Musings on the Battlefield: TANKS, APCs, JEEPS, BOATS and … MORE TANKS!!! Also: What Data is SONY Collecting and Why Is It So SECRET?

The versatile quad.

I thought with this weekend’s XP BONUS event rapidly approaching, I would give my faithful readers some useful pointers on driving the vehicles, including the boats!

You are welcome.

The main challenge with all of the vehicles, and especially the tanks and helis, is becoming adept at the highly complex controller sequences that are required to be effective and not a mobile liability. I would say that of the numerous air and land vehicles available, tanks and helicopters are the most challenging because you have so much you have to pay attention to simultaneously, in addition to the controller movements.

Shouldn't be parked there friend.

Players that don’t understand this and then jump into an APC make me crazy. I can almost predict how long it will take them to ABANDON the vehicle to the enemy. Once the enemy has your tank, you’ve got problems, especially if the thief knows how to drive it.

So, RULE #1: NEVER ABANDON ANY LARGE ARMORED VEHICLE, unless you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN the vehicle cannot be salvaged.

When in doubt, let it blow. If you want to practice in a live environment, you have to be willing to take one for the team.

I like jeeps and quads. They're fun. They fly over hilltops and off of skyscraper hotels. They are the easiest vehicles to use because they are both indestructible, sort of, and highly maneuverable. They are like BF4 starter vehicles and I recommend them to those that want to be better vehicle drivers in general.

You really like quads eh?

“BUT I WANNA DRIVE TANKS!”

You will, but we ALL have to walk before we can run.

Start with jeeps and quads. Both are very dangerous vehicles and still the best transportation to use in OBLITERATION when you’re taking the bomb to a target.

Keep in mind though, because of their size they are easy to lose control of especially if you are driving over hills. Sometimes it requires airborne counter-steering and other advanced techniques to keep from launching yourself into a building when you land.

Starting with small vehicles like jeeps or quads will help you to develop the basic motion you will use later to drive the big boys. AND they will teach you a TON about EVASIVE MANUEVERING in a vehicle, a skill that can make you a tank drivin GOD.

My BEST TIP FOR DRIVING SMALL VEHICLES is to take your foot off the gas. You don’t always have to drive pedal to the metal, even if you are carrying the bomb. If you want to get somewhere fast, learn when to let the vehicle coast.

When you do finally get in that big armored monster, and you will, just keep these things in mind and I GUARANTEE you will have a better chance at surviving.

I see you behind those flames.

NUMERO 1: Keep moving. Standing still, even to aim, makes you an EASY TARGET, so keep moving. Forwards and backwards, sometimes you will get kills just running over the enemy that is sneaking up behind you. In any case, ONLY THE DEAD STAY MOTIONLESS.

NUMERO 2: Learn to AIM and then move the enemy into sight. What I mean by this is, aim your main gun before you engage the enemy, and then drive the vehicle so that the enemy is in your sights, and fire. This will help you to avoid standing still and over time will also improve your aim.

NUMERO 3: When taking on another tank/tanks, in close combat, practice moving forward and watch the enemy’s gun, when you see it start to track you, quickly move backward, until the tank is in your sights, and fire. Keep practicing this and sooner than later you will see just how easy it is to out maneuver the enemy and make them pay.

NUMERO 4: Retreat is sometimes the better part of valor. I almost never abandon my tank, and if I do, the tank is going to blow. I prefer to never get to that point. Which means knowing when to get out of town. If you find you’re taking too many hits or if you’ve landed in a hornet’s nest of SMAWs and Javelins, haul a$$ to the nearest shelter and regroup.

“WHAT ABOUT THE BOATS?”

Boats are an easy crossover from land vehicles, the effect of the water on your motion being the main difference. RULE #1 still applies: NEVER abandon an armored boat to your enemy. NEVER. With that in mind, the tips for the jeep and the tank apply well to their cousins in the water, with one minor exception: the Personal Water Craft or PWC.

Um. How do I get off of this thing?

Remember that advice I gave you about the jeep and taking your foot off the gas? Well, even that may not help you get control of the BUCKING BRONCO PWC. Your best bet is to switch to first person view when driving it. You might find it’s a little easier to control.

Actually, I prefer first-person view for the large vehicles and third-person for the smaller, but like I said, the PWC is its own animal.

Last thing to keep in mind about the boats, is that you can dislodge any vehicle with a MELEE STRIKE, yep, EVEN THE BIG RCB and DV-15. Next time you find a boat stuck on the dune, just hit it from the front with your knife until its safely back in the water.

gamepressure.com

 SONY’S DATA COLLECTION SECRET.

So, a weird thing happened to me last week. I was on the phone with Sony Playstation Support, and we got on the subject of the DATA COLLECTION process on my PS3.

 “What data collection?” You ask. It’s the data collection that you send to Sony whenever a certain app takes a dump… a memory dump. Those with a PS3 should know what I am talking about.

After a hard-reboot, the PS3 asks if you want to send information about the crash to Sony. The purpose of the data collection is to help improve the quality of the software and user experience, so they claim.

Stupid me, I thought I would ask Sony for a copy of my PS3 report, you know, what data have they collected, who have they sent it to, and what have they done with it?

Hear that? That silence. That’s what it sounded like on the phone.

I pushed a little harder and eventually got someone who said that Playstation Support is not privy to the details of the data collection that occurs after an application blows up. In other words, they didn’t know AND Sony Corp. wasn’t going to share.

Interesting. So, I’ll let you know how this all plays out. A supervisor promised that someone would get back to me with answers to my questions. We’ll see.

Until next time, DEATH TO ALL C4 SPAMMERs! And come find me at PSN>JOHNDAVIDFLORES

Musings on the Battlefield: Getting Max Points WITHOUT Joining a Clan, and FINALLY, a Look at the Dragon's Teeth

LET’S FACE IT a decent clan will kick the crap out of a non-clan team nine times out of ten. It’s true. Find a clan of players who know their positions and are able to work together effectively. Wire them up with Bluetooth headsets and turn them loose. If you are in a non-clan team or a team made up of non-clan and clan members, I don’t care if you are all 120 colonels, you are probably going to lose. It’s the law of teams.

www.bf4clans.com

Thus, the chances of winning games are much better if you join a clan, especially one that works together as a team and communicates.

But that doesn’t mean that you have to join a clan to get maximum points. Your individual score and how often you level-up have a lot more to do with your individual talents than your team.

Don’t get me wrong. Having a clan at your back will definitely help to increase your score significantly, even if it is just two of you. But what if you aren’t interested in joining a clan? How do you get maximum points without having to add [INSERT CLEVER ACRONYM HERE] to your PSN handle?

As someone who has NEVER JOINED A CLAN, I have had to develop strategies of play that are highly adaptable and require the ability to play at least two loadouts competently. I have three that I use frequently enough that I can play any one of them and feel confident.

Of the three, two are my strongest and one is my favorite: the blessed “REVIVE AND SURVIVE” loadout, also known as ASSAULT.

My first experience with this particular kit was in BF3. A friend of mine used it like he was a surgeon, no pun intended. He would decimate squads and at the same time keep his alive.  I almost never used it. I don’t know why but it just seemed so advanced that I couldn’t get the hang of it, not until BF4. Now, it is practically all I ever use.

Just to be clear, I am referring to the Assault kit that includes the DEFIB and MEDIC BAG with the COMBAT MEDIC mod on top. The weapon you use is up to you and it almost doesn’t matter. Your role is support mostly and because of that handy medic bag, you immediately have an edge over the kits that don’t.

It is the most lethal loadout of them all.

Which of the other loadouts can you heal yourself and kill the enemy with ease?

“INCLUDING THE SNIPER?”

Yes, including the SNIPER SHADOWED. There is a reason they don’t let the medic have the PDW and I am convinced it’s because it would give the kit an unfair advantage over everyone else. Can you imagine the damage you could do with this loadout and an SR-2 or an MP7 in your hands? It wouldn’t be a fair fight.

The only ONLY downside to the kit is that it takes time to become proficient, and that means you are probably going to DIE MORE. Still if you play it right, and you choose the right maps/modes, there is nothing better for racking up the points.

As to maps and modes, personal favorites are RUSH and CONQUEST anywhere that has more close combat like say OPERATION LOCKER or DAWNBREAKER, GOLMUD is pretty good too.

“BUT WHAT IF EVERYONE IS A MEDIC?”

Yeah that’s been happening a LOT more lately. It’s like the SNIPER situation: TOO DAMN MANY. That’s why you need a second loadout handy. It all depends on the situation and what the TEAM needs. If you follow the needs of the team, you will always score points.

Of the two modes, CONQUEST is your best bet for max score because you can play the entire game and almost never see anyone and yet still rack-up some decent points. Not that I am advocating you do that. Being a CONQUEST FLAG HOPPER is not the way to go if you want to level-up fast.

The way you do that requires, and I hate to say it, a PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP. Yep, hate all you want. I have leveled up four times in a couple of hours using my XP bonus awards during the PREMIUM MEMBER DOUBLE-XP days. It’s the only way to get through the higher levels.

EVEN IF you are a LEGEND of the game, without the PREMIUM it will take you FOREVER TO GET BEYOND 110.

I know I know, you don’t have $50. All I can say is, if you want to level-up fast, you are going to need to do two things: save your XP bonus awards, and get a Premium membership. Then when the DOUBLE XP days come, cash in. OR, you can wait until DICE decides to have a system wide XP bonus.

You may be waiting for a while.

Dragon's Teeth: Propaganda

ONE of the things I like to do whenever there is a new DLC, like DRAGON’S TEETH, is to find a game with NO ONE IN IT, and spend some time getting to know the layout. I find it is very useful to spend a little time in the map free of the threat of combat. For one thing, I can RECONNOITER THE RIM sans harassment.

Let's just call this the ALLEY OF DEATH.

Secondly, it allows me to see where the targets are and plan my strategies of attack or defense.

Sometimes you get some jerk who doesn’t realize you are just checkin things out and he kills you over and over again. When that happens, I just switch maps. Any way, try it and see if it doesn’t help you to hit the ground running when the live fire comes.

Took me FOREVER to find this one.

Next blog I will give you my initial thoughts on the new mode CHAINLINK (hint: Pappa like) and the epic DLC, DRAGON’S TEETH. Till then, don’t let them throw C4 on you from a skyscraper, and don’t forget to come find me at PSN>JOHNDAVIDFLORES.