by A.J. Coltrane
Recommended Game: Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 3.
Specifically, the Team Deathmatch mode, since most shooter campaign modes bore me. (Except for Borderlands’, which needs it’s own writeup.)
Why I like It: Multiplayer Team Deathmatch pits two teams against each other in a race to get to 75 kills of the opposition.
The thing is, the game’s leveling system encourages running around like crazy, shooting everything in site and getting shot frequently in return… but if I did that I’d lose every encounter to some tween jacked up on Red Bull and pixie sticks (with a liberal assortment of other recreational stuff tossed in.)
As a fossil, there’s really one way to compete with a Twitchmaster 2000 — skulk around corners and wait for them to run into your sights. Then blast them with a silenced weapon. Skulking has the added advantage of allowing for more precise aiming; weapons inherently become more accurate when you’re not moving much.
The reason this strategy works is because whenever anybody fires a non-silenced weapon they show as a red dot on the minimap, so they can often be seen coming and prepared for. That, and opponents are often so impatiently charging around that they don’t bother to check corners — they’re just rushing to the next highlighted enemy on their map, so they’ll just cruise right on by if you’re reasonably concealed and quiet.
The silencer is essential to the strategy for two reasons:
1. It hides your location on the map, so the opponents don’t see a red dot and sprint to your spot. (It’s one thing to show up on the minimap when you don’t plan to be there ten seconds from now, but since skulking involves moving a lot more slowly, so it’s essential to keep a low profile.)
2. It often allows for multiple shots at an enemy before they figure out where the shots are coming from. That’s a good thing too, since it’s hard to hit a sprinting target sometimes.
Note that this is not considered an “honorable” way to play. Etiquette says that you’re supposed to run around like everyone else and not be a buzzkill crouching in the shadows. The slow, stealthy approach irritates the hell out of the Twitchmasters. (I know, because I hear them bitching when they’re not muted.)
…and it’s part of the reason I enjoy the game.
———
The essential parts of the build:
Type 95 Assault Rifle – Red Dot Scope and Suppressor. (Use “Attachments” to allow for both.)
Perks – Blind Eye, Assassin, Steady Aim.
This build is invisible on the minimap. The Type 95 is a high accuracy burst fire weapon — it forces me to not “spray and pray”. The burst fire encourages me to be more accurate, and I’m able to stretch the ammo a little further, which is important since I’m not dying much. The 95 also hits hard — it’s a two-bullet kill at close range, so I can deal better with goofballs with (short range, high damage) submachine guns. The Steady Aim helps in close quarters, and in situations where one or both parties are surprised and not scoped — I hate losing shootouts just because I walked around the corner at the same time as somebody else who is using a better short-range weapon; Steady Aim and the Type 95 help to even that playing field. All around, it’s a build with few weaknesses, and it has the benefit of stealth. Hard to beat.
FlatbreadGarden 
I assume that this is not a true “camper” strategy, where you pick a hidey-hole and tuck in for the duration. The Camper strategy only works for a while because, as you pick off the Twitchmasters (I’m stealing that term, BTW) they respawn and come back, ready to burn you out of your nest. To make it work, I have to keep moving, like the big middle-aged shark that I am, and while this opens me up for getting it in the back from a tweaker, once I learn the maps well enough, I know where the angles line up to give me some protection on my six. I also like team deathmatch better because you can use your teammates as cannon fodder, letting them swoop around the corner, take the flak, and then I can cruise the angle and take out the perp.
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Yeah, I’m not really camping, though I do make a point to be patient before moving around.
I’m still new — I’m learning the maps better so that I know where I can go.. safe place to safe place sorta. That, and I’m figuring out the “unexpected” places to work off of my favorite spots, so that when they *do* come get me I’ve already outthunk them. I enjoy figuring out options on options like that.
I’ve found using the silencer also gives a very particular range where I’m most effective, and I’m gradually figuring out the sightlines that optimize my weapon range. Ideally I’d get that one-shot (two-hit) kill, but smgs won’t be right on top of me before I can react.
I’ve also started experimenting with the bouncing betty (placeable grenade basically), which guys will live through some times, but it makes them really squishy if they do. I think that (maybe) I’ll get more utility out of that then just chucking a grenade. Genades are more useful for digging people out, and if they’ve already seen me it’s about too late for a grenade anyway. (Nothing worse than getting killed because I chose to throw a grenade but the opponent just charges in and shoots.)
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Also, the more I play I find the less I’m standing near allies — they’re just airstrike magnets.
However, I will keep line of site to them if practicable so that I can mop up.
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I’ve been playing the Kill Confirmed variation and enjoying it. The strategy is different and it makes or a slightly more reasoned, slightly less frenetic gameplay.
And because these old twitch muscles aren’t too twitchy, I may have to go with something a bit more full-auto than your Type 95…I gave that a try yesterday and my dial-in/trigger coordination can’t compete well enough. I’m thinking a full auto will help me dial-in on those running targets.
In Call of Duty:Black Ops, the claymore is ideal for protecting your rear. I’ll have to look into the bouncing betty.
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When using the bouncing betty I’ll place it on the front that least favors my weapon — either a very long or very short sightline. Or where I’d guess will be the direction that the enemy is most likely to come from. That’s the current experiment anyway. As always, I’m trying to make the other players think, rather than just react, in an attempt to slow them down. I’m sure a month from now I’ll have a very different view of what works for me and what doesn’t. (I don’t like the red laser lines on the claymore — the betty is way easier to hide.)
I’m pretty certain I want to stick with the silencer/ blind eye/ assasin combo — everything else is negotiable.
I like the Type 95 because, so long as I aim correctly, everything that I shoot at dies pretty reliably. Sometimes guys just run across my crosshairs too quickly, I try not to sweat that and maybe go hunt them down from behind.
I’ve picked the 95 because from what I’ve read/seen, it seems like the most popular choices are 95, M4A1, or ACR. And you can rarely go wrong going with what all the kids are doing.
My (relative newb) feeling is that the M4A1 has more spread than I would like, I feel like I’m often coming up one hit short of a kill, particularly at longish medium range.
I tried the ACR and it seemed to lack the punch that I like.
I’ll need to try Kill Confirmed — do you actually get credit for a kill if you just shoot the guy but either can’t get the tags, or somebody else picks them up? (Do your stats still show you killed someone if you don’t get the tags?)
Which AR(‘s) do you prefer?
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In Kill Confirmed you don’t get credit unless SOMEONE FROM YOUR TEAM goes and gets the tags. You, a teammate, even a teammate after you’ve died, can go and get the tags and you get the credit. You can also pick up the tags of teammates killed and “DENY” the credit to the opposing team.
The kicker here is that you can’t just hide and plink off the runabouts. You have to expose yourself to gian the credit. Even sniper-fiends move around more. Camping just doesn’t pay as well in Kill Confirmed. I also think that it’s an older demographic (based on no evidence other than the lack of soprano voices wheedling and whingeing).
Unfortunately, I’m in PDX this week, and away from my Xbox, so I can’t remember which of the ARs work best for me. I’ve also been playing CoD:Black Ops a lot, and the equipment loadout is different over there, so I get them confused. I’ll report back when I return to homebase.
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Two weeks later, and the strategies continue to evolve.
I haven’t been using the silencer as much — I’ve been going with the Type 95 assault rifle with Focus (less flinch when hit) and an ACOG scope, and trying to pick out a little bit longer sightlines. (I figure that the killcam will tell them where I am anyway so the silencer tends to have marginal value.)
I’ll frequently throw a Bouncing Betty (placeable mine) almost directly at my feet, or wherever my shortest angle is, so if someone rushes around a corner to knife me they blow up. If they succeed in killing me before triggering the mine I still get a lot of payback kills when they stumble onto it two seconds later. (Which is still really satisfying.)
I’m also digging the Trophy System (intercepts up to two grenades). It’s saved my bacon more than a few times just due to how good people are at throwing grenades in this game. And if they try throwing a flashbang and charging in… well, I’m not stunned, and I’m waiting…
I’m learning a lot, I’ll need to do another post just on those two items, as there are a lot of subtleties to using them that I’m picking up, and the way that they influence enemy behavior is interesting too.
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Ha! I could never figure out what the trophy system was for. I thought it was for launched items. I’ll definitely give it a try when I get home.
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One thing to watch out for with the Trophy System — if an opponent has Sitrep then the Trophy System appears as this big glowing red contraption, it even shows through walls. It’s a dead giveaway to your location.
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After some homework, I’ve decided that the best AR (for me) is the ACR 6.8. Same effective accuracy, damage, and range as the Type 95, but this Old Dog needs to be able to partake of some spray-n-pray, now and again. Use the Kick proficiency to limit recoil drift, and add the ACOG (or the Extended Mags, for more spray less pray), and you’ve got a good, all-around hide-and-seek weapon.
When I tie up the package with Sleight of Hand, Quickdraw, and Steady Aim (all PRO versions), add a shot of whisky to loosen up the old joints, and then I actually have a chance of hitting mid-list in TDM or KC game types.
Now, can we talk Secondary Weaponry?
(BTW, my gamertag is Qir6t, if anyone is doing this on Xbox)
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I’ve actually settled on the following over the last few days:
MK14, silenced with ACOG (Yeah, it’s only one shot, but two shots kills everything at about any range, it’s much much better at mid-long than the Type 95. I may still go back to the ACR. (I do think the MK14 is “sneakier” than the ACR — no hail of bullets to trace back to me.))
Akimbo FG9’s (covering the one weakness of the MK14.. insane spray of short range killing power if I’m cornered. No sense silencing these, since I’ve already been “found out” if I’m using them.)
Bouncing Betty. I’m about to unlock Portable Radar and think that will likely be my “new thing” — I love the Trophy System, but it’s hugely clunky and slow to set up and it’s a giant magnet for anyone with Sitrep. I’m now mostly using it as bait for Sitrep folks to come to so I have an easy shot at them… I may need to figure out something else altogether for the Trophy System slot, maybe a grenade of some type.
Blind Eye, Assasin Pro, Marksman (sees through walls, almost)
As I improve I’m also getting away from Support and trying Specialist — Quickdraw Pro, Blast Shield Pro, Scavenger.
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