[STRATEGY] Battlefield Bad Company 2 General Tips

General noob tips:
-By default, pressing "F" will throw a frag grenade. Every kit (class) has one and only one. If you run across an ammo pack you can get that grenade back. Grenades are fairly lethal (they can kill if they are close enough) so don't be afraid to chuck them over obstacles and into buildings.

-The middle mouse button (by default) will do a melee knife swing. That attack is insta kill. Considering that weapons do low damage and have high recoil, in building fights your best bet is often a knife kill.
-SLOWWWWW your game down. The battlefield is composed of:

Your safe zone -> Your fighting area -> No man's land (NML) -> their fighting area -> their safe zone

You want to spend your time in either fighting area. If you're going across NML, do it FAST. Don't linger in the big open areas like snow plains or roads. My biggest mistake was either sticking aroudn in the NML too long, or charging across it every time I spawned and spam dying.

-Recoil is hardcore in this game. Bursts are always better than holding down the trigger. Anything short of point blank should be controlled fire. Your individual bullets are pretty accurate. I've had success doing long range sniping by firing individual bullets really quickly (semi-auto mode). Medium range is usually 3-4 round bursts.

-Health kits and ammo kits dropped will heal or resupply anyone near them. They have a short "startup" time after being dropped before they start resupplying. You don't need to click or run over them for it to work. Ammo kits will reload all your ammo, not just your equipped weapon.

-Reloading is counterstrike style (like shotgun rounds), not realistic. For example, if I have a 30 rounds loaded and 90 in storage, if I fire 15 bullets and reload I will have 30 rounds loaded and 75 stored. This is different than BF2 where you tossed clips (or recycled them to the end) whenever you reloaded.

-In your spawn screen, you can click on any living squad member (they appear as green icons) and you can spawn on them. THIS IS HUGE. It will save you tons of walk time and encourage teamwork. This also means if you're deep behind enemy lines you should try to stay alive to get squadmates to spawn on you.

Vehicle tips:

Vehicles are huge. There are six types of vehicles:

T-90 main battle tank (offense)
This is the primary weapon of the offense. There is only one tank on the field and the offense has it. The pilot only has access to the main gun, but a secondary gunner has control of the anti infantry machine gun on the top.

This thing is supreme on the field. There is no individual vehicle or unit on land (I'll cover the chopper later) that can take it out one on one. It has very tough frontal armor (it takes like 6 infantry launched AT to kill it), decent side armor and shitty rear armor. It's usually used as an artillery platform, providing long range fire support to force defenders away from good positions and to tear down buildings. It can also be rolled up to take out vechiles.

Attacker infantry APC (offense)
I can't remember the name off hand, but this guy can fire four high speed, contact grenades before reloading. It's useful for flushing infantry out of cover or buildings. It's immune to small arms but ~3 infantry rockets will kill it.

Bradley fighting vehicle (defense):
The defense gets this vehicle after the third? base. It has a high caliber anti infantry machine gun available to the pilot.

Vodnik (offense)
Players of BF2 will remember this. It's a lightly armor van with an anti infantry top mounted gun. Mostly used for transportation.

Quad bike (offense)
Very fast two seater all terrain vehicles. Used to flank the enemy. Has very little health and provides no driver cover.

Anti aircraft vehicle (offense)
This shows up after the chopper is available to the defense. Haven't used it yet.

Apache attack helicopter(defense)
Only available at the last two bases, this has an anti-tank rocket barrage and an anti-infantry high caliber machine gun. The glass is NOT bullet proof (you can kill the pilot with small arms) and the chopper in general takes damage from small arms fire and can be brought down with just infantry.

eneral tips

-Spam "Q" (socialize button by default) to spot enemies. This is practically map hacking. I do this at any target that I don't think I'll be able to kill within a couple seconds and vehicles. Why?

Why? Not only does it show your teammates where they are, but it tells you their exact position for the next four seconds or so. Case in point:

See enemy at long range next to cover. Spot them using Q. Start shooting at them. They back off and hide behind cover. Keep shooting at them through the wall. Voila, maphacking kill. I get so many kills this way, especially with high powered weapons like sniper rifles or vehicle mounted guns.

-On that note, you can shoot through just about everything. It does reduced damage but usually when you're doing that they're already low. Wood, concrete, fences, go nuts. Vehicles block fire and I think the thick metal pipes do as well, but the vast majority of objects do not.

-Swap kits on the battlefield if it makes sense. Your medic buddy go down? Swap to his kit (aim at his stuff and press "E") then revive him.

-Stay away from vehicles in general unless you're in them or repairing them. They attract fire like no one's business.

-Cover is crucial. Spotting somebody can help negate it when you're shooting at them, but that half second before you realize there's an enemy in those bushes usually means you're dead.


How do I win the game?
There are five? (I think) bases that the offense must destroy. Each base has 2 M-COM points with big bombs ready to be armed. The offense takes the base when it either arms and destroys the location with the explosive, or blows up the containing structure (this isn't always possible). After a base is taken, the map extends and everyone's spawn gets moved to reflect the new battleground.

The defense has unlimited respawns, but the offense only has a limited amount. They start with ~70 respawns and every death that isn't revived by a medic takes it down one. Every time they destroy a M-COM point they gain tickets.

What's the flow of the game?
1. Defenders get into a good fighting position.
2. Attackers spawn and attack.
3. Attackers get shredded.
4. Cover is destroyed in the process of the fighting.
5. Go back to #1, but the defenders are forced to move due to #4.

Eventually, this becomes:

1. Defenders get into a mediocre fighting position.
2. Attackers spawn and attack.
3. Attackers gain ground, taking some of the outlying cover for their own use.
4. Cover is destroyed in the process of the fighting.
5. Attackers may end up arming the bombs, which forces the defenders out of cover to defend the bombs.
6. Depending on the state of the defense, this either succeeds or fails.
7. Go back to #1, but with even less defensive cover.

At the next base, repeat from the first phase.

What can I do to help attack?
-If you're in a vehicle, support your troops. The tank should destroy enemy vehicles and blow out cover. Infantry Fighting Vehicles should lend anti-personnel support and provide cover.

-If you're a sniper, take out anyone using stationary weapons like mounted machine guns or AT launchers. Also kill enemy snipers. After that, kill anything visible. Help spot enemies for your team.

-Everyone else should push together and try to flush the defenders from their positions. This will involve a lot of dying. Try to stay alive so teammates can spawn on you. This will usually result in flashpoint to flashpoint fighting, taking room and crates one bloody yard (or meter for your canadians) at a time. It's not unusual to be pinned behind cover and killing, dying and spawning in the same spot for over 30 seconds.

-Your initial objective is to just take good cover and to wipe out stationary gun positions, but your ultimate objective is to arm the bomb. If you can arm the bomb and get away, you can slaughter defenders trying to defuse it.

-If they have too much fire in the front for you to get close, take a flanking route and force them to defend two fronts.

-Remember, this is NOT a war of attrition. If you plan on just sitting there and shooting people forever, you will end up losing. They have infinite respawns: you don't.

What can I do to help defend?
-The main principle is reversed. Your whole plan is to bleed tickets (spawns) from them as much as possible. Kill, kill, kill.

-Don't let them get to the bombs. If they arm them, you have to expose yourself to defend. It's better to take them down early.

-Cover all avenues of attack. Don't let them go across the No Man's Land without taking serious fire.

-Don't let flankers get by. They are the #2 priority, only behind defending the bomb. Letting even one guy get behind you can easily become a four man, well coordinated squad. Hunt them down and kill them. Or better yet: don't let them get behind you to begin with.

-Hide from vehicles. Especially at the beginning, you will have no counter to their tanks. You can put down some AT fire and force it to repair or even get a lucky kill, but your playing for time and tickets. Ultimately that tank will push you back until you get your chopper.