New guy Saying hello and a few general questions

[SteelResolve]

Hi everyone,

I've just recently decided to join and be part of the BF2 R community after being introduced to it from a good friend of mine who played PR frequently. I've decided to get back into playing BF2 after a bit of hiatus from playing the "Vanilla" version of it, and from a lot of academic studies that piled up on me.

Also probably because I have a laptop that probably should not be used for gaming whatsoever (Lenovo V570).

I've had a bit of fun playing bot matches for PR, and I guess, I might as well get my headfirst right into playing, though, I was a bit hesitant in just "jumping in". I have a few questions, if you guys of the community don't mind.


1) Mumble:
Just wondering about mumble, how popular is the use of mumble? Because, it seems Mumble is a lot more intuitive in the chain of command of games, since it seems built for a lot of SL and SL ->Cmdr. communication.
I just want to save a bit of face, if I don't know if I should use mumble, or stick with the "B" communication key when playing the game.
And text chatting, looked down upon?

2)Joining servers:
Is it bad to jump into servers mid game?

3)Squads:
How much emphasis do people put on working with squads? I'm a big team player, and definitely like to stick with a squad closely and support my team. Are squads normally dictated by what they do? Trans, sniper, tanks, etc.

4) Attitude:
Just want to get a heads up on how I should play. I'm guessing most servers, since they'll acknowledge me as the new guy, just keep my toe on the line, take it seriously? Or are most guys into being casual while playing?


Thanks everyone for taking the time. Kinda feeling a bit bad for probably asking a few ridiculous questions. ops:

Well, at least you'll get a heads up if you see me around servers, since I use the same name is as in the Forum that I'm new.

[Rudd]

1) Mumble is the primary method of communication in PR now
edit, text chatting can be very annoying for some SLs, but others don't mind.

2) Not really, sometimes it's nice to play a whole map through and you sometimes get very chummy with your squads. The only downside is that usually the special squad roles will already be taken, but always ask the SL what role he needs when you join anyway

3) The game is at its best when squads work well. It's all dependent on the quality of the squad leader, usually teh squad name denotes it's role (sometimes that's a server rule).

4) It all depends on the server and squad leader as you say, my tip is to make it clear you are new and pick up only basic kits for the first few hours of play - i.e. stay rifleman . Best thing is when you become a regular on a server so everyone gets to know you and you them.

Welcome to the community

[Darman1138]

Definitely get Mumble. Welcome!

[victor_phx]

Oh, hey! Welcome aboard!

Firstly, I'd like to point out how important Mumble is. It is mandatory in most servers I've played recently, and to me represented a huge improvement within the PR community once properly integrated. It's simple, easy to use and comes with PR when you download it. Great for all, SL or not.

Squads usually claim assets (transport, choppers, armor), and only these squads should use them. You shouldn't have trouble finding a slot in a squad midgame, either. I don't remember having that be a big problem in my experience.

It's best to start with infantry squads. You'll notice helicopter pilots, especially, get a lot of heat if they do anything wrong. It's even unfair, sometimes, the amount of pressure on them! I wouldn't say, then, that most players are playing casually.

This is a sort of "niche" game, after all. A game with a bit more seriousness.

What I'd recommend for you to get a feel of PR is to watch gameplay videos. Look for Youtube, PRMA winners and nominees, the Tales From the Front section. It's what brought me here, having never played BF2, and showed me what would keep me here to this day: awesome gameplay and great teamwork.

Good luck, hope you'll enjoy it!

[SteelResolve]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone

Bot match wise and such, and probably from playing a bit on Vanilla BF2, I know I'm probably a terrible crewman or pilot .never really got into flying that much, though, enjoyed playing medic a lot.

definitely all these replies and referring to the PR Manual has definitely changed my mind though before asking if I should take on the medic hahaha. I should probably stick with the rifleman first for the time being

And on the side, thank god the medic kit is a bit less complicated than AA3, trying to emulate real life.

It's a bit of a happy note, since I don't have to pull the information I know as a volunteer EMT, tad relaxing to know there won't be a GUI that magically appears and demands me to pick the right equipment, or get a squad mate killed.

[Spec]

Medics are always wanted. After getting used to the rifleman, I suggest you just go ahead and play medic, it's not that hard as long as you're okay with having a lot of people on mumble give inaccurate directions but still demand you get them up ASAP

[brezmans]

A very basic but essential tip would be to make sure your mumble is working like it should, ie run it as administrator if you're on vista or win7. Set up your squad-key (default: numpad 0) to something you can easily remember so you can at least communicate effortlessly with your squad and squadleader. If you can get it across that you are new and eager to learn and follow orders, it will mostly go well. Not all squads have good squadleaders, so don't be too disappointed if your first experience doesn't go as well as you'd hoped. Look for squads named something with 'infantry', 'inf', or 'mumble', they are usually made by squadleaders who are actually willing to lead and communitate effectively, you will have no problem there.

As for the rest, stick with the rifleman at first, give ammo if someone asks for it, cover anyone who needs cover, keep an eye on where everybody else is covering and cover the gap, keep an eye on where your SL is and keep your ears open for any spottings or new orders.

Don't give up on PR if the first experience isn't magical, it can have a bit of a learning curve but it's a unique game and it will take up your entire free time if you let it.

Welcome!

[UTurista]

Welcome to Project Reality, I'll warn you thou, if play the 1st hour and enjoy it you'll be hooked for ever.

Many said they you stop playing many failed.

Mumble can be mandatory in a few servers, don't forget to install 1.0v and turn on overlay, always nice to see who's talking.

Is it bad to jump into servers mid game?

It's fun 'cause I remember thinking the same question when I started. Joining servers mid-game can be semi-bad 'cause all the infantry squads are already full and you'll go to a "Free" Squad and that can be very annoying but nevertheless join the game and have fun. PR games can be very unpredictable, you can see a team dominate the other (in terms of flags) and lose.

Few tips

>If you're being healed by the medic DON'T watch his pretty eyes, watch the corner were the enemy might show up;

>If you can see them, its not mandatory to kill them, adopt Ninja Style

>There are moments were it's needed to Hold Coms, when the last standing guy is moving around killing the enemy and trying to revive, don't talk on mumble unless you have to

>You have local and Sq. mumble chat use it properly, "Contact"-> Team.... "Enemy on me"->Local

have fun,

[SteelResolve]

A very basic but essential tip would be to make sure your mumble is working

Yup. I fiddled around with Mumble already. I was first pretty confused on how it worked actually, since I do not have THE best mic in the world, (currently using a pair of Skullcandys with in-line mic.)

I suggest you just go ahead and play medic, it's not that hard as long as you're okay with having a lot of people on mumble give inaccurate directions but still demand you get them up ASAP

^ hahaha. Thank God ROTC and US Army Cadet Corps gave me the discipline. And possibly my USMC Veteran Dad kept me in check with that.

Don't give up on PR if the first experience isn't magical, it can have a bit of a learning curve but it's a unique game and it will take up your entire free time if you let it.

Bot matches and Co-op with the friend who introduced me to it are already taking up my free time. I think I'm probably already hooked with the realism. Especially the urban ones.

Thanks everyone!

And probably just a followup question, on chatting,
since I have the bit of background with military ROTC, and US Army Cadet Corps, I'm assuming that military Lingo is the norm. and possibly encouraged?

[Spec]

Not as Hardcore as in ArmA. While yes, it's useful knowledge, there'll be some players who take a more casual approach and may not understand overly technical things. As long as what you say can be understood by non-soldiers, it's fine. Don't expect everyone to follow radio discipline, some people aren't into that stuff very much.

(It's still more efficient to know how to effectively communicate, obviously)

[ShaunOTEast]

Welcome SteelResolve! To the Project Reality Forums!
Since Rudd and co. have already answered your questions, I'll just reiterate that Mumble is super important and many servers will kick players who do not have it running. Its also good to have teamwork and co-operation to play this mod to its fullest potential and fun. And don't worry if you don't know something, just ask; Pretty much all players are willing to help out new guy since we always need new players.
Have fun, and I'll see you online

[Heavy Death]

Also, with all the guys telling you to go medic... that is an art really. Gotta be patient with 5 people egoistically telling you to revive them at the same time. Inexperienced people go for it like wolves and that gets them shot aswell.

[doop-de-doo]

I have a few questions, if you guys of the community don't mind.

Welcome.

You'll find two main polarities of player in PR: "teamplay", and "black-ops". There are of course other groups but these are the more common to encounter.

It is somewhat good to note that the goal of PR is to simulate combined arms warfare in various situations; therefore, one would assume that "teamwork" players would be the correct group to look for.

Here, I'll try to answer some of your questions as I can.

1) Mumble is the mainstay of communications for teams throughout the majority of popular servers. Download Mumble from this site only, because the regular Mumble lacks compatibility.

2) People leave and join matches all the time. It is irrelevant. Many will lose connection or CTD and only rejoin later once a spot on the server becomes available again. It is, however, bad to switch sides.

3) As I defined above, you will observe the differences in player type and learn to work with (or without) the other group.

4) You will define your play style of your own accord. You will find the group that most interests you -- just bear in mind that PR was design to be played in coordination and cooperation.

As you are new to PR, join an infantry squad. Don't get anything specialized. Tell the squad leader that you are new and want to use "rifleman" for now.

Do not try to use team assets (tanks, planes, helis, etc.) unless you have had some experience using them on a coop server (you can run it in singleplayer mode). This is so you don't get kicked/temp banned/perm banned from servers that you might want to be playing on later. Even after you have some experience with them against bots, the real gameplay will be somewhat different as people will expect things from you that you may need to fulfill (dropping troops onto a mountain top by helicopter, for example). There is a learning curve to almost everything. Go slow and take your time.

Good luck.

[WelshManDan]

I use the medic because I dont want the responsibility of fucking up with other kits and there is less stress.

Im terrible at measuring distances so hate the AT/GL kits, although im a damn fine AA gunner if I may say so, shot down a good few helicopters in a single round of Muttrah with my shoulder mounted AA. Ooohhh Yeahh!

[Gracler]

I use the medic because I dont want the responsibility of fucking up with other kits and there is less stress.

The medic kit gives you one of the most valuable jobs in the squad so it is not the first kit I would assign to a new player. I often see new players playing medic wonder around for a few minutes to try to find a guy that is using local talk and pressing the "medic panic" button. Other times the body is sliding down a hill or stuck on steps where it requires some game mechanics knowledge to figure out how to revive people. Not what I call a beginners job. If you played BF2 it does help a lot though.


In my opinion the kit's difficulty goes something like this...

1. Rifleman (Drop ammo, shoot people)
2. Rifleman AP (best used defensively to put trip-flares and clay-mores with manual trigger)
3. Anti-Air (point and shoot on tone vanilla style)
4. Guided Heavy Anti-Tank (point and shoot medium to long range (not short range) when brackets are together and track the target almost vanilla style)
5. Specialist (throw ropes, Open doors, arrest / shoot civilians with shotgun)
6. Combat Engineer (throw mines and remember to mark them,repair light vehicles and Razor-wire, C4 caches or use as defense)
7. Rifleman AT (point and shoot close to mid range vehicles...not heavy armor)
8. Medic (locate downed soldiers, secure the wounded, untangle the body (game mechanic flaw), get yourself and the patient to safety, timing is everything)
9. Automatic Rifleman (stay stationary as much as possible to improve aim and readiness, use short controlled bursts.)
10. Marksman (same as above but beware of your magazine count)
11. Unguided Heavy Anti-Tank (patience and range necessary unless if you have a lot of experiences with this
12. Grenadier (a good feeling of range is necessary or to cooperate with a SL or Sniper, Don't get caught with a grenade loaded up close)
13. Sniper (snipers should not be snipers but squad-leader and then spotting for CAS or others, this make this class a leader-role unless if a squad-leader want's a sniper in his squad which they rarely do.)
14. Officer (The kit is not complicated apart from the radio like the sniper has but when your an officer your most likely a squad-leader or commander and that gives you the highest responsibility in PR. It also takes some pracice to place assets without killing yourself or your teammates )

the AP kit is rarely used even though it is a good defensive kit as well as combat engineer. No-matter what kit your choosing apart from regular rifleman you should always ask your squad-leader for permission or what he prefer that you get.

Ps. Don't forget pretty much all kits have "alternate" shorter range versions if you right-click. Especially the Militia medic should spawn in as rifleman and right-click medic to get an automatic rifle.

Welcome to PR.

[WelshManDan]

The medic kit gives you one of the most valuable jobs in the squad so it is not the first kit I would assign to a new player. I often see new players playing medic wonder around for a few minutes to try to find a guy that is using local talk and pressing the "medic panic" button. Other times the body is sliding down a hill or stuck on steps where it requires some game mechanics knowledge to figure out how to revive people. Not what I call a beginners job. If you played BF2 it does help a lot though.

Well, I mean its a difficult task being a medic (although I may say, I make a pretty good one) but you are held less responsible if the squad fucks up.

If you have one of the AT kits, and your squad is being targeted by a Tank, you either hit it and the squad if clear or it goes wide and you're all dead.

1. Rifleman
2. Specialist
3. Anti-Air
4. Medic
5. Automatic Rifleman
6. Marksman
7. Guided Heavy Anti-Tank
8. Rifleman AP
9. Combat Engineer
10. Rifleman AT
11. Unguided Heavy Anti-Tank
12. Grenadier
13. Sniper
14. Officer

Re-arranged it to how I feel it goes. The difficulty of the AR/Medic/Specialist kit is relatively simple and relies more on SL orders. As a medic, it pops up where your casualty is and your only responsibility is to revive, guide them to cover and heal them (unless your Last Man Standing and you have to go Rambo whilst trying to recover the squad - often in Insurgency). The squad would usually cover you and there is a screen of smoke (most of the time).

[SteelResolve]

so, to sum up,

put some effort into it, don't "lone wolf" and don't have the "I'm the best" attitude, be a strong Team player,
and always talk?
And always listen to the SL?

Sounds good to me .

And definitely thanks for the word of caution, and I really understand probably the worry.
I personally have my own "face palm" moments when the Medic just rushes in and tries to save everyone.
And of course, trying to get used to bullet deviation and such.

Quick question, and this is just checking how well my intuition is,
when I engage a target, is the common rule of thumb for accuracy a 3 second pause in aiming down the sight before engaging?
That's how I've figured how to use the weapon.
And I'm guessing Semi is always better at mid-range hahaha. Unless you're in CQC.

And thank you for telling me about alternatives. I don't think the PR manual even brought it up to have alternative weapons.

[Gracler]

Quick question, and this is just checking how well my intuition is,
when I engage a target, is the common rule of thumb for accuracy a 3 second pause in aiming down the sight before engaging?
That's how I've figured how to use the weapon.
And I'm guessing Semi is always better at mid-range hahaha. Unless you're in CQC.

The deviation is affected by of-course movement of your feet maybe the easiest way to explain how it works is like the following:

+ (Plus) is when your moving
- (Minus) is when your standing still
0 (Zero) is when your having perfect aim

So lets imagine your running to a corner and you know there is an enemy down the next ally so you wait by the corner still in cover... then you take a step forward and shoot down the ally. The deviation would look something like this on a scale of 1 second per character.

+ + + + + + + - - - 0 + - 0

So you can see that it makes sense to rest behind cover before taking a step forward, then you only have to rest 1 second instead of 3 before you got perfect aim. (rest vs movement is at a 1 to 1 scale so if you move 0,5 second you have to rest 0,5 second)

Also remember that going from standing to crouched has No effect on deviation, but going from standing or crouched to prone will throw off your aim completely.

Moving your head around (mouse look) only effects you a tiny bit when your shooting bullets, but it effect you more when using AT weapons (thanks for reminder Spec .
Looking down your sights or changing weapon has no effect on deviation.

Shooting your weapon either stops you from "resting" or makes your deviation worse again.

Automatic Rifleman and marksman when using "Deployed" takes about 6 seconds maximum. When moving you should not be using deployed or you would miss a guy if he was standing in-front of you

When sniping you can press and hold 3 (select rifle) and you will get a "breathing" sound to give you a clue when its ready.... this is not necessary to use though. again its about 6 seconds

Pretty much everything else is about 3 seconds

[Spec]

So, yes, 3 seconds is about right. And moving the mouse does affect accuracy, although it's only really noticable with DMRs and sniper rifles, and perhaps machine guns.