How to set up a IED ambush correctly?

[Jack Zaitsev]

So guys i tried to do that lots of times now and never worked i always get killed or no enemys will come by my powerfull explosives no matter how well i try to place them!

So how you guys do it?

and it works?


Cheers...

[Mikemonster]

Only success I ever had was planting an IED on a gap in a fence on Basrah. Got 5 guys out of a squad that way (but they healed as far as I remember and carried on).

I'm presuming that contrary to what people will say if you want a kill with an IED put it on an open space. That way there is a greater 'field of fire' for the explosion and thus more chance that the enemy will walk somewhere in that field of fire (or blast radius, whatever).

Oh and double it up (put another one there to double the effect). Although if it's obvious I suppose you could be cocky and put the other one where they will run to to heal.. (maybe a wall? People seem to just love healing next to walls).

[goguapsy]

You've gotta put them in a place where infantry normally goes to, and hide it behind a rock or something. It makes no sense to create the perfect ambush with an IED that will not harm anyone if it goes off, or find the perfect hiding spot if no one walks through there.

[Rudd]

Tricks to increase effectiveness against infantry -

1) place the device in a choke point, such as a commonly used alleyway.

2) don't watch your IED from the opposite direction of the enemy's direction of travel - i.e. they'll see you because your in front of them

3) place 2 devices, one obvious and one hidden, the idea being the obvious device will drive the enemy towards the hidden device - or place one device in nearby cover and the other hidden in their path, they may try and use the cover to heal, revive or retalitate - the second device ends that ambition.

4) IED by itself can do damage, IED + PKM/Al Quids is a potent combination, the AR fires upon the enemy and retreats, rinses and repeats, this hopefully attacks the enemy towards his location or gets the enemy to take up firing positions against him, place the IEDs where you hope that will occur.



For vehicles

1) if no other option is avaliable, use a minefield to drive vehicles to your IEDs, this is an ammo intensive and long winded tactic

2) destroy as many destructable crossing points as possible, and then camp every chokepoint from the enemy main. e.g. on basrah this requires around 4 sappers and an ammo car to accomplish effectively.

3) do not watch your IED from a rooftop or window, don't watch it at all, listen for the vehicles movements, then peek out for a second at a time when it comes close to where you want it to be.



The primary reason people die with unsucessful IEDs it that they get spotted, and killed in a conventional manner. Don't get spotted, but if you do, don't get into a firefight, just run away and try and take up a new position, the idea is not to get seen, so if you do use a window to watch the IEDs, don't stand at the window, but far back inside the room.

Alternatively work with a civilian, he can tell you when to press the button

additionally try and work with other players to clear out the area when the IEDs go off, surviving enemies will attempt to revive.

[CaptainX]

The tactic to lure them by placing mines on the path works like a charm.

[Infantry4Ever]

Artillery IED's are amazing and devestating.

1. Plant them on the side of a road (roadside bomb). Fallujah is the best map for this...particulary near the a-c grids.

2. Always have 2 arty ieds on both sides of the road so you can get the max effect.

3. When a humvee comes rolling along blow the ieds right before he enters.

4. Jump on the humvee firing your pistol in the air.

5. Also...Hiding in the brush is a good spot too. APC's havent caught me yet. Use markers to mark your IED's.

[Vista]

Never did an IED ambush in my life - no enemys go to where I put my IEDs and I just get bored ;D

[Von_Gnome]

Ieded the arches in fallujah. 1 stryker and one humwee as result.

[80HD]

Mines are almost always used IRL for static area denial/deterrence, or to channel the opposing force into chokepoints/ambushes rather than on the assumption that they will wreak havoc on the enemy force wholesale.

As mentioned above, using them in this manner is often more effective as a lot of people are pretty good at spotting mines as well as being wary in likely mine locations.

If you have a kit with a mine, you should try to use it, just make SURE you use your commo rose while you have it active to mark the mine on your teams map.

To be effective you need the following:

• Patience

• Situational Awareness (Know where friends, caches, and enemies are at all times)

• Teamwork (as Rudd mentioned - both to channel/distract as well as to finish off any that survive the blast)

• Patience

• Map Knowledge

• Effective concealment and stealth

• Support in the form of other sappers, ammo bearing warriors/trucks

• A focus on either anti-Infantry or anti-Vehicle tactics

• Patience

To expand upon the hiding of IEDs, as well as other tactics I have found to be effective:

• Find and use natural chokepoints - a street that is narrowed by a car or debris, canyon, narrow shortcuts, water crossing, narrow forest/mountain roads, likely points of enemy entry to buildings

• Only place IEDs in plain sight if you are attempting to channel an enemy. Just like playing a civilian collaborator effectively, you don't want to be TOO obvious. If an experienced driver or gunner sees an IED or mine from far enough off, they are likely to avoid that area completely. If you place your decoy device in a position where they are unlikely to see it until they are very close, they are more likely to knee-jerk swerve to avoid it, and if done properly, right into your dual-IEDs

• Hide IEDs behind objects that will obscure them from the most likely enemy approach view, but still allow maximum damage when the enemy passes them. Placing them on the north side of a rock or vehicle hulk when the enemy is most likely to approach from the south, for example. You can detonate as they pass, catching the middle/rear of the vehicle with both blasts simultaneously.

• Overlap the blast radius when setting multiple IEDs at once to better ensure a kill on a large squad or vehicle. When possible, do space them out somewhat to ensure a larger area of effect, but preferably close enough together to create an overlap at the most likely point of interception.

• Placing mines and IEDs in fields the enemy likes attack from in with AFVs can be very effective, as not only are they obscured by the foliage, but once word gets around that the area is booby trapped with no way to determine where the traps are, it becomes a very strong deterrent to wanton enemy vehicle traffic in those zones

• To combat enemy infantry, look for strong points near your caches the enemy will likely assault from. Ensure your team is not planning to use them to defend from, or hold off on detonating until they vacate or are wiped by assault BLUFOR troops. You can easily make one large floor, or two smaller floors, very unfriendly to an enemy squad.

• Keep in mind that experienced enemy infantry are much more likely to detect IEDs than vehicles, so take extra care in hiding them in non-foliated areas while still enabling the maximum blast radius possible. This is balanced by the fact that infantry units are generally not as mindful of IEDs, while vehicles are always (should be) expecting them.

• If you hear a logistics truck, try to follow it. If it drops off crates, and you have confirmed that there aren't already troops there waiting for them, place IEDs near the crates (between them if it hides them). Often, you will have a squad show up quite soon thereafter to refit or begin FOB construction. Fire up the speed dial.

• Don't get greedy. When using IEDs aggressively, you are already in a seriously precarious position. If you manage to crawl up to an LAV, wait for his gun to traverse away, and none of his supporting units mow you down, count yourself lucky. Place ONE charge, and detonate as soon as possible. Nothing is worse than him driving off as you place the second charge. In this case, don't hesitate to take one for the team. Ruining an AFV is worth becoming paste. Let it rip asap.

• Learn the timing of vehicle speed vs. IED detonation. It can mean the difference between that Humvee gunner wetting himself and him wetting himself while he respawns.

• While you almost always want to remain as quiet as possible, your firearm is an important tool. Don't neglect it. If you have set IEDs on the south side of a building, and enemy infantry is assaulting from the north side, fire off some shots/throw grenades at them. If they rush you, pop them. If they flank, it's 8675309 time.

• Know when to say when... if your team is sorely lacking in other areas, some maps and situations just aren't as conducive to IEDs and IED ambushes as others. Don't get so fixated on blowing the **** out of some high dollar enemy asset that you lose sight of the main objective - winning the game through teamwork.

That all being said, good luck! Being a ditch rat with some basement made explosives is one of the biggest rushes I have experienced in PR.

[Mouthpiece]

https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f138-i ... heied.html
https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f138-i ... spots.html

[Nebsif]

If were talking about normal pipe bomb IEDs, dont listen to any of that fancy tacticool talk.
80% u will waste a hour waiting/setting up till a few dudes come along, get blown and then revive. If u place both ieds in the same place to kill the medic, u will either wait two hours or a 6th guy that lagged behind will just revive them all.
Best and most ridiculous tactic is just to mine up the caches, doesnt take long, doesnt damage the cache and there a huge probability they will, well come to the cache and get blown up.

Love the medic kit, it promotes squadwork, teamwork, allows noobie zerglings to survive vs lone nebsifs, makes long range firefights a waste of time and makes nade traps/IEDs an even bigger waste of time and intel.

[Gracler]

If were talking about normal pipe bomb IEDs, dont listen to any of that fancy tacticool talk.
80% u will waste a hour waiting/setting up till a few dudes come along, get blown and then revive. If u place both ieds in the same place to kill the medic, u will either wait two hours or a 6th guy that lagged behind will just revive them all.
Best and most ridiculous tactic is just to mine up the caches, doesnt take long, doesnt damage the cache and there a huge probability they will, well come to the cache and get blown up.

Love the medic kit, it promotes squadwork, teamwork, allows noobie zerglings to survive vs lone nebsifs, makes long range firefights a waste of time and makes nade traps/IEDs an even bigger waste of time and intel.

Thinking that you become superman when you have a couple of Ieds is naive.
Don?t forget even if they revive they still lose 1 ticket per wounded soldier so it is never a waste.
If you have some backup they can easily go in and wipe out the remains, since many times a hurt squad will not be able to cower all approaches.

That said... my aim is always to try to hide mines and take out vehicles rather than infantry. If the vehicle blows up in the initial blast its instant death for possibly a lot of people. it is more difficult to take out a vehicle though than infantry so if you want to be more effective you should go for infantry.

You might QQ because at the end of the game you may still have 0 kills... but that is not really the point of PR.

[80HD]

You might QQ because at the end of the game you may still have 0 kills... but that is not really the point of PR.

Wow... if I ever put quotes in my sig, this'd be one of them.

[Arc_Shielder]

Mines are almost always used IRL for static area denial/deterrence, or to channel the opposing force into chokepoints/ambushes rather than on the assumption that they will wreak havoc on the enemy force wholesale.

As mentioned above, using them in this manner is often more effective as a lot of people are pretty good at spotting mines as well as being wary in likely mine locations.

If you have a kit with a mine, you should try to use it, just make SURE you use your commo rose while you have it active to mark the mine on your teams map.

To be effective you need the following:

• Patience

• Situational Awareness (Know where friends, caches, and enemies are at all times)

• Teamwork (as Rudd mentioned - both to channel/distract as well as to finish off any that survive the blast)

• Patience

• Map Knowledge

• Effective concealment and stealth

• Support in the form of other sappers, ammo bearing warriors/trucks

• A focus on either anti-Infantry or anti-Vehicle tactics

• Patience

To expand upon the hiding of IEDs, as well as other tactics I have found to be effective:

• Find and use natural chokepoints - a street that is narrowed by a car or debris, canyon, narrow shortcuts, water crossing, narrow forest/mountain roads, likely points of enemy entry to buildings

• Only place IEDs in plain sight if you are attempting to channel an enemy. Just like playing a civilian collaborator effectively, you don't want to be TOO obvious. If an experienced driver or gunner sees an IED or mine from far enough off, they are likely to avoid that area completely. If you place your decoy device in a position where they are unlikely to see it until they are very close, they are more likely to knee-jerk swerve to avoid it, and if done properly, right into your dual-IEDs

• Hide IEDs behind objects that will obscure them from the most likely enemy approach view, but still allow maximum damage when the enemy passes them. Placing them on the north side of a rock or vehicle hulk when the enemy is most likely to approach from the south, for example. You can detonate as they pass, catching the middle/rear of the vehicle with both blasts simultaneously.

• Overlap the blast radius when setting multiple IEDs at once to better ensure a kill on a large squad or vehicle. When possible, do space them out somewhat to ensure a larger area of effect, but preferably close enough together to create an overlap at the most likely point of interception.

• Placing mines and IEDs in fields the enemy likes attack from in with AFVs can be very effective, as not only are they obscured by the foliage, but once word gets around that the area is booby trapped with no way to determine where the traps are, it becomes a very strong deterrent to wanton enemy vehicle traffic in those zones

• To combat enemy infantry, look for strong points near your caches the enemy will likely assault from. Ensure your team is not planning to use them to defend from, or hold off on detonating until they vacate or are wiped by assault BLUFOR troops. You can easily make one large floor, or two smaller floors, very unfriendly to an enemy squad.

• Keep in mind that experienced enemy infantry are much more likely to detect IEDs than vehicles, so take extra care in hiding them in non-foliated areas while still enabling the maximum blast radius possible. This is balanced by the fact that infantry units are generally not as mindful of IEDs, while vehicles are always (should be) expecting them.

• If you hear a logistics truck, try to follow it. If it drops off crates, and you have confirmed that there aren't already troops there waiting for them, place IEDs near the crates (between them if it hides them). Often, you will have a squad show up quite soon thereafter to refit or begin FOB construction. Fire up the speed dial.

• Don't get greedy. When using IEDs aggressively, you are already in a seriously precarious position. If you manage to crawl up to an LAV, wait for his gun to traverse away, and none of his supporting units mow you down, count yourself lucky. Place ONE charge, and detonate as soon as possible. Nothing is worse than him driving off as you place the second charge. In this case, don't hesitate to take one for the team. Ruining an AFV is worth becoming paste. Let it rip asap.

• Learn the timing of vehicle speed vs. IED detonation. It can mean the difference between that Humvee gunner wetting himself and him wetting himself while he respawns.

• While you almost always want to remain as quiet as possible, your firearm is an important tool. Don't neglect it. If you have set IEDs on the south side of a building, and enemy infantry is assaulting from the north side, fire off some shots/throw grenades at them. If they rush you, pop them. If they flank, it's 8675309 time.

• Know when to say when... if your team is sorely lacking in other areas, some maps and situations just aren't as conducive to IEDs and IED ambushes as others. Don't get so fixated on blowing the **** out of some high dollar enemy asset that you lose sight of the main objective - winning the game through teamwork.

That all being said, good luck! Being a ditch rat with some basement made explosives is one of the biggest rushes I have experienced in PR.

What this guy said. Usually the first kit I take in Al Basrah is the IED and cut off some northern routes and only then the southern ones, depending mainly where the caches are. Honestly that's the only goal that the IED guy should have in mind. Use it for the team's benefit and do not plant 2 of them simultaneously. Instead cover 2 routes and hide yourself with a clear view on both. Trust me, not only you won't get bored that much, but it's more efficient.

[Deer]

Well in kokan i find it extremely fun to place IEDs all over the cache compound, then wait at cache room till enemy populates the cache compound but aint near the cache yet, then blow up =) Tho you need friend with rifle to hold the cache room while you have the detonator in your hands.

[TheComedian]

By the time you are able to spot an arty IED on the ground, you are already in the kill radius. And besides, you can easily conceal them inside lamp posts, garbage, rocks and walls but it will still have a deadly 50m kill radius.

Lashkar Valley is great for ambushing because there are only 2 roads that the GER uses for travel. Your success depends on which side of the river the caches spawn.

[Mikemonster]

Protip: If you manage to crawl under an enemy tank to place a mine, put an IED on the side of it/next to it and then run off. When you detonate the IED the tank 'bounces' slightly and detonates the mine.

(Only usually possible on dive servers anyhoo).

[Nebsif]

Thinking that you become superman when you have a couple of Ieds is naive.
Don?t forget even if they revive they still lose 1 ticket per wounded soldier so it is never a waste.

Its a waste of time, my point was that IED ambushes vs inf dont work in PR, unless u mine up a WEAPONS CAACHE u'd do much better with a normal AK, PKM or a civi kit, be it alone or in a squad.
Whats the point of waiting 30 minutes for some1 to pass by when u just look for them urself and shoot them every 4 mins, even if they all revive its still much more win.

[whathe12]

Hey 80HD, I reality like your tips on placing IED's and was wondering if I could use them in a future article of Reality contact.

[80HD]

Hey 80HD, I reality like your tips on placing IED's and was wondering if I could use them in a future article of Reality contact.

Absolutely! Though you may want to have some more experienced folks critique it first... Arcturus_Shield has a different point of view on placing 2 at a time close vs. spreading them out, and if someone can get us the blast radius (cool to know that the arty IED is 50m!) for the pipe bomb too.

Aside from the opinion that IEDs are useless outside of mining a cache itself, it seems like no one takes any major beef with it, but I will still get one or two vets to check it!