How the hell are you supposed to Squad Lead on Muttrah as MEC?

[Mikemonster]

I just had an absolute 'mare of a round being SL on Muttrah, my squad built 2x seperate 'backup' FOBs that were taken down as soon as we left (god knows how). The 'primary' fob that was on the flag was pretty much Blue Blob central, and despite this the US side never found it. Mind you they did close it down most effectively with AAV and roflCobra.

Aside from the generally impossible nature of being able to get any supplies once the second 'wave' has rushed into the city squandering all the Logi's, the roflcopters are free to roam around and drop US troops off on mountains and rooves practically next to you in order to outmanouver you. As well as that the T-Building fortresses are a campers paradise. And Cobra can happily be the Hellfire Sniper from afar.

The squad never dies at once, unlike in maps such as Basrah - Inevitably what happened was 4 of us would get killed from a random building because I had the affrontery to actually move anywhere leaving two in a random building. That left four of us to spawn in on the crappy 'primary' FOB, and inevitably we'd die leaving it.

I just cannot see how to be successful leading there. Roflcopters put squads on Castle, and all the hills, and roflCobra was pwing us from afar.

If a US squad dies, they all die, respawn, and get a ride back in with a blank slate and a fresh plan. If any of my squad died, I had to somehow come up with a bulletproof plan to regroup, with half of them short on ammo, etc etc.

I suppose it was superior comms (the other team was all on mumble), and the fact that they had good pilots. The fact that I had no tactical advantage whatsoever also didn't help. One FOB I built was suicide-lonewolfed quite successfully - Very Special Forces. That's also probably what happened to the other one, which was miles back and unguarded because it was so far behind our lines.

I honestly have no idea how to Squad Lead on this map as MEC. As US it's easy, just leapfrog the T-buildings and if you have no FOB's ask for supplies next time you get the roflcopter from the carrier to the T-Building of choice.


Grrrr. Sorry to anyone in my squad on Muttrah tonight in the NWA server.

[goguapsy]

Choppers were hardly an issue for me as MEC. APCs can take them out easily. AAs can help, too.

I suggest you do this: on (West?) City (the central flag, just below North City), build a FOB in the T-shaped buildings compound. Put AA on top (perhaps a few foxholes to prevent sniperoz fire) and TOW overwatching the road. Put, if you have time, a few wires to prevent APC rush. Put one HMG aiming N/NE and one aiming S.

Should do the trick. Having a foot-AA (AA kit) in the squad and a marksman/grenadier can be really helpful.

[PLODDITHANLEY]

I often leave SM's all alone on AA positions.

Helicopter killing has become a vendetta for me as MEC on Muttrah, always an AA kit around.

[declan54321]

I was playing as part of a USMC sniper team (Sniper(me), spotter, and medic) on that server tonight, the same game as you. We were getting relocated time and time again due to MEC snipers, and one time in a Huey, we flew close to south city, and got bombarded by at least 5 different missile systems. Two static AAs, a LAT, a HAT, plus a stinger. We luckily got through it, but had to land at north city before we exploded.

[DDS]

The battle over the air is critical in Muttrah imo. The US can resupply both troops and ammo very quickly and bring in devastating air attacks. I see quite often first MEC FOB's get built with no thought of air defense. Control the air and you have a chance of defending a flag and dealing with their armor later on. I like the pace of Muttrah quick front on attacks within the first 15 minutes of the game. Fun!

[Rudd]

as others have said, imo its about AA. the larger your AA umbrella is the harder it is for the USMC to manouvre behind your lines or resupply their men in the field.

You've mentioned that supplies are occasionally squandered by MEC teams, but remember the MEC get alot of vehicles capable of carrying squads, or for requesting kits from (AA kits + APC ammo crates = good)

Personally my strategy is to fall back until I get to a position that I can hold, if I feel I'm about to be out-manouvred, I pull back. The more you pull back the smaller your AA umbrella has to be, the faster you get supplies etc.

Once you've gotten the USMC in to a meatgrinder, your abilities to outflank them will increase, as their commitment to forces at your defensive line will allow you to get a squad behind them and start a series of quick caps. but this does rely on your AA umbrella keeping those squads in place.

[Tim270]

This is very general but it might help a bit.

Green = poss positions for decent MEC fobs. Notice how most of them are on the flanks, it means the US team has to go out of its way to find your firebases and not focus on flags.
Red = Path of USMC general advance, fobs built in the red area are generally going to get overrun quickly. Always try to build on the flanks to feed troops in if you can.
Blue = T buildings and other good areas to hold up in. Imo MEC on Muttrah is all about creating a solid defence and forcing the USMC to keep attacking you. Sit in the T buildings and let them throw wave after wave at you wile you get a nice KDR lead. AA is vital to this as it is a huge ticket bleed on the US if they loose choppers.



Your end goal is not ultimately to cap out the US team, it is to beat them at whatever means, most of the time this comes down to hunkering down and holding T-buildings that block flag caps and make you impossible to kill from CAS. Mortars are a integral part to the bleed over time to the US. Also the BTR's and MTLB's should not necessarily be used to support infantry but be cut loose in a group at key times in the battle to push a advantage. When not rushing them to cap docks or any flag use them as pure AA.

[L4gi]

Muttrah is ezmode for MEC. Get the majority of your team to North City and youve basically won. AAVPs and the Cobra can be taken out so easily you dont even have to worry about em.

[Acecombatzer0]

Tip about the AA kit: If a Cobra is within 200m you don't have to lock on with the AA, just shoot from the hip. Should the missile be even near the Cobra, it will explode and insta-kill the crew. While the Huey has about as much health as an APC, the Cobra has the health level of a dirt-bike.

[Mikemonster]

Thanks for the replies guys, it was one of those rounds when I was constantly on the back foot, despite allocating myself the position of rear-guard FOB builder (my squad had a very late start because 3x people joined who didn't have mumble and I had to admin them out.

Tim, thanks for the map mate. I actually placed my first FOB at mosque, but we were rushed by a US squad so never had time to build it.

My next FOB was where the East-most green circle is (just south of the seafront), which considering the enemy were at Mosque meant it was well behind the lines. We got an AA up there and a TOW to cover the seafront, and then moved North. I have no idea how that one got taken down.

Next one I got up was at the Green Circle north of Mosque. We built that, and then realised an enemy squad were garrisoning the North T-Building in the compound to the West (in the blue zone). I tried to assault, hoping to catch them unawares, but unfortunately someone was watchign the stairs so I got killed. A better tactical response i suppose would have been to have garrisoned the South T-Building.

Big thankyou to my man who at this time had AA and was surpressing the **** out of Cobra. It didn't stop Cobra but probably was the reason some of his rocket attacks went wide.

Eventually my squad cleared the enemy from the North T-Building (Master-G is to thank for that tbh, I was AWOL after some guy lonewolfed our cache and I had to run in, getting killed by an CQB-instaprone lonewolf US medic on the way from the other FOB.

Rudd mate, I was always trying to retreat and regroup. Trouble was that I started so far back initially that in general I was retreating from the front line, to my living squad members, and meeting a chopper-load of insta-Marines halfway there!

It was probably my philosophy that caused all the mayhem - I like moving and attacking, using flanking manouvers and flash attacks to kill the enemy. In Muttrah it would have been a lot wiser to just play the T-Building game.

Declan mate, you were Sniper on the US side? I noticed your entire team was on mumble, and that you closed down our 'blue blob' FOB very well (at one point you were overlooking it yourself, I shot at you with my ironsights G3 ). What did you think of our [MEC] overall shape during the game? You probably had a better idea of how we were doing than I did

[declan54321]

Yes, I was the sniper, accompanied by a spotter plus a medic. We were at A12 to start with, but were getting shot at too much, so we relocated many times (thanks to the excellent huey pilots).

The US side was very good actually, as you said, the whole team was on mumble, and everyone worked together. The MEC looked pretty organised as well, but their battle drills were not so slick. Every time they came under sniper fire from us, they just ran around like headless chickens instead of logically trying to find out where we were. We also killed an MEC sniper hiding under a solar panel, and at least one full squad.

I can never lead on Muttrah. It is just too hard

[Web_cole]

In Muttrah it would have been a lot wiser to just play the T-Building game.

Pretty much this. Also, it seems strange to say it, but holing up in a T-building for a while is a great idea for an attacking squad.

The reason being that it is much harder to be co-ordinated and effective on the offensive than it is on the defensive. So sitting in a T-building for 30 mins and killing fools can build squad confidence and co-ordination (especially in pubbie squads) leading to more effective offensive actions.

So my advice on playing Muttrah offensively, is actually to play defensively for a while and then pick your moment to move out

[Psyko]

2 things


Make lots of AA, and handheld AA.

Get a guy to drive a logi truck for the whole round.

[Wicca]

Basically rush docks. Then if you dont rush north city. And continue rushing until you lost all flags.

[Mikemonster]

Hahaha thanks guys, looks like i'm not quite as bad as I originally told myself I was. And it's given me some motivation to get back on the horse to be honest, thankyou for your comments.

Fyi Dec, the MEC team had no comms between squads. One guy (vwillers?) was a dedicated Logi Truck man, and was in SL chat on Mumble.

I tried communicating with the other squads who for a time in the game were making a fairly successful push on North City (or the middle one, whatever that is), but I find it hard to co-ordinate battle plans with other squads at the best of times and as mentioned I felt I was always being engaged, no matter what direction I led everyone (or even if I didn't!). Basically I got bogged down in the rear.

By the time Blue Blob was trapped on our FOB overlooked by you on A12 the Cobra was royally taking the piss, even twice attacking my rooftop AA squaddie with rockets. I believe he hovered above you on the hills in A12, and at other times hovered above the entire battlefield (which wasn't fun). Counter-lazing was amusing though he never fell for it

One key thing was that we didn't use our MTLB's. I remember a squad member mentioning this and in retrospect should have asked him if he wanted to crew the 30mm, which is probably what he was implying. Darnit Flip side of this was that we still had a fair few tickets even though we were getting trapped and outgunned.

[Mikemonster]

Ahem, just played this again on PRTA and the reverse happened, I was a squad medic for U.S. and we repeatedly got comprehensively closed down and annihalated. Urghhh.

I'm beginning to think that in these situations it'd be better to just lonewolf with grenadier kit. Like Zorro or something, lol.

Also i've been playing for 10 months and the only time Deviation has actually worked and i've been able to play with it is when i've been lonewolfing, because I move at my own pace and have time to let it settle before I engage. In squad combat it seems deviation is only ever settled when you are camping - All the other times the whole squad is moving.

And I HATE 3 round burst. It's either a definate kill at close range [within 5m], or a definate fail at anything else (the rounds spread nicely around the target but only one hits).

[Psyko]

Basically rush docks. Then if you dont rush north city. And continue rushing until you lost all flags.

dont let wicca command

[Mikemonster]

Wicca commanding the opfor is my weekly dose of vitamin epic. Let it be.

[goguapsy]

Reminds me of an epic squad ownage my squad did once:

Landed W of Docks (CO's orders) to build a FOB.

"Follow me, men!" I say. Walk a few steps.

"SH!T!" FIRE FIRE FIRE POW POW POW GRENADE GRENADE GRENADE

Logi truck + full squad down in 10 seconds.

Good thing they removed the Logies in the beginning of the round for the MEC

[Mikemonster]

Yes, although it does make it a bit irritating for when you need to organise one for your squad. What about them just spawning once at the first cap? Hmm smells like a suggestion to me but I won't bother.