Basrah is Dying.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

I just played a nice round on Basra w/ several good squads following M40Juniper.
Teamwork and overwatch and all those good things.
It is somewhat random.

[ReaperMAC]

BattleArena has a very strict set of rules which makes it immensely hard to do any teamwork on it. For one thing, their autobalance is extremely strict in a sense that it is a 1:1 ratio. The odds of you and your clanmates all being on the same time are close to nothing, especially if you all want to be british/insurgents. If they loosened their autobalance, it would be easier to have more teamwork with people who actually want to play together. The second thing are about some of their rules. Now I understand why they have this rule, but getting kicked for locking your squad while waiting for your buddy to load in just does not help in the teamwork aspect IMO. Though I heard they recently adjusted this rule.

Being insurgents on the other-hand, hardly promotes any sort of teamwork. Sure you and a group of people help defend a cache, but that is pretty much it. People are running around, looking for Brits to kill. The 15 second spawn time, plus the random respawn points contribute to this. It just promotes more zerging than anything. Say if you kill an insurgent, he will know exactly where you are, spawn in the area closest to where he died, and come back with a plan to revenge. Pretty much rinse and repeat.

I have had good rounds on BattleArena, but unfortunately, we spent atleast half of the round organizing our Mechanized Infantry/APC squads.

[Rudd]

I have plenty of good games on Basrah. The British are supposed to be be teamwork oriented on this map while the Insurgents not teamwork oriented and more hit and run. The problem with this map is not the setup, its the server crashes. Archer is the best insurgent map IMO, but that crashes too.

Agree, but imo archer is only better cuz of all the clever custom hiding places for caches.

Server crashes get on my nerves, not only does it interrupt the flow of the server, but also experienced players may well say "I wont join that server cu I cant be bothered with the crashes.

Rest assured that there are SLs out there thinking about the orders they give, and trying to keep their lads alive while trying to get caches.

[KP]

Well, I suppose I'm a noob since I play Basrah regularly, and it is my very favourite map. But you are right, players seem to be a bit of a problem.

It's not the map, though; it's bloody awesome when you get good people on it. Insurgents ambushing, RPG barrages, Brits getting trapped in the city, having to fight their way out, clearing the village house by house, having snipers shoot Insurgents from buildings, moving from corner to corner while firing... I can keep going, but, as with all maps, Basrah is very dependent on the players. I've had my best and my worst rounds on it.

[Cyrax-Sektor]

I am a Basrah fiend, and often play on the BA server.

It's the players that are killing the map. Often on the British side, there is no commander, not even a temp one to set up a bunker and comm post in the Airport. People want to have fun in the toys they're given, not sit about to help build a bunker, even if it helps the team with support trucks and land rovers spawning.

VCP is often deserted. And if the commander sets up a bunker there, Insurgents will just come in, drop IEDs and blow everything to smithereens. Sand bags at the entrances will help deter car bombs, but then you have your team whining about not being able to get out. Use those 3 land rovers that will spawn as your defense turrets, they have powerful 50 cal guns atop them. There are also elevated areas of dirt they can use to see over the base.

The British commander is often a poor sap with no shovels to help him/her build. At the start of the round, and we have a commander, I'll make a dedicated Shovels squad, and tell the commander I'm his/her builder. S/he'll appreciate the helping hand. And if they're talkative, will tell the plan. Set up command post, set bunker in Airport, dig, take truck and build somewhere else.

Then there are the soloers. Granted, most people aren't willing to gun for you, but at least ask in Team chat if there are any takers. Beggars can't be choosers however, as you might get a volunteer with no mic. At least he raised his/her hand to help.

Get the right kits into these vehicles. A Challenger 2 with two crewmen and a medic on the 50 cal doesn't make much sense. Get an officer to set rally points, or an engineer to repair. In your positions, cover certain angles. The gunner should look 90 degrees, the machine gunner viewing the sides or reverse of the gunner's turret, and driver looking forward while moving.

|TG| GhostDog, [T]Terranova and I in the Challenger 2 managed to stay alive for a while right by Palace in a mission to take out the bridges. I covered the front as Nova blasted the bridges behind the tank. Managed to spot and kill 4 car bombs trying to kill us, but one time the Insurgents coordinated and moved in two at the same time. The right one was killed, but my poor aiming on the other car left me reloading, and the Nova almost got him. Still, in a case like this, the first car would have been successful because the machine gunner would be picking his nose.

Insurgents can rely on no teamwork to win. With such a low respawn time, they're back in the action in no time. This also means they won't need civilians to heal them. It's faster to die and respawn than get medical attention. Who repairs their cars anymore? They'll just have it respawn.

Not sure if people even know that civilians get grappling hooks, or that War Vets get one field dressing. Officers are far and few between. They're like War Vets, only better with body armour, three field dressings, a GL with instant explosion upon contact and binocs.