or Mortars should be to the rear either healing, re-arming or laying down suppressive fire for the boys at the front.

Within each squad will be a squad leader. The squad leader can mark objectives for attack and defense. Again this is a feature that is not used as much as it should be. If you are the squad leader, make sure to mark your objectives so that your team mates know what they should be doing and then (this is important) actually attack/defend that objective. Do not go off on a tangent. You can tell the squad leader from the star that appears next to their name.

Spotting:
Another feature of BF which I feel is extremely underused is Spotting. Unlike COD where the UAV provides the locations of enemy soliders; in Battlefield you are required to 'Spot' them. When you see an enemy, place your sights over him and press the 'back' button on your Xbox control. This will 'Spot' the enemy for your team, marking him with an orange arrow and making him show up on the map. This is a very cool mechanic as it makes it a lot harder to know what your enemy is doing unless your team is good at Spotting. The only other times you will see enemies on your map is if they fire an unsuppressed weapon or if there is a MAV (Micro-Air Vechile, similar to a UAV) around.

Make it a priority to spot BEFORE you shoot. If you spot someone, shoot at them, miss and they escape they are at least marked for one of your team mates to take out. Snipers & Pilots (Tanks, Helicopters, Jets) should all prioritise Spotting. It takes less than a second to Spot someone and then start shooting at them, so SPOT BEFORE YOU SHOOT (can't emphisize this enough).

Classes:
Battlefield 3 features four distinct classes. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages which I will discuss here. I will write up the Engineer and Assault classes in this guide. The Support and Sniper classes will be in the next one.

Assault (Medic):
Since BF2 the 'medic' class has been merged with the assault class. The assault class has lost the ability to drop ammo packs and has gained medipaks and the defibrillator instead. Assault can be played in two ways:

Assault:

For this version of the class you should be using a rifle and the M320 grenade launcher, rather than the medipak. The idea with this class is to be the frontline of any battle. You need to be constantly attacking objectives, using your rifle to pick off targets at mid-range and your grenades to destroy cover and take out groups. The advantage of this class is that you still have your defib so you can revive fellow frontliners (and get a ticket back), even if you can't heal them. Storm and take Command Points and then move onto the next one, don't hang around, don't defend unless there is no other option. Rifles like the AEK-971 and the AN-94 are EXTREMELY accurate and powerful at mid-range. Your M320 is your best friend with this class. It will cause huge Suppression on enemies and force them to keep their heads down. It is also a one-shot-kill weapon on enemy Jeeps, provided that you can land the grenade square on the front or side. The Squad Grenade or Squad Sprint specializations should be used here.

Medic:

For this spec you should be using either a rifle or a shotgun with the Medipak instead of the M320. This class should hang slightly back, picking off targets when able but mostly concentrating on getting your medpaks to the people that need them. As you get refunded a ticket every time you defib someone, this should be your top priority as potentially you can almost stop losing tickets altogether if you have a few good medics. Keep your eye open on the map and your surroundings for the distinctive symbol (skull) that shows someone on your team has died, get to them and defib them ASAP. This spec is absolutely awesome for racking up points. If you can get your medpak into a group of friends taking fire, you will watch your points skyrocket. Squad Sprint is a must here as it will let you get to your downed team mates and defib them faster.



Engineer:
The Engineer is an extremely versatile class. Armed with a carbine, rocket launcher, grenades and gadgets; an engineer can be a very formidable opponent. There are many ways to play the engineer class but there are a couple of things that Engineers must do to be sucessful:

• Do not neglect your rocket launcher. You can use this to take out enemy cover and allow your squad into buildings. It is not necessary to actually kill enemies, just taking out their cover is usually enough to either make them retreat or allow your team mates a clean shot. If you are not using your rockets, you're not using your class properly. 
• You are on the map to disable vehicles. DO NOT NEGLECT THIS ROLE. The Engineer is the only class capable of consistently taking out enemy vehicles. An enemy tank with a competant driver is a HUGE problem for your team and your job is always to take them out as soon as possible.
• If you have the Repair Tool equipped then use it. Too often I will be duking it out with another Tank with engineers all around me, not one of which can be bothered to repair my Tank. If you are near a Tank you don't need rockets, you need to repair the Tank. 

Again here are a couple of ways to play this class that I enjoy:

Tanker: 

Without doubt the most time I have spent on the battlefield has been in either the MBT (Main Battle Tank) or the IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle). I currently have 2 service stars with the MBT and 605 kills. Your objective when Tanking (lol) is just like in WoW. You are there to draw fire from the enemy, deal damage and capture points. There is no need for funny, tricky manuevours in Tanks. Drive in, shoot anything that moves and capture the point and then move on quickly. When taking on other vehicles the key is speed, flanking and being a good shot. It's no good charging in at full throttle or sitting in one spot if every shot goes wide. You have to be able to consistantly land hits, even from long distances and while moving at top speed. It takes a lot of practice, but there is not much better in BF than roaring down a highway on Caspian Border or Kharg Island pumping shell after shell in to some poor T-90 driver who has no idea what to do. Squad Suppression is the go here.

My recommendations for the MBT are; HMG/Canister Shell, Thermal Optics & Reactive Armor.

The HMG is great for anti-infantry at moderate to long distances but it is unweildy and inaccurate close range. The Canister shell is much more suited for close range work as it is basically a massive, tank sized shotgun. Canister shells are perfect for taking out people in Jeeps as it will just shred them.

Thermal Optics is a must. It highlights everything in black and white and makes spotting enemy armour very easy. It also allows you to see and kill enemy Engineers much quicker and easier. Enemy Engineers are your worst enemies and I find I die a lot more to them than to other vehicles. Finally it will allow you to spot mines on the road. They will show up bright white and should be shot with your main cannon before proceeding. Zoom Optics is okay for extremely large maps like Operation Firestorm and Caspian Border, but I perfer thermal.

Reactive Armour gives you extra armour on your flanks and rear. I cannot tell you how many times I have been saved by this perk. Basically it will allow you to absorb almost 100% more damage than usual. Make sure you turn side on to any enemies if you can.

Tank Hunter: 

With this spec I spend my entire time on the map laying traps and ambushes for other enemy vehicles. Find choke points that vehicles pass regularly and either mine them or wait in ambush. This is a great spec to use on very large maps. You should always hang around Command Points as that is where the vehicles will go. When laying mines, always lay two very close together. One mine will definetly disable a vehicle but won't always destroy it. Two will light that puppy up like a christmas tree. When attacking with the RPG or SMAW try to hit the rear of the vehicle where the armor is lightest. One good rocket fired up a Tanks arse can sometimes destroy it outright, so don't be afraid to take a few seconds to get behind it first. When using the Javelin however, you want to be far away. It's much harder to lock-on and get a kill from close range as most tank drivers will go fairly spastic when they hear the Lock tone. Don't waste time with this class trying to kill infantry. Your Carbine/Shotgun/PDW is for personal defense only. If you see an enemy who is a decent distance away, spot them and move on. Don't bother trying to light them up as 9 out of 10 times they will kill you. If you have to attack them, use a rocket and aim at their feet. Squad Explosives is easily the best specialization for this class as it will give you TEN rockets and a few addtional mines.

Well that will do for Part 1 of my Battlefield 3 Multiplayer guide. Hopefully I will have more written soon.