Here's the reason I brought this topic up in the first place.
Right now, we have some interesting problems with C4 and claymores.
Claymores
When playing as a sniper, I decided to experiment and see how far claymores can really go in vanilla BF2 and PRMM. The results were the same for both... devastingly powerful.
I used claymores as an assault tool. Whenever an area was more or less swarming with enemy forces, my team tried to stay back as to not get killed. What I ended up doing was rushing into the swarm of enemies (about 8-10 infantry) and placing claymores directly in front of them and ran off. Within seconds I had 5 kills.
I then retreated back to my support gunner -- who, lucky for me, was doing his job -- and restocked on claymores. I then ran directly for the enemy spawn and placed claymores in such a way that they are bound to run into it one way or another. I had 3 kills followed by another 2.
I ran quickly to a supply create and restocked again. Placed the claymores again. Restocked. Etc. Etc.
I ended up finishing first in the round due to my kill amount. It was completely ridiculous. I would go everywhere our friendly force wouldn't (to avoid TK) and placed claymores in the most likely areas that enemy forces would pass.
I call this claymore spamming.
Obviously, this isn't how this is supposed to work.
If PR would be kind enough to make claymores have a detonator, they would be used for their intended purposes:
- Initiate an ambush.
- Create a trap.
I really dont think that, at the scale we are playing here (64 player max), that setting up a claymore farm to defend 6 alleyways (2 claymores per sniper, 3 snipers, for example) is good for gameplay.
Keep in mind, this is coming from a guy who actually uses claymores. I'm not biased, I would love for the sniper class to be powerful... but this just gives the sniper an unrealistic infantry advantage if he knows how to use claymores correctly.
Specops/C4
I decided to see how far I could take C4... and, once again, the results were devastatingly powerful.
At the beginning of every round in Karkand (as USA), I would spawn at the US main and litter a jeep with C4. I would then jump into the hummer and steer it to the right-most side of the map. I would then go over that large cliff right next to US's right spawn and head onto the railroad tracks. From the railroad tracks, I would drive to the 2 bridges connecting the pair of land masses.
More often than not, by the time I got there, a tank was crossing (if not, they were crossing the river.. same timing.. same thing). I would ram the tank that was crossing -- effectively eliminating their strongest anti-tank support. By doing this consecutively (about 3-4 times), I pretty much eliminated their armor presence, giving my team dominance. I would take different routes every time and try to predict where the tanks would go next so that I could sneak up from behind in my c4-rigged HMMV. When we took the first few flags, it was even easier because I had alot more room to maneuver and alot more trucks to work with.
As MEC, I tried the same thing. Same results. I packed the van up with C4 and headed towards the US main. Once again, I didnt take the most direct routes. My personal favorite was driving up the left side of the map (from MEC point of view) and circling behind the building & fence obstacle that was at the foot of the US hill. I would end up running directly into a couple of APC's and tanks.
I just sound the horn to get their attention (i want them to kill me) and ram them. If I dont explode from the impact of the hit, I will explode when they try to shoot me.
At one point I took out a fully manned tank, a full APC and 2 infantry -- resulting in 9 kills. No skill. Just place c4, drive into, rinse, repeat.
Another vicious tactic that I tried was actually placing the c4 on the front of tanks and APCs. Whenever I would get into an armored fight, I would drive directly at the enemy while shooting. If it was evident that I would lose the fight, I would ram the enemy tank/apc and take them with me.
And the conclusion...
I know this stuff seems obvious and most of you have probably seen it done a million times (probably drove you to these forums more, lol). I really wanted to break things down because the text took me 1 1/2 hours to perform.. and.. believe it or not.. it wasn't fun at all. In fact, it sucked as that type of gameplay doesn't excite me at all.
The conclusions I drew from this are:
1. Claymores should not act as AP mines. They should act as device triggered explosives used for traps and setting off an ambush.
2. For both claymores and c4, the fire button needs to be pressed 3 times in quick succession to detonate. If that's not possible, a single click will trigger the '3-click' animation after which the c4 or claymore will detonate.
This will force three things:
- Give the enemy half a second to escape the primary blast leaving them with heavy injuries. This will prevent people placing c4 or claymroes at control points and detonating them when the control points go neutral. It will force you to look after the traps that you set and add the element of "skill" in choosing the right time to blow your load
In real life, people don't place c4 or claymores and walk away, leaving them unattended. If they aren't watching the c4/claymore, they atleast know that the enemy will be arriving within a few minutes.
- If someone is trying to ram you with a truckload of c4 and doesn't succeed. He might try to jump out and click the detonator manually in fear that you might shoot him through the front glass (effectively preventing the explosion of the c4). This will give the tank/apc the extra seconds it needs to kill the enemy.
- The cool 3-click animation/sound is always freaking cool.. no matter how good/bad the animation/sound is. "click-click-click-BOOM".
3. Although C4 should detonate when a truck holding it explodes, as it does in real life (i'm assuming..only logical) -- it should atleast be scarce. I dont know how you guys are planning to deal with C4. All I can say that, as it is now, C4 is a ridiculous weapon that is used like your traditional pineapple grenade. Throw and blow.
