Planetside 2

[Hubris]

http://gengame.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Planetside-2-Promo-Art1.jpg

This free to play game looks like a supersonic ground breaker and scene shaker!! Sign up for the beta here, you have nothing to lose in the last couple days before release. If you don't want to play please go on and register anyway to stand a chance to play now!

Once you register an account, you will need to verify it and take the survey about your PC and hope like hell for a beta key! Otherwise you can pay $39.99 for instant access or just wait for release. Obviously I am KEEEEEEN and have registered a while back, but have been unsuccessfully praying.


Yes yes, the beta has been out for some months already and the game is set for release in November, this post is a beeping alarm clock!

https://account.station.sony.com/authenticated/beta/betaRegistration.action?betaId=12&theme=ps2

Who is interested in playing this in beta or in release? I'm sure noone has plans to buy the game since they would feel that the game is so close to release, just wait and get it for freez. So drop your name here and lets see if we can get some players in grrr and outside of grrr involved.

We have to excite the community about this, DAC are keen apparently but that's not enough. If you don't know anything about this game, you NEED to find out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlanetSide_2 // http://www.planetside2.com/overview. Get in amongst dat Planetside!

I'm not sure how it will be taken up in SA, but I'm sure a couple guys are thinking about it hoping someone will make it happen, we should! Apparently a community of 6000 will justify a locally hosted server, otherwise we will have to go to UK and that will probably be somewhat meh.

If you've played this already, I am too jelly for you. If you've posted about this before I'm sorry my memory is very short and I'm trying to push for more guys to get involved! Let's formalise this and get a whole section into the Games forum for more PlS2 sexy time posting!


Share your ideas about the promotion of this game in South Africa!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41QFL4QB3NE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm8w_jemCIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBkQ7FQoNtQ

[J_Th4ng]

I'd love to play this, but don't expect a community of 6000 players in SA (not even close IMO). As such it's going to be international gaming time. I'll give it a try regardless, but FPS with high ping sucks balls.

[NoMaD]

sweet, signed up to this dank!

[Hubris]

Busy downloading the beta now! Finally some Planetside2 action in my life!

[SlipperyDuck]

You have been selected to hit the front lines and participate in the PlanetSide 2 Beta! With a variety of vehicles and weapons to choose from, PlanetSide 2 is about to bring massive combat on an epic scale to your doorstep and we want you there!

Woot - now I just need to download and try it.

[Phatso]

Its FREE TO PLAY!!! Must've skipped that part.

Preloaded it and am jamming it up. Pick server Miller - EU Region and choose VANU (Purple team). This game is incredible. Can't feel 200ms lag at all.

Only issue is optimization.. The game is still getting there, but with all low I can play with 60+FPS.

All in all, a great game to fill the time and incredibly complex / enjoyable.

[RussianElite.]

Gonna give it a go aswell looks awesome!

[SlipperyDuck]

Yeah, will download it this afternoon

[J_Th4ng]

Too many games, too little time!!

Would love to get into Planetside, but I'm not getting through the current MP games that I have - BL2, GW2, NS2 (and possibly a little BF3 as well).

I may download anyway, but there's no way that I could devote the time that this game deserves.

[Phatso]

Copy pasta my response to the MyGaming thread:

This game is AWESOME. Really enjoying it and will surely get at least 6 months play out of it.
Downloaded from Steam the night before last with no issues. Playing VS on Miller and am at rank 10 or something now.

Pro's
+ No idea how they got the hit-reg on, but even though I am playing on EU servers, I haven't noticed any hit-detection issues. Sure a bit of a lag spike here and there, but in 5 or so hours, nothing to complain about.
+ IMMERSIVE! Running into battle with 34 guys on the ground, 6 aircraft overhead and 4 tanks at the rear. Seriously.
+ 3 continents. That each hold a maximum of 2000 players at any given time.
+ Great balance so far between classes and vehicles.
+ Active developers. Check official forums / Reddit / Twitter. These guys are all over the show helping out and giving insights.
+ Incredibly complex. This game will take a shitlong time to learn and for me is wicked!

Con's
- Optimization is very poor at the moment. If you're getting above 60FPS constant with anything over low settings, you either have a R25k gaming rig or are very lucky. Guys with GTX690's and i7's at 5GHz are getting framerate issues even. Needs work, but the devs are on it.
- Character persistence and lack of account persistence. So you've played 10 hours and unlocked lots of gear with certs / SC (currencies, ingame and real money based) and now want to check another faction / server? Start from scratch.
- F2P model with micro-transactions. Unless you want to spend real cash, a lot of time investment to unlock slight upgrades. Not P2W though (pay to win).
- The need for an outfit (PS2's version of clans). You can really only lone wolf and squad hop for so long before wanting to be a part of a community.
- Incredibly complex. This game will take a shitlong time to learn and for some may not be wicked!

*edit: Guys, don't start a character on Miller. The server is kakking off at the moment. Try the other EU server. I may just start another character there as it seems like Miller is frekking.

[Hubris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZgB_EmHOQ0

[SlipperyDuck]

Shoh shoh shoh shoh shoh, Ph4tso n I played tonight - wow - for a pay to play game it's amazing, for a free to play game its beyond words.... This is a FFS-YOU-MUST-NO-EXCUSES game - get it already - it's free

[J_Th4ng]

My download is almost complete... Will check it out this weekend.

Please confirm, what server are we playing on?

[pmurgs]

Why does this have to come out right when I get two single player games I want to play, Hitman Absolution and Dishonored. Anyway... downloading... so as Dragonne says... what server we joining?

[Phatso]

EU Server Mallory is where I started another soldier. The team Duck and I are on are the Terran Republic (the red).

If you want to try Vanu Sovereignty (the purple), I started a character there on Miller. But Miller is messing around and a lagfest of note, so I don't know if I will return there. I am quite enjoying TR at the moment.

Remember, each of the factions have different backstories, vehicles, weapons and skins. Also, its an MMOFPS. Character persistence. It takes a while to unlock stuff so it would be good if we could settle on 1 faction/server.

Add us as friends when you start your characters, makes joining squads easier. I am also going to do a bit of reading up on platoons and stuff. This game is incredibly complex when you begin, but there are thousands of tutorials on youtube that rivalXfactor HIMSELF HAS DONE. Have a look.

Ph4tsoTR
Rubbyduck

[pmurgs]

Ok I've created a character on Mallory server on the Terran Republic team and tried it out for a few mins. Was ok but would be better with other Grrr's.

Char: BadMurgs

[SlipperyDuck]

I'm not sure about tonight, but SAT night - fer shoh I'm gonna go hit some PlanetSide -

[J_Th4ng]

Likewise with me. I'll deffo be on late Saturday night

[Phatso]

I’ll be at a bachelors on Saturday night but the Leeho knows enough to give you guys a brief breakdown I rate.

This game has a learning curve like no other but on getting the basics, is incredibly fulfilling. Watch some tutorial vids if you can (don’t have time to link em all soz), they add a shitton of value and answer a lot of questions.

Other than that, if the game doesn’t appeal to you in the first hour, I implore you to play for another 3 or 4 because you’ve only barely scratched the surface.

[SlipperyDuck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gvXlHyApxY&feature=related

WATCH THIS

[Hubris]

What an epic weekend of Planetside, can't wait for some midweek aksie! From what I can tell, TR definitely have an advantage in terms of map position and the number of players. That fits with the back story, but I think it's fun to play NC or Vanu for the niche traits they have and for the idea of playing against an evil empire! :P

So far we're playing on Lithcorp, New Conglomerate. Got about 7 grrrbians there, good times.
Phatso and I also have characters on Mallory, Teran Republic. Anyone wanting to do TR, do it there.
Then we need a good Vanu server, Miller is too full, Cobalt? Lets get agreement cos we need to stick to them! Medium size seems best.

I really don't want us to just stick to one server, I think it's all part of the game to get each char up to around level 10 in order to learn about the faction then just saving for incremental upgrades, so play all your characters. After a few levels you will really be able to compete and before you know it you're basically at a plateau where everything small costs 100 certs. Play them all, play with whoever is online as whatever they are.

I recommend playing Heavy Assault and capping outposts until you get the hang of it. Amp Stations and Bio Labs need capping of surrounding spawn rooms and the destruction of generators to cap and are always heavily defended. To get into those you need to play Light Assault to jet pack in or get a drop pod onto and into the roof. Try the Medic and Engineer classes for support play or if you need xp fast.

My experience is that the best way to do things is to create a squad, make it public and get rolling through some outposts with a Sunderer - deploying to provide a spawn point. Use other vehicles if your Sundy is on cool down. If you hit a big base make sure you're organised and battle ready or it's going to be tough. Remember you can "redeploy" anywhere you have a spawn point without a death if you're out of the action.

Some important upgrades:

All the cheap upgrades for 1, 5 and 10 certs - vehicles and weapons (don't forget to equip upgrades!)
Nano Weave Armour - All Kits (Armour)
Reflex (or whatever you prefer) sight on your core class weapons (so Heavy Assault is a must)
Class Abilities - All Kits (Cloak, Shield, Repair, Revive/Heal etc.)
Sunderer - AMS (spawn station) and Blockade Armour
Squad Leader Beacon (just in case you choose to lead a squad)
-- All that at one tier probably costs in the region of 250 certs or 8 or so good squad hours, not that bad considering from there its just incrementals or new weapons.

Join the grrr Outfits (platoons) on each server, they are named: grrr[ServerName] (e.g. grrrLithcorp)

[J_Th4ng]

Had some good times playing over the weeken, this game definitely has some staying power!!

For myself, I'll probably stick to playing one character, I just don't have the time to invest playing multiple toons. Obviously that may constrain me if the clan are playing a different faction/server than Lithcorp NC, but I'd rather all of my experience get focussed on levelling one char.

Thanks for the tips Stef, I'll definitely look into those unlocks.

[Hubris]

Forgot to mention, you need to change a couple settings to be good to go in terms of frames. General settings:

Sensitivities, these start a little high - changing to 35 as a start is a good idea.
Make sure Raw Mouse Input is selected, to force off mouse acceleration.
Tick Invert Vertical Fly so you can use air vehicles without trouble.
Tick Reduce Input Lag, from your keyboard or joystick.
Tick Centralised Hud Mode, so you can see your health etc in the middle of your screen (very cool).

Then graphics, I set everything to low and deselected all the syncs, blooms etc. (the nice to havs)
Then I changed Texture Quality, Model Quality and Particles to medium - so things at distance are visible.
Finally audio, make sure your sound channels are reduced to around 35 (you can go less, but you hear less action).

Be sure to spend some time in the keybindings section, this game has a lot of keys that you may want to change for personal preference!

[SlipperyDuck]

My Moment (was a purdy long moment) for the Weekend, Rolling around with multiple squads 10+ Tanks 10+ Sunderers(Carries 12 people) 4/5 Aircraft and a shed load of troups, rolling from Post to Lab to point. The sheer volume and the massive WAR that broke out wherever we went.

O M G, this game takes WAR FPS to a level previously unimaginable and all without really feeling any Lag or suffering in any way playing from South Africa. It's been a VERY LONG TIME since I've played a game that is so rewarding......

[Phatso]

Wall of text:

This game is beast. DayZ is the only title in recent memory that has immersed me like this. Its so good to see a game that quite a few grrrbians are in love with.
The last common denominator was BF3 and I believe that PS2 beats BF3 in 90% of the cases.
Lets keep it rolling and get everyone in the clan to at least try the game out. Its F2P and you have nothing to lose giving it a bash, except maybe your time to play other games.

Since I got PS2, I haven’t even launched another game (GW2, BL2, DayZ, BF3… all ultra-addictive too).

My next point I need to raise is the server / faction selection. 2 sides here, Hubris your point of getting all characters up to BR10 is a good baseline and you can chop and change between the 3.. I get this, but I think it will only really work well before BR10. Once you get to the point where you are saving up 100/200 certs for unlocks, then enjoying them… changing servers is going to be a pain man. I haven’t spent my certs properly on any of my 3 characters because I am worried about this.

I know that we jammed some good NC last night and it seemed quite good. Guys made good progress and there were quite a few unlocks for all I’m sure.
I have now played to roughly BR (Battle Rank) 9/10 on each of the 3 factions and these are my findings (you can find more info all over the webs):

(take note I am partially biased..)

Vanu Sovereignty (VS – Purple)
· Laser based weapons. No bullet drop and good all round.
· Future-esque vehicles. Excellent handling, lower damage threshold, slower.
· The most popular due to scientific / future / first option on menu / rivalX & LC play them.
· Meh background story – future tech / lazerz / new technology exploration / lazerz.
· My least-ish favourite of the 3. I don’t like lazers. Really, this isn’t Star Wars (although close to it).


Terran Republic (TR - Red)
· Bullet based weapons. Bullet drop and high ROF / lower damage.
· Modern day vehicles. OK handling, mal damage, faster.
· Good popularity as seemingly the most neutral.
· The original faction of the lands – cool story. Neutral (see “Terran” in any other game).
· My favourite of the 3. I love the guns, vehicles, color, story etc.


New Conglomerate (NC – Blue)
· Bullet based weapons. Bullet drop and lower ROF / higher damage.
· Military styled vehicles. Good handling, good damage, good speed.
· Ok popularity due to redneck vibes.
· Rednecks, blow everything up. MASSIVE guns win all battles. Rock music. RAWR.
· Partially undecided on my preference here. I don’t like the rock music or the redneck vibes TBH. Vehicles are cool though.


We need to make a choice. If it means everyone starts from scratch, so be it. That way we can find a good server. I don’t think it’s a good thing to play across 3 factions to be honest.
I want to spend real money on this game and get some cool flavor unlocks (and some hardcore vehicle ones too). I am not doing that if I am not focusing on 1 character.

Discuss?

My tips:
· Playing as a team is the way to go without a doubt. Not only from a fun point of view, but a coordinated unit makes a massive impact. We were rocking 30+ certs / hour last night rolling as a coordinated unit.
· Spend certs on vitals first. Red dots are vital. AMS for Sunderer is very useful (and will pay itself off). Nano suit upgrades (the 1 cert ones) are no-brainers. Medic tool upgrade is good for medics, jump pack upgrade is good for light assaults, increased stealth for infiltrators, better shielding for heavy assaults and repair upgrade for engi’s.
· The game is unoptimized at the moment and will improve. I found ZERO difference between low and medium settings graphically. The biggest difference for me was shadows, foliage and sound channels. Switch these to low. “Alt-F” will show you your FPS in the lower left corner and tell you what part of your system is bottlenecking at that point ([GPU] or [CPU]). With balanced settings, both of these will chop and change depending on situation.
· Stick together team! If you see one guy flanking around, run with him. Provide cover, communicate etc. Death is frustrating in PS2, it can be avoided by sticking together.
· As its early days, ask questions instead of spending hours trying to figure stuff out. I think between us all by now, we know a fair bit about the game and mechanics.. And knowledge sharing is a good thing.

[Hubris]

Cool well I don't mind us all playing one faction, I understand the concearns, but I'll put in the time on all 3 I'm sure. I freaking love this game.

So last issues, we need to settle the Vanu server (I think Cobalt is a good choice) and what faction we're going for as a clan. TR is probably the best if we're talking about getting the best of all worlds and getting continental domination on a server. Vanu could be cool, but I think it's already too popular. So I vote for TR, then Vanu. NC is still my pet favourite but I don't expect everyone to like em cos they're slow/heavyarmour/heavydmg :)

I've already spent some dollar on the Mallory and Lithcorp servers, so please lets not change our TR and NC servers (respectively).

btw Rival clan chose TR as their clan faction, but Xfactor plays Vanu for fun because they're the most "futuristic" and their air is the most powerful because its so maneuverable.

[Phatso]

Cool. TR Mallory it is. Exec decision styles.

Duck and I played a while ago and it was epic. Let's give it a bash tonight. You guys will like the guns yo. Going to buy some SC to beef up Sundy and Galaxy.

Will make a platoon if there isn't one already.

[pmurgs]

I also agree with Phats. I want to stick to a side and server so I can progress.

TR Mallory it is.

[Hubris]

Well I've now got my second char to the spec I spoke of incl SL beacon... now just to get the third and I can play all factions! Na na na na

[flycatchr]

thanks for all the input chaps. I have one concern - my dayfighters (i mean daughters) are loving this game and really enjoy being on mumble with you guys - my concern isnt for them, but for us as a clan when confronted with being civilized. i do not expect anyone to change their way of comunicating just becuase my kids are playing. I would however like some feedback on this and i have a suggestion. can we make a mumble channel that we name planetside kids? is this too much to ask? I also think my kids need to know how the world works and dont mind them hearing a little verbal abuse. :0
my reasoning is that everyone can here global voice, but if we are going to have many peeps playing then two channels would be good anyway, especially if we end up with two squads.

[TygerBS]

Hi Fly if i am on i will attempt to tone down my language when you are in channel. Remind me if i forget.

[flycatchr]

tygie, i don't mind any language :) just wondering how we deal with this - it also impacts us as grrr - that's why i am bringing it up :)
but thanks

[Hubris]

Fly I think you're a great guy and I think your kids are great, but I don't think they should be in our voice channel. Grrr is a very over 18 clan, kids shouldn't be exposed to us in the casual sense. I don't know who they would chat to in mumble kids but I'm not opposed to it. We need to protect your kids right to decency and protect my right to drop an f bomb on noobs if I want to :) so I support it.

[flycatchr]

thanks steff, not sure what u are supporting? (I do agree that they shouldnt be in our normal voice channel at all) they will both be playing planetside2 so if they have their own channel, then they can recieve instructions from their squad leader (IE you or phats via wisper ?? ) - OR we figure out how the squad voip works in game and that is how they must comunicate .

[RussianElite.]

I think he's trying to say it wont be a problem if they in a seperate channel like you suggested Fly :)

[Snakestyles]

for now give them a channel, players will join it if they are in there and know to talk nice when they do, your kids will only play a few hours a week so a its no biggie.

[flycatchr]

cool, i thought so.
i do think though that 2 x ps2 + 2 x mumble + iburst = lag , ( but they sometimes play my avatar ) so in generral they will most likely not be on mumble

only saw your post now miles - good point :)

[WondaWoman]

I don't know why they would enjoy being in mumble with the grrr's... :p

[NoMaD]

Wonda, what you on about? All kids love chatting to us pedos on mumble! pfft!

I enjoyed jamming with your kids fly (this is now non pedo). I think it is cool to get them involved in gaming. They seem like very intelligent kids and they seemed to enjoy us congratulating them on in game accomplishments. I am glad you are helping to contribute to bringing more females into the gaming community! I feel that stereotypes can be shattered in this new age!

With regards to mumble, I did catch myself dropping the F bomb and it made em realize i need to tone it down in general... but i refuse to tone down "go fuck yourself tyger!"

[RussianElite.]

... but i refuse to tone down "go fuck yourself tyger!"

Hear hear!

[flycatchr]

this is what i am trying to get at - i don't want anyone to feel that they have to tone anything down or feel uncomfortable. we are grrr and we have our way of communicating - which is not how i would like my girls to be communicating with their mother. hence a channel that they can be in that (IF iburst allows) they can still get some feedback (thanks nom nom) and instructions

[TygerBS]

"go fuck yourself tyger!"

You had me at go fuck yourself :blush:

[TygerBS]

Ok converting normal game files to steam files. I found this and it worked for me.
I have a solution! Create a folder in "steamapps\common" called 'planetside 2' (No caps!), transfer the files of your current installation to that folder in common you created. Then go to the steam page for PlanetSide 2, and start the download there. If it does what mine did, it will go through the first stage where it sets up the download, then go to 'Discovering Existing Files', where it will sit for ages loading it. Afterwards, it will need to download about 96.3 MBs, but it's much better than 9600 MBs. It's Similar to Twitch's, but actually discovers the files easier. Hope this helps.

Mine downloaded 136MB.
I made sure steam was closed when i copied the files to the folder.
Then started seam, then only said play game and install.

So mine is converted anyone who needs the steam files.

[Stu]

boom! now we can have a mission! I say we get a grrr crowd pumping and hit the servers with some own-age!

[Phatso]

Axxess had heavy issues last night and I could barely DL the patch at more than 30KB/s so didn't get to jam any.
I may have graft to do tonight, but hoping to cram some PS2 in with a full [grrr] squad! Would be EPIC!!

How does everyone feel about the game so far?

[Stu]

I think it is MANIC! Really enjoy the massive epic scale that it is! And a well oiled squad can make a massive difference on the battle field! Time to get tactical and start cutting off strategic positions on the map....

Would be epic to save C credits and build up an crazy ass Galaxy! Then we would be pumping!

[Snakestyles]

Ok dl is done, will join you punks tonight.

[RussianElite.]

Same here! I'm quite excite!

[SlipperyDuck]

SHOH - FREE GAME, SOLD!

[Onyx]

+2 to join in as well. Mine is ready to go and the temptation is hard to play by myself on my day off. Hold thumbs the copy/paste folder thing works tonight.

[SlipperyDuck]

gosh - hope it does work - a massive GRRR contingent would be absolutely amazing.


Try using the original downloader, select where to install, then as it starts to download, close it and then copy/paste - relaunch - hopefully that will do the trick..... can only hope.

[Onyx]

gosh - hope it does work - a massive GRRR contingent would be absolutely amazing.


Try using the original downloader, select where to install, then as it starts to download, close it and then copy/paste - relaunch - hopefully that will do the trick..... can only hope.

Vat is what we did (late) last night after my download was done, but it dirrint vant to work :/ so we will see what to try tonight.

[TygerBS]

Ony do exactly what my post says, and it will work.

Important bit is dont have plantside 2 started the install in steam before you copy across
It will only work if it can get the discovering files stage.if you have already past that stage. u need to remove planside from steam install.
And then do it again.

[Onyx]

Ony do exactly what my post says, and it will work.

Important bit is dont have plantside 2 started the install in steam before you copy across
It will only work if it can get the discovering files stage.if you have already past that stage. u need to remove planside from steam install.
And then do it again.

Ja, I figured we were going to have to do something like that. Thanks gents for the tips :)

[SlipperyDuck]

Maybe when you launch, click the ADVANCED Spanner Icon at the bottom left and choose VALIDATE FILES? I'm only guessing here now

[Onyx]

Will try every angle. Something better work otherwise we will have a raging Onny :D

Edit: Got it working just fine. Tyger's way worked.

[flycatchr]

well done tyger, ours didn't work at all, ended up dling 3.5 times for the 3 pcs, i have a feeling that it was because we coppied across AFTER the steam install.
now the problem is Micayla's pc is running at 15 fps MAX (when standing still).

PS - Thanks to everyone who has been complimenting my kids and encouraging them.

PPS - noticed krygorian and xennox on our server last night (dont remember exact spellings) but they had an "SA squad" going

[Phatso]

*DELETED OTHER VIDS COS THEY WERE KAK*

Levelcap does it best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoPgjs6ok80

[Paul]

Question does PLanetside take your Steam nick as your Soldier name or do you create your own?

Also does it auto add your steam friends or is there a seperate friends list ingame?

[Onyx]

Question does PLanetside take your Steam nick as your Soldier name or do you create your own?

Also does it auto add your steam friends or is there a seperate friends list ingame?

You have to create your own unique name and add friends to the in-game seperate friends list.

[Paul]

OK cool, I am not going to go with Paul_RSA, I am thinking for something like DeadlyEnd

[RussianElite.]

DeadlyStinkinEnd

[Paul]

Dude not cool.

DeadlyEnd was my smurf account name

[Hubris]

Ya you will have an SOE Account Name and then each character name is bound to the server but cannot be repeated. So if you want to do PaulRSA on multiple servers you need to tweak it to Paulza or something to that effect. Your SOE name has no impact on Steam or the server bound characters. Your friends work in the same way, so if you play a different server you need to add them again (new nicks) for that server. That aspect of the game is really annoying but hey with all that sex they give you it's a small price to pay.

[Phatso]

... but hey with all that sex they give you it's a small price to pay.

wat

Hubris, your exchange back I hope. We need your squad lead ability bud ;)

Looking forward to blowing 150 certs this eve. Time to get serial with this dank yo.

[SlipperyDuck]

Dude, I was SL last night - you make mooshlè XP/cred when you're a Squad Lead, in one night I made almost 200 certs

[Stu]

so then we have revolving squad lead? more certs for all! wootz! lol But I am very very keen to thrash it out this evening, Wife's out for a party I'm babysitting so woot free time to game! la la la

[Onyx]

Dude, I was SL last night - you make mooshlè XP/cred when you're a Squad Lead, in one night I made almost 200 certs

That must be worth more than trillion billion Zim dolla in experience.

[Voetsek-Mikey]

So I have downloaded PS2.

Don't know when I will have time to play but at least I have it now. 'But I Stu is playing it. Then it can't be that hard. :cool:

[Hubris]

Unfortunately I still suffer from internetlessness. Only back from DBN on Sunday afternoon, so we'll see then or next week. Apparently the exchange is fixed but there is a problem on my line. Who knows what's going on, Telkom don't.

Rotating SL's gives a huge tactical advantage if everyone in the squad has a spawn beacon unlocked. Say you've got one guy on a flag and you want to spawn on him, promote to SL, place beacon and wham entire grrr squad pods in on them.

The trick is getting one person responsible for the overalls organisation and making the tough calls in terms of planning where to go and how and when not to wait fopeople etc. it's a crappy job so everyone should help out how they can.

[s3xy_j0nny]

That must be worth more than trillion billion Zim dolla in experience.

You went there? Just when I came here to say I gots the game and a bitching new rig to blast it on? #havingsecondthoughts

[flycatchr]

nooooo s3xy, we wannt you to join :)

on a side note, can we start a PS2 section/board and sticky links like levelcap's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlaC3IVGemQ
we must have a good few separate convos going on here :)

[flycatchr]

woot for double post and sorry if this info is repeated, but here are the backslash commands for ingame chats (STICKY PLEASE)
http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/Slash_Commands

[Hubris]

Ok I think we need to go over a couple things so everyone is on the same page in terms of what is possible and what you need to do in given situations. I'll start from loading the game to doing different things, give me some slack here it's a bit to think about let alone write about... If you like I'll keep updating it with the other subjects I've listed. Otherwise give me some feedback maybe we can expand this and turn it into an article or something?

-- LOADING & FINDING YOUR FRIENDS --

Open Planetside, load (create and pick a name for) your Terran Republic character on the Mallory server.
If you see a new friend online or in mumble, add them to your friends list through the Social menu by typing in their name.
Join the Grrr Outfit and invite other grrrs to join through the Social menu, we all earn points by being in it and it gives us a clan presence on the server.
Find out what squad your mates are in, if you can't join the squad, join the platoon in another squad; ask the Squad Leader to invite you or find it by name.
If you are already in a squad (say having pressed insert to auto join), you will need to leave your squad through the Social menu before you can join another.

Find out what continent your mates are on - Indar, Esamir or Amerish; all Warpgates let you travel between continents, use the panel with the planet on it.
Look to see where your friends are, there will be a green objective marker somewhere and some green circles with numbers on them indicating who is who.
Look for spawn points, these are green dots on the Deployment menu; always pick the closest/easiest point - spawn on Beacons and Sunderers if possible.
If there are no nearby spawn points, check the Map menu to see if you can hot drop into the location; you may just need to wait a minute to spawn.
Alternatively, spawn your own vehicle and get there yourself; last resort, ask, no one wants to hold your hand through the game when in a fight.


YOU CAN REDEPLOY AT ANY TIME WITHOUT A DEATH THROUGH THE MAP MENU, DON'T STAND AROUND OR RUN FOREVER.
IF YOU ARE LOST, JUST RESPAWN AT THE WARP GATE AND FIGURE OUT WHERE/HOW TO GO FROM THERE.

-- META-GAME STRATEGY --

The TR are suited for the Indar continent, the Vanu for Esamir and New Conglomerate for Amerish. Each faction should have conquerered their "gimmie" continent to make any inroads on the others. Always default to your faction continent and make sure you dominate on it before leaving to go to another continent. Holding Amp Stations, Tech Labs and Bio Labs gives you planet wide faction bonuses. You can monitor meta game from the map or planet panels.

-- GENERAL GAME STRATEGY --

The aim of the game is cert points and inter-continental domination - don't play for kills or for xp, those come fastest if you PTFO.
You earn certs from caps and weapon milestone achievements - for now you don't get xp related certs, for e.g. repairing or healing.
There is no end game, the fighting just goes on and on; don't bother with enemy Warpgates, they are protected by an impenetrable shield.
You earn resources to buy Infantry, Vehicle and Air products by holding more territory and you get extra points for the zone you are in currently.

The idea is to get together, all together, and devise a plan of attack to roll forward steadily; only defend if absolutely necessary.
If you are the Squad Leader, constantly check the status of the continent, the tiles surrounding and along the way to your areas of activity.
The pie chart indicates population in surrounding tiles and the bars indicate the status of the cap; the squares are the flags, their numbers show cap statuses.
Don't bash your head against a wall, the continents are large and you can probably find a better area to attack or defend very easily.

If you see the strategic opportunity to connect isolated tiles or cut off enemy tiles, do so, but be sure to be aware of being cut-off yourself.
Whenever you do something important for the squad, let them know so we don't end up uncoordinated or for e.g. spawning multiple transports.
Ultimately, you are responsible for yourself; don't rely on others to do everything, be proactive in what the team needs to achieve it's goals.
Please be considerate of others; don't TK, go AFK suddenly, talk excessively, be clueless or make people wait around; it's still impolite to be a duche on Araxis.

We need a balanced squad of players, look at the Squad List to see who is what class; be sure to select a class that compliments the others.
Maxs must be bought at Gun terminals, they can dish it and soak it; travel in Sunderers or Galaxies and use them tactically with a rep and ammo pack.
A squad is max 12, so ideally you want: 2 Maxs, 1 Infiltrator, 2 Engineers, 4 Medics, 3 Heavy Assaults and only Light Assault if required.
The basic fireteam is 4, so ideally you want in this order: 1 Heavy, 1 Engineer, 2 Medics or a Max/Infiltrator on occasion.

Always follow the green or orange marker; the Squad Leader should update it often and ensure it is placed accurately to allow effective drop podding.
Generally speaking it will be on your objective, or on a location you need to get to and should always be updated once you half-cap an area.
The most basic of tactics is to use a deployed Sunderer to establish a safe spawn point and continuously (and conveniently) attack an area.
If possible, drop a spawn beacon to drop-pod troops in; remember you can promote squadies in the fight to drop beacons - keep the leadership rolling.

-- INFANTRY PLAY --

You must stick together, always, one or two in drips and drabs is going to suck; wait for each other if need be - don't be that lone wolf guy.
Always look to move to hard cover where you can pillar and not be rushed; hold the area, take picks and push to the next zone when you see the gap.
If you are standing around capping ensure the flag(s) is(are) full (x/x), flanks are covered and the spawn room(s) is (are) trapped from both sides.
You cap the fastest when you have all flags maxed out, don't bother standing on them if they are maxed you get nothing for it and can be used elsewhere.

Maxs and Heavy Assaults should be hunting the action, they are designed to be at the grinding edge of the battles and the first to shoot.
Medics and Engineer provie heals, resses, repairs, ammo-packs and flank/backup coverage to front liners who need your constant support to be effective.
Infiltrators are useful for hacking terminals to allow you to for e.g. spawn a Sunderer in their base or deny panels or turrets to the enemy.
Light Assaults let you jump jet over difficult terrain, shields or obstacles to allow access to a previously unobtainable area; but are weak otherwise.

Use rockets or grenades to kill Engineer Turrets; these things are nasty, call them out and don't try get cute around them unless you have support.
Always go Engineer or Heavy Assault when travelling in a deployable Sunderer; you can switch kit later when the threat to the vehicle is gone.
Use the in-game compass to refer to areas or the location of things; it's much easier to follow a bearing than "It's behind, over here by me".
Think about other ways to achieve your objective, be creative with your tactics, the routes you take and the positions you try and hold.

You have a shield, use it to your advantage; don't go running around or looking for a firefight if it's not full or if you need to reload.
Remember the Heavy Assault is designed to get 1v1 domination, don't be a rambo Medic; Heavy Assaults need you to stick close, play smart and slow.
If in doubt, go Heavy Assault; you really can't go wrong with this class's versatility or make a bigger impact if you know how to use it effectively.
Don't forget to purchase grenades in a friendly area by going to your Weapons tab and clicking through to your grenade and resupplying the pool.

-- VEHICLE TRANSPORT AND PLAY --

Flashs are for quick personal transport.
Sunderers are for troop transport, spawning, switching kits, resupplying/repairing other vehicles and slipping inside shields.
Lightnings are an anti-infantry tank and can move fast to adapt to changing conditions.
Heavy Tanks are exclusively anti-armour and anti-turret - don't charge in too far with these.
Mosquitos are basic quick personal transport, dogfights and ground support.
Liberators are good 3 man transports and excellent gunships with the right upgrades. Get height to be effective.
Galaxies are great troop transports, can eject troops safely from any height and can be used as a gunship. Get height to be effective.
The driver of any transport should be an Engineer, anyone else riding with him should be Heavy Assault or Engineer.

-- DEFENDING AREAS AND ESTABLISHING CHOKE-POINTS --

As I said previously, defending is only something you do if you absolutely need that tile and it is under heavy attack. You don't need to worry about revives. Only play Max, Heavy Assault or Engineer (in that order). You need to establish choke points by setting up traps and turrets to funnel the enemy into a killing zone.

Send advanced forces out to find and destroy nearby Sunderers to deny the enemy a spawn. Also, make sure you use these guys to cap surrounding bases that may let the enemy spawn, catapult or teleport and attack the main base. If in doubt, get in the Turrets on the battlements and start firing!

Once the base is locked down, your advanced troops can start cleaning up outside and the defenders can think about pushing out and clearing whats left when they have no more spawn points. Remember troops may hot drop in on the roof or anywhere else, so keep your eyes and ears open for spawn beacons and sneaky sneaky!

-- ATTACKING OUTPOSTS/BASES --

Outposts and Bases are best capped with Sunderers, Mosquitos and Liberators; clear the immediate area and park to cap the point(s) and plan for incoming!
Outposts are one flag areas with one spawn area marked by the pistol symbol, they require 2-6 people to cap quickly and generally provide 1 cert.
Bases are two to three flag areas with one or two spawn areas and possibly vehicle blocking shields, they require 6-12 guys to cap quickly and provide 2 certs.

The goal on these is to get in quickly, cap quickly and leave quickly; 1-3 cert points, so don't defend these unless you really have to.
Be aware of what's happening in the outposts and bases around you, you don't want to be back capped and left cut off from the Warpgate.
If you are cut-off from the Warpgate, you can still spawn but the resources are disconnected and enemies can cap the base faster.

Hold E to plant/diffuse a generator overload. Don't forget to rep shield before you leave, they will slow the enemy down if they try to cap.

-- ATTACKING AMP-STATIONS/TECH-PLANTS/BIO-LABS --

Amp Stations are strategically useless, they only provide a cooldown bonus for Turrets; only cap when soft.
Tech Plants are strategically crucial, without one you will struggle to spawn Tanks and they are very hard to capture.
Bio Labs are nice to haves, their bonus is health regeneration and they generally occupy strategic locations on the map.
All these big bases have vehicle shields, base shields, SCU shields and an SCU - you need to take these out in order to capture properly.

Shields are marked with an icon which indicate what they are - a tank is vehicle shield, three lines is a base shield, an SCU is an SCU shield and the triangle with an SCU symbol is the actual spawn generator. Blow that up and they can't spawn traditionally any more unless they have an outer base nearby.

Amp Stations and Tech Plants have rear doors you can use to enter the building from. Bio Domes have landing pads and grav lifts to the landing pads. Alternatively, pod in and attack from the roof. If you can't establish a beach head, give up and come back later. Big bases are notoriously well defended and are tough to attack, be smart about it.

Don't forget to rep generators before you leave.

-- USE AIR ATTACK TO BLITZ WEAK POINTS IN ENEMY LINES --

8 or more players
3 x Mosquito (1 interceptor, 2 balanced)
2 x Liberator (2 players per, gunner switches seat)
1 x Galaxy
Scale in proportion, get more Mosquitos first.

Mosquitos scout and protect the air space for the other aircraft.
Liberators bomb the crap out of anything on the ground.
Galaxy is a troop transport only and forcibly ejects troops over flag then land in safety to pick up again (Page Down and select Locked to eject)

Key is to operate from a resupply depo and move as a squadron, not piecemeal attacks.
No respawn point, critical to get a beacon down or just attack from the air.

-- USING GROUND VEHICLE COLUMNS TO STEAMROLL THE ENEMY --

8 or more players
1 x Heavy Tank
2 x Lightning
2 x Sunderer
Scale in proportion, get more Heavy Tanks first.

Heavy tanks roll in front and deal with armour/turrets.
Lightnings deal roll with the Sunderers and deal with troops and light armour.
Sunderers establish deployment locations, one is a backup for redundancy and transport.

Go Heavy Assault and Engineer to support the advance, respawn at Sunderer/Beacon.

-- USING A DIVERSE ARMY TO OBLITERATE EVERY TILE YOU SEE --

12 players
1 x Sunderer
1 x Heavy Tank
2 x Lightning
2 x Mosquito (2 balanced)
1 x Liberator (2 players gunner switches seat) / 1 x Galaxy

Mosquitos scout and protect the air space for the other aircraft.
Liberators bomb the crap out of anything on the ground.
Galaxy is a troop transport only.

Heavy tanks roll in front and deal with armour/turrets.
Lightnings deal roll with the Sunderers and deal with troops and light armour.
Sunderer establishes deployment locations and moves troops.

Armour focuses on staying alive and denying enemy armour ascendancy.
Air focuses on securing the air and providing ground support where enemy are attacking.
Galaxy can be used as a gunship and a transport instead of a Liberator if upgraded properly.

-- CERT AND LOADOUT CONCEPTS FOR GRRR SQUAD BEAT DOWN --


Always diversify your classes, make sure you get tier one upgrades for everything before going tier 2 unless you really need it for armour etc.
The Medic has a great function to heal itself. Instead of using the Nano Weave Armour upgrade, which increases your health, try upgrading the Shield Capacitator instead. This will give you a much faster shield delay and keep you in the fight. Medic and Heavy Assault are the only classes I suggest experimenting with this for.
Liberators and Galaxys can be outfitted with 150mm cannons which can be used to devastate enemy movements or entrenched positions, just don't get caught by AA fire. Get in and out with bombing runs and resupply/repair runs.
Sunderers should always have Blockade armour, except if you need to slip inside a shield gate for e.g. when capping a stubborn Tech Plant. Don't bother with the resupply and repair perks for the Sunderers, most times it won't be doing anything for your team (unless you are in a column) and you can use the extra armour.
A Sunderer can be upgraded with a 60mm cannon (secondary) and 50cal machine gun (primary), this is an optimal balance for vehicles and infantry.
Upgrade the Scout Radar for Flash's and possibly Mosquito's too if you use that to scout flags, park the vehicle while you cap and you can minimap spot any enemies in a certain radius. Don't put guns on your Flash, that's just silly.
Interceptor Mosquitos have AtoA missiles whilst balanced fighters include the rocket pods, which let them deal more damage to the ground whilst still having some AtoA capability with the guns.
Heavy Tanks should take Front Armour, whilst Lightnings should take Side Armour - the Lightning is much more mobile and more likely to be hit from the side.
Always put Composite Armour on you air vehicles, you really need the extra armour to stay alive and should be able to repair it at a resupply pad.
Engineers should consider the extra grenade perk, since they can resupply themselves and ultimately allow the spamming of grenades into chokepoints (within reason obviously, you need to spend infantry resources for grenades).
Use class specific grenades, they are ideal for making that extra impact. Always take C4 if in doubt, all classes have it except for the Infiltrator and the Max.
Remember anything you unlock or buy must be equipped, it doesn't magically equip for you based on what is the best.

-- THE LOWDOWN ON STATION CASH, PURCHASES AND UNLOCKS --

Use Station Cash to buy things in the Marketplace, 1000 certs is around R90 and is the base unit and you should buy in multiples.
Only use money to buy weapons you need, you can buy cosmetic customization but they are expensive and a waste to the cash strapped.
Weapons packs are cool and look out for sales on certain items, but be sure to check them out on trial (30 min I think) before you buy them to make sure you like.

Weapons are generally 1000 certs each, considering a normal game costs you around R500 you should aim to spend a maximum of 6000 or so Station Cash which is around 5 different weapons and a customization or two for your favourite class. These are server bound purchases, don't expect them on other characters.

At first you can upgrade some items for 1, 10, 30 or 50 certs - these are CHEAP! Buy them immediately. Thereafter, things will go in the 100, 200, 250, 300, 400, 500 and 1000 cert range so plan ahead and save for what you need/want! Try not to let your certs accumulate too far though (over 1000), you're wasting their potential to improve your game capabilities. Don't fret if you only have a few certs, get the basics sorted, the rest will come in time.

[Paul]

Cool Hubris, this helps a lot. I played a bit over the weekend and realised that this game is very meh if you play lone wolf. I got invited to this outfit and the squad leader actually set objectives and we all rolled together.

Still undecided about this game but hopefully we get some grrr's on tonight and I can really see what it is about.


P.S. this will be my last week of gaming for the year, from next we I will be moving out while we do some renovations. Moving in with the in-laws so I won't have PC access at night

[TygerBS]

Moving in with the in laws!!1

hahah OMG Fun december for u!

[Phatso]

@Paul, you are correct. Lone wolf is boring and unsuccessful at best. You need to squad up with grrrbians and have voice comms for best effect. Leave your outfit and ask someone in the grrr outfit for an invite.

@Hubris, great write up. Everyone must read for sure. Just a minor correction:


You earn certs from caps and weapon milestone achievements - for now you don't get xp related certs, for e.g. repairing or healing

AFAIK, Cert gain is related to XP gain. 250XP=1Cert. So all it all helps and adds up.

[Phatso]

Double post because THIS. IS. THEORYCRAFT.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AuOojvNLMApVdEtIU1NKenEzNzZOSWNaanFqSUVxL Wc&gid=12

[flycatchr]

AFAIK, Cert gain is related to XP gain. 250XP=1Cert. So all it all helps and adds up.

then how is capping a major base only 3 certs when you get 1000xp? am i missing something?

[Hubris]

Epic cool thanks Phatso. Fly who knows how the XP system works, we'll figure it out in time I'm sure. For now suffice it to say you should aim to get certs from caps and milestones. Maybe the base XP is excluded from the cert system and only infantry or vehicle related XP is converted - or maybe it's Battle Rank dependent only. However it works it is a minor mechanic and ignored without peril.

[flycatchr]

Cool, I will do some research. I am at work in greenhouses, can we do a ps2 suboard?
So we can get some stickies and separate threads :-)

[Hubris]

I am getting much better frames with the following set up (60-100), try it out and see if it works for you:

Graphics Quality: High
Texture Quality: High
Model Quality: High
Everything else deselected and Low

Press Alt + F to see your FPS displayed under the minimap in game through the game engine, it's tiny writing.

[Paul]

I don't know if I am doing something wrong but it doesn't matter if I am running everything on high or everything on low I get about 30 FPS (talking about when you capping a base not out in the open)

[Hubris]

Check your audio settings, make sure your voice channels are reduced to 35 or so. If that doesn't straighten things out you can reduce the render quality slightly, if that doesn't work it's a CPU bottleneck. There are some applications you can download to unpark your CPUs if you have quad core, which may help. Otherwise I'm not really sure, all of us get around 40 frames in the big battles. It's something they are working on.

Really if you have a GTX 570, 8GB of RAM and a good processor or better you should be getting 60-100 with the settings I have put above. The server does do funny things from time to time, but if you consider that we are connecting to a European server, it's not half bad at all. The game is so big and so complex, its a miracle it works at all.

Guys I have bought a Squad Boost, which is basically a way to increase resource or experience gain for 7 days for a squad. My plan is to activate it this week and then I will consider doing another one maybe next week or I'll hang on or a better time. If you are interested in ranking up, you need to get involved to benefit! Basically if you are in the same squad as me, you will benefit even if I am not the squad leader.

I believe it gives me a 30% increased resource gain and all my squad mates a 3% increased resource gain. The great thing is it doesn't take up your personal boost slot, so if you bought a personal boost for xp/resource you could still equip that and benefit from both. Effectively getting 33% increased resource gain. 7 days cost 300-400 SCs.

I'm not sure at this point whether resource gain includes certifications but it seems reasonable to me that it would. If it doesn't well that's that I won't do it again. It won't be a total loss however because you will still accrue infantry, vehicle and air resources quicker than before; allowing you to spawn more vehicles and resupply your grenades easier. Obviously not preferable, but anyway its a free lunch, get involved.

Guys have mentioned they want the Outfit to include Grrr tags, I can put these on today if we really want them. However, I and a couple others have put grrr in our names and would probably like to wait until we can rename. Its a good time to talk about the Outfit, are we going to recruit friends online to build an army or keep it strictly grrrs?

One thing we must all do is be friendly online. Invite all the blue triangles you see by holding down q while you're looking at them (and while they are not obstructed) and selecting invite to squad. Use the "/s" and "/p" chat functions to talk to guys, get everyone organised and they really appreciate it. I have been added by lots of guys who want to be in an outfit and its something for us to consider; but there are practicalities like mumble and language barriers.

Last night we had 3 seperate squads running in a platoon, it was pretty epic. I think you can have a maximum of 4 o 5 squads, each a max of 12 and independently managed by a squad leader; getting platoon commands from the platoon leader. If they are all trained to play together, wow, talk about combined arms ^^

I can just imagine how awesome it would be to roll four squads: 2 infantry, 1 armour, 1 air. You could go where the fight is thickest and dish it out because you can rely on your air and armour squads to pin the enemy down while the infantry make a push for the objective. If you drill specific tactics, upgrades and leaders for each squad, seriously, the thought of this is just mind boggling and makes me love Planetside that much more but its all premised on having enough players.

[Phatso]

My view is that we start recruiting SA players first and foremost to the outfit. We have the BBH guys as well as some ZA players (check the mygaming forums) playing TR on Mallory.

From there, we should definitely look at pulling in some Europeans. Its a good way to meet new people and I believe is in line with expanding the [grrr] brand. It can start with simply PS2, but can look at expanding into other games in the future. Its important not to dilute the core, but the exposure is a good thing I believe.

Can we isolate mumble channel(s) for public access in any way? That way we can keep our private channels private and make a somewhat more public PS2 channel to invite the outfit to?

[SlipperyDuck]

I'll Look into that - gimma a day or two

[Snakestyles]

Yea Last night was cool, I must say I am not very experienced in the MMO thing. Time flies so fast, it was like 11:15 when I finally quit, right after making Hubris quit.

Anways the more players in a team the better, it really helps to shift players into the other platoons. I would love to see us all meet up in INDAR, get ready, send a scout team or two out to the other continets and try get some good battles going on them. I really like INDAR as its great for Galaxy play with all the cover the canyons afford but I am a bit bored of it.

Should we make plans for a big battle on Friday night, say on ESAMIR ?

[Hubris]

Well I agree, we should capitalise on the local market for PS2 and absorb as many SA players into the outfit (and maybe the clan). For now I think we should add as many people to our friends as we can, invite any local players to the grrr outfit. I will manage the outfit and assign ranks etc to the players to indicate various statuses internally for e.g. Grrr, Friend, other clan, SA player. To make that outfit work we need a way to involve external people in our forums, ideas for that?

I have some ideas around how to run a platoon and squad which I will share in another post, but right now we need to define what it is we want to achieve with Planetside. Some of us want to make an impact on the server for our faction, some want certs and some just want to be in on the action. How do we integrate those intentions into an outfit management plan? I'm thinking on that as well and will share something soon.

Please list if you are interested in Platoon leading or Squad Leading and what arms you want to use so I can begin that planning:

Hubris (Platoon/Squad - Infantry/Armour/Air)

If you are interested in being a leader, know tht you will be obligate to: sink certs into the leadership tree, organise a platoon/squad, organise/manage players, constantly type to randoms not in mumble and update waypoints constantly. It a mission if done properly, don't take it lightly.

[Snakestyles]

Well I agree, we should capitalise on the local market for PS2 and absorb as many SA players into the outfit (and maybe the clan). For now I think we should add as many people to our friends as we can, invite any local players to the grrr outfit. I will manage the outfit and assign ranks etc to the players to indicate various statuses internally for e.g. Grrr, Friend, other clan, SA player. To make that outfit work we need a way to involve external people in our forums, ideas for that?

I have some ideas around how to run a platoon and squad which I will share in another post, but right now we need to define what it is we want to achieve with Planetside. Some of us want to make an impact on the server for our faction, some want certs and some just want to be in on the action. How do we integrate those intentions into an outfit management plan? I'm thinking on that as well and will share something soon.

Please list if you are interested in Platoon leading or Squad Leading and what arms you want to use so I can begin that planning:

Hubris (Platoon/Squad - Infantry/Armour/Air)

If you are interested in being a leader, know tht you will be obligate to: sink certs into the leadership tree, organise a platoon/squad, organise/manage players, constantly type to randoms not in mumble and update waypoints constantly. It a mission if done properly, don't take it lightly.

Am 100% keen, obviusly with a Galaxy where possible. I get the way you handle the squads vs plantoons ect so thats easy for me. I have the relevant imporatant stuff unlocked and will save for the rest. Just wish I could make the Galaxy a spawn point.

[NoMaD]

Yar I think that his might even be an opportunity to spread or brand internationally... we should really name our squad and platoon Grrr. and then hopefully people will associate us to proper team work and domination, and they come searching for us online. :)

[Stu]

Some vids too ppl, start getting content if possible! I'm working with AE now and we could put together some info and squad work vids?
Very keen for a Friday night mashup!

[Hubris]

Here is my proposal for how to manage the Outfit, the Platoon and Squads. I know its lots of reading, but I believe it’s important to set some ground rules to manage expectations and conflict that could arise. Let me know what you think or whether it needs tweaking. It's needs editing I know.

THE OUTFIT

- One person must take overall control of the outfit and “Leader” status, I’m happy to do it (I do it now), but if you want to be that guy say so.
- All official leaders within the outfit will be assigned to “Officer” status.
- Leaders are chosen based on a) Battle Rank, b) Ability to Lead, c) Specialised Skills and d) Player opinions.
- All other grrr members will be assigned “Member” status.
- All other friends of grrrs will be assigned the “Private” status.
- All other South African players we draft will be assigned “Recruit” status.
- Everyone in the outfit can invite players, but only Officers and the Leader can make changes to the outfit.
- The grrr outfit on Mallory is named as follows: “grrr”, the grrr tags will be put on when name changing gets introduced.
- If you invite random people to the outfit, they may be kicked without reason or notification – discuss it with me or an officer before.
- No swearing, bad mouthing, griefing etc. will be tolerated from grrr outfit members. A single warning will be issued and thereafter you may be kicked without ceremony. We are a bunch of silly and at heart are good people – don’t ruin our respectable reputation.

THE PLATOON

- One person must take overall command of the platoon, they must promote someone ELSE to be squad leader (PC will be SL too as default).
- The platoon commander will be responsible for managing macro-game aspects and takes responsibility for the “WHERE”.
- In circumstances where three or more squads exist, the platoon commander may ask squads to play a specific role – air, armour, infantry.
- The platoon commander will balance the squads and make sure good leaders are assigned to each squad – this will be done at a convenient time.
- The platoon commander must mark zones he suggests each squad attack with appropriately coloured smoke for each squad (green, purple etc.).
- We will aim to put 4-6 grrrs in each squad on a first come first serve basis – you can request to be moved if absolutely necessary.
- Thereafter, random players will be assigned to each squad to make up numbers for the full 12 requirement.

The platoon commander is appointed by agreement of the present Officers.

THE SQUAD

- The squad leader will take responsibility for the “HOW” and for managing/hand-holding individual troops.
- The squad leader is responsible for establishing a spawn beacon for his squad and possibly a Sunderer if no others are available.
- The squad leader is expected to attack the area marked with smoke for his squad, any deviations should be escalated and discussed.
- The squad leader is responsible for organising routes and all troops should form up on the squad leader (number 1 on the minimap).
- The squad leader is responsible for organising group transport – they will mark the area with the green marker, wait 2 min after announcing in chat then they will leave, no exceptions and no crocodile tears.
- Squads will be open to recruitment and named as follows: grrr [ARMS] Squad [SQUAD REF] ([CONTINENT]) [OPTIONAL COMMENT]. So for example: grrr Infantry Squad B (Indar) Get some!
- Switching squad leaders for the sake of beacons should be avoided, since it is only possible upon a new life. i.e. if you are alive and are promoted, you cannot place a beacon because you didn’t loadout with one at the time of your spawn – recently patched to stop “hot swopping”.

By default, the following will be considered standard:

- Alpha Squad will be Infantry focused and will include the Platoon Commander. Bravo Squad will be Infantry focused. Charlie Squad will be Armour focused. Delta Squad will be Air focused. Echo Squad will be at the discretion of the Platoon Commander.
- The basic four man grrr squad will be: 1 x Max, 1 x Engineer (attached to Max) and 1 x Heavy, 1 x Medic (attached to heavy) – TWO FIRETEAMS.
- The basic six man grrr squad will be: 1 x Max, 1 x Engineer, 2x Heavy, 2 x Medic – 3 FIRETEAMS.
- The Max will be the direct assault fireteam and the Heavy/Medic combo’s will either backup the Max fireteam (4 man) or play a flanking role (6 man).

Squad Leaders are appointed by the platoon commander in agreement with present Officers.

THE PLAYERS

- The grrr fireteams will be responsible for being the core of the outfit; random players cannot be expected to comply in the same way.
- Players are expected to follow the waypoints provided to them and listen to the instructions of their leaders.
- Players will be expected to stick with the class that the squad needs and play their role – if you have certs in a specific area and could be better used elsewhere suggest so, but don’t expect that to define how you will contribute. Plans define roles, not certs or personal preference.
- Players who do not follow orders or play their role will be told explicitly what to do to get it right, if they have no interest soldiering they are excluded from planning and will be considered a “random” to make up numbers in the squad/platoon or will be kicked in extreme circumstances.
- Debates should be minimised, don’t be a backseat leader; leave the decision up to the SLs to discuss with the PL. If things are really not working, raise it with the platoon commander or myself personally – we will listen to both sides of the argument and try make an objective decision for the future.

GENERAL

- If there are a few players online, you’re welcome to do what you like with your squad/platoon; however once 4 or more grrrs join the server it becomes a formal outfit outing and the Platoon/Squad rules go into effect.
N.B. present Officers may motion for a no rules outing and this will stand with agreement of the platoon commander until the next outing.
- Where a few players are online, all mumble communication will be in the general Planetside 2 channel. Where 2 or more squads are in play, each squad is expect to join the appropriate channel and only the squad leaders and platoon commander should shout between channels.
- If you would like to involve someone under the age of 18 or sensitive to rough behaviour go to the Planetside 2 (Family) channel; if they join other channels and are offended, that is their problem and complaints related to this will be ignored.
- Waypoints will be updated once a base is turning to the TR side (red bar is filling up) and latest before the base is capped completely. The platoon commander will announce when his attack marker is updated and the squad leaders will announce when their rendezvous are marked.
- Platoon waypoint markers will be the only area to attack – it is an orange waypoint marker placed on the map by the platoon commander.
- The green waypoint marker will be the spawn or rendezvous location for the squad and is set by the SL – e.g. for transport to another base.
- The PL and SLs are responsible for typing their commands to their subordinates, not everyone is in mumble, do a good job of it if you want synergy.
- All communication will be in English – those who can join the mumble channel should do so, but this is for added “tactical” coordination and is not the official means of communication (squad and platoon chat are).
- Remember leaders do a lot for you so you can ride along and enjoy the certs carefree, show them some respect when they make snap decisions and get it wrong. Be patient about proposing alternatives and don’t do it with an attitude or the leader is within their rights to kick you from the squad/channel for your petulance.
- All discipline and other issues will be referred to the Outfit Leader and who's say is final based on proof of a considered decision (both sides of the argument).

OUTIFT OCCASSIONS

- In every case where TR does not have a Indar continent domination bonus, our outfit will work towards that. Thereafter, occasions are allowed. Want to do fun things and explore the insane? Well you need to put TR on top before you can stuff about on other continents or characters.
- The Outfit Leader reserves the right to cancel or delay occasions due the loss of continent domination bonus on Indar or a lack of players.
- Occasion opportunities will be announced in the forums and a suitable date for the occasion marked in the grrr website calendar where members will be expected to “RSVP” to assist with planning.
- Occasion ideas will be proposed by anyone and approved by the Officers in the forum in advance. Only the selected idea(s) will be part of an occasion. Only in-game ideas agreed to by the platoon commander and all online officers will be implemented.
- An example is everyone driving a tank in a long column. Anything potentially cool or silly would be considered based on its awesomeness.

OTHER CHARACTERS

- If you want to play New Conglomerate with the grrrs, you are expected to do so on the Lithcorp server.
- If you want to play Vanu Sovereignty with the grrrs, you are expected to do so on the Miller server.
- No alternatives will be considered. Don’t bother proposing them.

ALL PLAYERS TO LIST THEIR CHARACTER NAMES HERE FOR FRIEND NETWORKING (UPDATE AS REQUIRED)

grrrHubris (TR – Mallory)
grrrHubrisz4 (NC – Lithcorp)
grrrHubrisza (VS – Miller)

[RussianElite.]

Spread it! Spread it like Steve Hoffmeyer spreads his kids all over the country!

[TygerBS]

Holly shit... wall of text!

[Hubris]

Ya but try organise a planetside 2 outfit in a sentence. My best effort is: "Yours is not to question why, yours is but to do and die." But that won't sit well with the people who don't bother to organise anything. So consider these the "Regs" of our little army unless someone proposes an alternative.

Anyway it's all intended to provide a more professional gaming environment for people to enjoy the game more. If you don't like structure then play with someone else or motion for a no rules night. It's just a formalisation of what is reasonable. I agree with Fly, we need some sub boards to put the Regs, Details, Tips and Outfit forum in and allow "outsiders" to post.

[flycatchr]

- If you would like to involve someone under the age of 18 or sensitive to rough behaviour go to the Planetside 2 (Family) channel; if they join other channels and are offended, that is their problem and complaints related to this will be ignored.

QFT
if my kids arent in the family channel then tough for them (IE feel free to misbehave, vent and yell when needed)

[Hubris]

I don't know what's happening guys but I am frustrated with our game. I don't know if the posts I am making are helping or what, but we have a problem and are a long way from combined arms fun. Right now it's just a poor exposé of noobness.

How does a night of Planetside2 training sound? I will walk you through literally everything you need to know and answer every single annoying question you can think of. This is a one time deal, miss it and you miss out and will have to face my self righteous noob wrath.

I will host this on Sunday the 16th, let me know if you will attend. If you do attend, sit through the whole thing don't pop in and out. If you want to but can't attend say so and if enough people are out I will consider moving it.

Otherwise get on the servers guys I see the same group on every day and there are lots of guys who have not even download the game yet! Get with the program people! If its not our intention to be good at this game I'm going to give up on this hrrr outfit and play my other chars.

[Stu]

I'm up for a training session on Sunday, I have a busy day cleaning after a due we holding and I have some martial training on Sunday but I should be able to set aside the time to ask all my annoying questions.

We getting there with organisation and rolling out more efficiently, I've found I don't need to ask you things that much anymore and I'll try just get on. I enjoyed rolling with a full squad under my command the other night and didn't do to badly. I do have trouble with the chat though and I tend to forget to inform the squad of the tactics but that something I can learn to do way better currently.

@ any Capetonians grrrbians and others that require this game let me know I'll burn it to DVD's and am on leave so may be able to arrange a drop off next week at a time convenient to you.

I'm sure you've seen the massive potential of having a well oiled platoon rolling out together just amazing it works the way it does.

Thank you for the training offer and i will take it and embrace it with open arms!

[J_Th4ng]

TBH, with all of the travel that I've been doing, I've barely had time to look at the game, not to mention investing any time in learning it's workings. I hope to get some time in with it over the next couple of days (I'm back in Jozi again tonight).

Training on Sunday would be awesome, I know that I'm one of those that have been known to ask stupid noobish questions when I have been playing, so it would be good if I can get a thorough understanding of the games workings so that I can contribute meaningfully without ruining the game for everyone else.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to make Sunday evening. I'll try, but it's going to depend on the family commitments. I should hopefully be there, but if not I'll struggle on in my own time to get it right.

[s3xy_j0nny]

Just going to leave this here:

http://www.grrr.co.za/showthread.php?1195-BF3-2013-DGL-League-Open-for-Registrationz0rs

Hoping some of you missed it in all the PS2 madness. Also, if you haven't tried Aftermath, you really should - best BattleField ever.

Errr.... Hail the TR!

[Hubris]

So there are lots of ways to play Planetside and I think it’s important everyone is aware of the major ones. Seriously right now, leading a grrr platoon is nigh impossible and damn undesirable at the moment. There is just waaaaay too much non-essential chatter and we’re way too dependent on the leader to give us personal attention and do it our way. So hopefully, with a few of these playstyles outlined, people will be able to be more informed and ultimately make that work.

I believe that, having read this, we will all be able to settle on what exactly we want to do going forwards and have a lot less conflict over domination, air/foot cert hunting and free range arbing around. If you are into domination, make sure everyone else commits to it or don't try it at all. You're just going to get frustrated with people doing everything except what they should be doing. I understand its not always black and white, but I can't and won't lead anything unless we all take it seriously.

I think these playing styles kind of describe how mature you gaming in PS2 is. Are you a) a lone wolf, b) an squad or small platoon member, c) a platoon out to dominate or d) a biblical bieber deathray destructzor. I hope in time we will come to be that awesome, right now we're a firm to limp b) with rare moments of nooby c).

CERT HUNTING BY AIR
Do this with a Mosquito or Liberator. Identify areas on the map where the team is capping flags and zoom in for the free cert, occasionally shooting at something. Meh to the team but it’s a nice way to rack up those last certs and potentially get to an area in the map where you can't spawn from the deployment or map menus. Play for air superiority if you want, put on your aviators, whatever I don't care. One can potentially rack up insane KPDs if you are careful about your capping and rearming.

Leet tip, don’t do this if you are the squad leader because in a few minutes, you won't have a squad left to lead.

CERT HUNTING ON FOOT/WHEELS/TRACKS
Attack or defend major facilities like Amp Statons, Tech Plants and Bio Labs. Just look on the map and see which major facilities are swinging one way or the other. If there are no sunderers in the area, spawn one and rake in the spawn xp. If there are outer bases to be capped, do that so the enemy doesn’t rinse everything in sight with recently spawned armour. Work safe rooms and chokepoints for kills, revives, resupplies etc. and clear an approach with a tank. Don’t bother with outposts unless you are isolated.

PLAYING TO DOMINATE WITH A SMALL PLATOON
This is best done either with an air assault (galaxy + troops, liberator, mozzies) or by a ground assault (sunderer + troops and tanks, possibly supported by a gunship). Every player needs to pick a role and stick to it, if you have vehicle timers to deal with just join the infantry for a bit and get back to your vehicle whoring later. Try not to zerg with the rest of the team, instead attack the opposite front, take a few outposts and round up with a facility, redeploy and repeat. Outposts are your priority.

This is what the average grrr gaming night should be aiming to do if we have more than four grrrs online. Squad leaders must hold q on troops to spam invites to players and grow the platoon - this is best done at major facilities or the TR warpgate. Basically you qualify as squad leader if you have a spawn beacon and commit to the responsibility.

Squad leaders need to constantly place their green marker to indicate where they want their squad to be and then communicate to their squad when they change it. Typically, this is on an outer base or transport rendezvous. Look out for smoke on the map near the orange marker in your squad colour and make your marker/move there. It’s up to you to organise and provide transport. Remember to stay alive, place your beacon, communicate your plan and lead the charge.

The key is to keep cohesion and work together. As long as everyone is working in-sync towards the objective and is aware of how to play, we can actually make some serious certs and have a lot of fun. Whoever wants to organise a small platoon, be my guest, but I am really sick and blerry tired of trying to make it work.

Please stop asking “where must I spawn”, “what class must I be”, “where are we going” and “what must I do”. These are the most annoying questions you could possibly ask. If your squad leader is doing his job you should be able to figure all that out from the map and from the voice chatter. If you are completely clueless or lost, just do your own thing and redeploy to meet up with the squad later. The closest spawn point to your squad leader will have a “star” next to it. Just fit in where and when you can.

TAKING IT TO THE FULL PLATOON & OUTFIT LEVEL
If we’re going to try and play for map domination we need other players to help out and fill an entire platoon or even two. Squad leaders must spam invites at the warpgate and every major base we are at for at least an hour to get close. Then we split up the voice comms in mumble and only the squad leaders use shout to communicate with the platoon leader. This is true military combined arms in action and the most exciting thing planetside has to offer.

TR are really struggling on Mallory, I don’t know why but the team is either exceptionally noob or just playing for soft certs because it zergs from flag to flag losing as many as it takes. If we want to make an impact on Indar, we need to make our platoon/outfit more effective to make our team more effective. We must appoint grrr squad leaders who manage randoms in the other squads to achieve our platoon goal. The platoon leader should be a squad leader for coordination purposes.

Four squads gives you great strategic flexibility. Most bases have 3-5 areas which you want to either cap or have a sunderer at and these are where the platoon leader should deploy smoke to give the squad leaders some better coordination. Each squad can push a tile lane and you can get a serious front together that responds to the action and can flank or concentrate if need be. Amazeballs as that sounds, scaling it up to the outfit level with multiple platoons is exponentially beterrerer.

We would need to split up the map between the platoons to push two or more fronts, or use platoons to attack and defend together. The second would be way too hard to coordinate because randoms are prone to attacking only, but hey maybe it could work. One platoon could even be focused on clearing outposts and the other on attacking facilities. Going really crazy with it, we could split it up by roles and do a full on infantry/armour platoon and an air/armour platoon in coordination.

USING THE MAP TO YOUR ADVANTAGE (EXTRA LEET CONTENT COS I <3 U)
If you want to achieve anything in planetside you need to read the map. Enable the grid filter and periodically enable the enemy activity filter as a leader. They will allow you to refer to things more accurately and help you be more effective as a unit by choosing good routes and objectives you can defeat. If you are riding in a vehicle and can't shoot a gun, sit on the map and zoom in to monitor friendly and enemy movements and assess the state of the front by monitoring influence changes on flags.

Being able to read and communicate strategic oppertunities or threats, especially armour/air movements and sunderer locations is critical. Try be proactive. Guide your driver/pilot onto a flank route, slip in for an extra free cert at a nearby base or take out wounded air/armour on the repair. Anticipate what is going to happen and help guide the unit to victory and a cert shower. Don't allow your unit to get isolated and don't attack areas that seem like they might be soon.

Knowing how to spawn with the map is critical too. Some hotly contested areas will allow you to hot drop in, but be aware that you are constrained to a roughly 6 tile group surrounding your location for spawn points. To spawn on the other end of the map, you need to travel there first or use a hot drop - which is either on the map or in the "instant action" areas which has a longer timer. You can also hot drop on the squad leader periodically, but this is a very long timer.

The best leet tip, depending on your zoom level you can see different levels of detail and you can use the map stats to impress; basic literacy in action.

THATS ALL FOLKS
When we show the ability to play properly, involve regular players and execute a real operation I will be interested in making that happen. For now its back to lone wolfing and occasionally leading a squad for me. I'm booting up my old NC and Vanu characters too, I'm still keen to play those and enjoy their dynamics.

Maybe someone will organise an event, do some tactics, post detail on the major facilities or unlocks. I know its early days and these things take time, but I just don't feel like doing anything in-game leadership like. BF3 2013 is around the corner and I must say I feel the same way about that.

I know some SiB guys are playing planetside and more than you would expect South Africans are playing randomly. I really still hold hope for this outfit thing and the franchise to establish a local presence. Seriously this game is wicked cool. I just wish more people would play it to savour its sweet nectar.

[Stu]

Hye Hubris,

thanks for the post.

- http://mygaming.co.za/forum/showthread.php/28159-Planetside-2/page37

re the above I'm trying to generate some more interest so will point players to the forum so we can start to organizing a ZA outfit of players to increase our base.

[Snakestyles]

Hubris I feel your fustration and I am just going to put this out. You invest too much emotionally in the team, at times., not all the time. Look I also want to have 40 + players that are charging to the same location but it is just not feasible every game. I wish it were but with the girls playing it can be very hard as they demand much attention, as for the rest of us we all have on & off days, you know the ones were the top players in your team ask were the battle is while there are clear and precice waypoints. It's also hard when you as squad leader also have to train people who have joined the game late.

The flip side is a great game you can command from sundy, lib, galaxy and mossie and they happen too. Your team pushes the points, they roll tanks and sundies and it all just works out. Just take the good with the bad, know that I will lead if you want but will allways pull away from the battle and get my Galaxy up if I see bases worth capping in the lowlands. Also you might want to play and be in a big team but not actually set waypoints then let me know, I usually give you the role because you seem to enjoy it so much.

In short dont get so fustrated, if you aint having fun cos your team is pissing you off take a break, your probably just not 100% in a gaming frame of mind and a break will do you well.

Either way lets get this rolling, we seem to be able to pull in a big platoon quite fast, lets start working it a bit more, lets have more fun!

[Stu]

WHOOO RRRHHHHAAAAAA

Miles you couldn't have said it any better, I know I'm a burden on the SL and this is something that I will work on in future, I understand your frustrate Hub's! I do and I'll make a honest attempt moving forward to develop myself as a better player! Sometimes one forgets but I feel you brother just so you know I'm listing.

Now its down to acting

[s3xy_j0nny]

How does a night of Planetside2 training sound? I will walk you through literally everything you need to know and answer every single annoying question you can think of. This is a one time deal, miss it and you miss out and will have to face my self righteous noob wrath.


Is it worth a total noob like me joining for this? Or am I already too far behind? If it's ok, Stef, I'll give you a shout just before you plan to do the walk through so you can talk me through signing in, creating a toon in the right army, blah blah. If this added noob factor is only going to stress you out, though, let me know and I'll carry on Xbow trolling through the Aftermath maps. :D

[Stu]

Do EEETT Jono the shear scale of this game is incredible! I can walk you through the signup and steps... Just so busy this week otherwise I'd drop off mah install files... hmmmm but its about a 7 hour download so you could leave it over night.

[RussianElite.]

Jonny join right now dammit! I'l take you through everything, epic game is epic!

[s3xy_j0nny]

I've got it all installed and whatnot, thanks to Jarrod. Will give it a go, but you guys all REALLY need to check out the BF3 expansion as well.

[Phatso]

Good post Stef.

Sorry to hear that you're frustrated my man. I can often hear the frustration in your voice and the issue is that your probably the best squad leader I have EVER played under, and that is coming from 8+ years of multiplayer gaming.

One does not simply “play” Planetside 2 and I think that is the bigger issue. The meta-game is incredibly detailed and very intimidating if you don’t know whats what.
This is the reason why most players on the server (guessing around 60%) simply run into the achtung without care.

However, we are making progress. I think that as an outfit, we’ve come a long way baby. Seriously man, this game is so incredibly detailed, its impossible to understand everything in the first month.
If we stick with it though and keep the enthusiasm up, we can only get better. I know that BF3 2013 season starts early in the year and this will no doubt take a lot of the focus off Planetside2, so lets keep the fun up for now and analyze early 2013.

Hubris, I would love to help however I can and if it means answering the beginner questions so you can get the squad-work going, I will gladly do that. I unfortunately can’t lead a squad for multiple reasons.

My SL’s of choice are Hubris and Snakestyles.
If you have any starter questions (what where how why. Certs xp resources hexagons mechanics guns vehicles etc etc) I will answer with pleasure.

[RussianElite.]

1st tip. Be nervous when flying in a liberator when Russian is near in a Mozzi :P

[Snakestyles]

Is it worth a total noob like me joining for this? Or am I already too far behind? If it's ok, Stef, I'll give you a shout just before you plan to do the walk through so you can talk me through signing in, creating a toon in the right army, blah blah. If this added noob factor is only going to stress you out, though, let me know and I'll carry on Xbow trolling through the Aftermath maps. :D

Yes we need you mate, and I think a night of training is in order. We can have schedule, how to kit up, how to use certs, how to attack a small base, how to attack a big base, how to jump into battles, how to use sundies, tanks, flashes, aircraft, how to attack an enemy air tower, how to read the map. All that stuff, we will all learn if we do it on a orgainsed manner as there new is stuff you find out about this game every hour.

[Snakestyles]

Yes Johnny join, Hub lets schedule a training night and see who can join. Russin you need to SL more dood, you did well last night.

[voiDude]

Hello, been reading up on Planetside 2 on mybb\myg and going to start playing tonight - I'll roll TR on Malaroy and get familiar with the game - I'm keen to join the grrr outfit but don't want to noob up and piss people off - look forward to playing :)

PS - I'm keen to join the training night - 16h works for me. I'm on leave and keen to dedicate my holiday to Planetside 2

[Hubris]

Yeah J0nny you should play man. If you can't make the session I'll happily walk you through, it's totally worth it to play this game. My frustration Is not directed at anyone in particular, Stu you are too hard on yourself. I know the game is hard to understand but seriously it feels to me like people don't even try and that annoys me. I am more than happy to help people if they show initiative and enthusiasm.

Anyway I think Snake should direct the platoon from his galaxy and appoint squad leaders for the squads (including his own squad) so that beacons can go up. Otherwise someone else needs to learn how to play the macro game and lead a platoon. I think it's unfair to always lump leadership on one person so sharing the roles is important. Maybe in time that will happen, maybe not.

I do enjoy leading, but only when the team is responsive and capable. Putting it out there for other people and then finding out they're halfway across the map flying a liberator and talking shit all over the comms really annoys me. Why be in a squad/platoon/outfit or mumble if you're not going to contribute and keep the cohesion? I dunno maybe I expect too much from clan members.

Lets do this training on Sunday, we might have to do more but I don't mind that if we are bringing new players. Anyway my whole post was saying that I'm gonna pull back on the in game leadership and put the onus back on players to figure out how to play because if it continues the way we have been doing it I will just snap at people and that's not on. I'm sorry if I have already (I know I have).

voiDude! Welcome so glad you're showing interest! Will add you tonight and get you involved! As you can see we're still trying to settle into the game too so please ignore the handbags above.

[Snakestyles]

Yeah J0nny you should play man. If you can't make the session I'll happily walk you through, it's totally worth it to play this game. My frustration Is not directed at anyone in particular, Stu you are too hard on yourself. I know the game is hard to understand but seriously it feels to me like people don't even try and that annoys me. I am more than happy to help people if they show initiative and enthusiasm.

Anyway I think Snake should direct the platoon from his galaxy and appoint squad leaders for the squads (including his own squad) so that beacons can go up. Otherwise someone else needs to learn how to play the macro game and lead a platoon. I think it's unfair to always lump leadership on one person so sharing the roles is important. Maybe in time that will happen, maybe not.

I do enjoy leading, but only when the team is responsive and capable. Putting it out there for other people and then finding out they're halfway across the map flying a liberator and talking shit all over the comms really annoys me. Why be in a squad/platoon/outfit or mumble if you're not going to contribute and keep the cohesion? I dunno maybe I expect too much from clan members.

voiDude! Welcome so glad you're showing interest! Will add you tonight and get you involved! As you can see we're still trying to settle into the game too so please ignore the handbags above.


Naaa you dont expect too much, you expect players to be consistent and thats just not possible, it is desirable but fuck, who are we to know what a given player wants to do in PS2 on a a given night. Might be the punk just unlocked something and wants to mess around. My first week of playing I got all pissed at people for messing around and then one night after a game I decided to make sure I have fun first and worry about the rest after that, since then I really enjoy the game more. I expect so little from anyone that when they do somthing that affect me in a positive way it just makes me happier.

Anwway we all just trying to find our feet and roles and need to be able to adapt, to the battle, the updates, the unlocks, eachother. I am confident we can get into a groove and that is both productive (we win battles, and get plenty certs) and fun. I really think we need to consider a seond mumble channel for outsiders that want to join, or some sort of soltuion to getting them into a good voice channel.

[Snakestyles]

Hello, been reading up on Planetside 2 on mybb\myg and going to start playing tonight - I'll roll TR on Malaroy and get familiar with the game - I'm keen to join the grrr outfit but don't want to noob up and piss people off - look forward to playing :)

PS - I'm keen to join the training night - 16h works for me. I'm on leave and keen to dedicate my holiday to Planetside 2

Whats your Mallory nick ?

Mine is Snakestyles

Friend me :p and I will give you sweets and ride in my van:

407

[Hubris]

Ya i hear you, people will do their own thing and I can tolerate people playing around with unlocks, being stoned or noob etc but I don't tolerate people just ignoring the squad or ignoring the commands from the leader yet expecting spawn points, transport and personal attention when it suits them. If you are going to be selfish and a prick go do it in someone-else's squad or I will be all over you.

In future I'm just going to issue a warning then kick people from my squad for that sort of thing. Seriously I can recruit a random and actually have a better experience than some chop in voice. So don't be suprised if you see me dropping out of voice if its a cluster fuck and I'm verging on a meltdown.

My view on the voice thing is if people play regularly with us, we like them and they join the outfit they should join mumble with the rest of us. Obviously on training nights we might just need to invite everyone involved to voice, but in the main the "/s" and "/p" functions are sufficient for basic communication. If it grows to epic proportions yes then we need a better system to manage voice.

[voiDude]

Whats your Mallory nick ?

Mine is Snakestyles

Friend me :p and I will give you sweets and ride in my van:

407

Got no nick yet, games busy finishing downloading while I'm at work - last week till I'm on holiday, so gonna have tons of time to dedicate to the game. My nick will probably be "voiDude".

I can't tell you guys how amped I am to sink my teeth into this game and I realise it's not gonna be a great experience going it solo\without any teamplay and coordination - so consider me dedicated to the cause of winning.

I'll get familiar with the game tonight, see what role I'll feel best in (or what the outfit needs desperately? I'll adapt)

I look forward to jamming with you all :D

[s3xy_j0nny]

K, I will try jump on for an hour or so tonight, just to get a profile started and a preliminary look at the game.

I'm going to start a post in the BF3 section and see if we can dedicate one night per week to that if possible. League starts in Jan, so we need to get a little bit of prac in unless we want to get face raped.

[dreampunchboy]

Hi guys,

New here. Got the game a few weeks back but was a bit of a lone mission for me. Would love to join you guys and also the training sessions. How do I get involved?

[s3xy_j0nny]

Hey dpb, I'm sure Hubris will reply and let you know what to do.

[Stu]

Stu you are too hard on yourself.

No bro I'm not hard enough, trust me when I say I felt livid the other night when I asked you the nooblet questions I could hear your frustration and really dude that is never my intention the game should be enjoyable for all involved! For ALL involved! regardless, there is nothing wrong with having a vision on how it should be handled and played!

I appreciate your honesty and pointing out these facts or I'd be oblivious to my stupidity at times and I consider myself as generally above average on the intelligence quotient so above all else I appreciate the feedback and your informational posts. Well now that I've sufficiently massaged :ice: we can get to planning and gaming...

I've been doing some advertising on MyGamming in order try and build a point of origin and contact for the SA Players so we can all benefit and work together!

[Snakestyles]

Hi guys,

New here. Got the game a few weeks back but was a bit of a lone mission for me. Would love to join you guys and also the training sessions. How do I get involved?

Hello Dreampunch, its easy. Join Mallory server, Join Terran republic, add me as a friend, Snakestyles. From there you can add others and learn with us. If my internet is back up tonight I will be online from 4:30pm onwards.

[Hubris]

Hey dreampunchboy welcome man glad to see another guy interested!

Our modus operandi is to play with guys a bit and depending on how things work out invite you to join the outfit. At that point you will be welcome in our voice comms. If you need some help ill be happy to get you into voice for a bit and assist you. Otherwise just watch the forums and keep playing!

Thanks Miles and Stu you guys are doing great things for the outfit and I really appreciate the effort you put in.

[Snakestyles]

Hanging for another 100 cert bio dome battle!

[Cronus]

Howzit guys, new to the forum. I saw you guys have a group and and running relating to PS2. Though i'd pop in and say HI :)

Would like to opportunity to join the outfit and cap some points, if you guys don't mind

[Stu]

Welcome Cronus!

We have a training session scheduled for Sunday night coming to assist all new to the game and to outline our strategy with respect to the outfit and best practices on how to milk the certs!

Keeping coming back and we will keep you posted re comms... So we can all get on one channel!

[s3xy_j0nny]

Stu, you don't need to punctuate everything you type with a goddamned exclamation mark. Not everything you say is that pertinent, you fucking muppet.

[Stu]

YES! it IS! Stop being a gramma nazi and get on the field! See what I did there? Did you see that?

[TygerBS]

Stu, you don't need to punctuate everything you type with a goddamned exclamation mark. Not everything you say is that pertinent, you fucking muppet.

But why you mad bro?

[Snakestyles]

But why you mad bro?

Does he even lift ?

[Hubris]

Hey Cronus, welcome dude. We're playing Terran Republic on the Mallory server, make sure you have a char ready to play and we'll be on tonight and most nights for some action. We will add you in game and take it from there.

[s3xy_j0nny]

Does he even lift ?

I aint even mad, and I lift like a baws.

http://realfunfood.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/aintevenmad.jpg

[pmurgs]

The best thing about PS2...

408

[Hubris]

Lee are we able to set up specific access to one channel or a seperate mumble server? It would let us get a whole bunch of people in for the practice on Sunday? Have no idea how this works tbh, but I added some extra channels for each faction (incl. pictures and servers).

By the way the GRRR outfit tag is already taken. By whome I have no idea. We probably need to think of a new one. GRZA?

Oh ya, check this out, I didn't apply every change especially with respect to model quality but it's a nice guide. Get the CPU unparker and the Razer Gamebooster, make sure you run both as administrator. Getting solid 100-50 frames plus just feels generally smoother.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/performance-boost-how-to-play-planetside-2-with-the-best-fps-guide.55017/
http://www.razerzone.com/gamebooster

[SlipperyDuck]

Thankfully, we still have our WAGE Mumble channel going....remember wage? me either....

Create A New Connection: chat.wage.co.za
port is just the default one
Choose your Username so that people recognize who you are.
Once created, click connect.

By Default you will not be able to access the GRRR channel until you add an access token of: groan
Follow the instruction below, then disconnect and reconnect, lastly scroll down and double click to enter the GRRR channel.

Done.

http://www.grrr.co.za/images/wagechat1.png
http://www.grrr.co.za/images/wagechat2.png
http://www.grrr.co.za/images/wagechat3.png
http://www.grrr.co.za/images/wagechat4.png
http://www.grrr.co.za/images/wagechat5.png
http://www.grrr.co.za/images/wagechat6.png
http://www.grrr.co.za/images/wagechat7.png

[flycatchr]

you da boss slippo

[Hubris]

Sweet thanks dude! Could you please make me admin so I can add channels etc.

[SlipperyDuck]

TBH, don't know how to do that, I don't have admin access either....digging continues

[Hubris]

Maybe contact that Wage admin? david@wage.co.za - I would do it but I'm not really the contact person.

By the way I updated our tags to GRZA and the outfit message of the day to the below. Invite people to join the outfit and once they join, they can get the details from there.

Teabag drop in YOUR area! Join our public Planetside2 Mumble channel!
chat.wage.co.za ; port: 64738 ; password: "groan" - add access token "groan".

[s3xy_j0nny]

^ Ha! It's Russian at the grrrage braai.

[Stu]

410

Check it out Hubris as per Mumble confirm time and I'll post on the Mygaming site

[s3xy_j0nny]

409

Check it out Hubris as per Mumble confirm time and I'll post on the Mygaming site

Spellcheck says: Nigth = Night; Contiental = Continental

[Stu]

thanks didnt spell check needed confirmation before i sent to mygaming thanks Jono

Feeexed it

[SlipperyDuck]

seeing as our regulars seem to stay on our Other Mumble server, perhaps I should just give access details to that server? For simplicity sake?

What do you guys think? or we can PM the other mumble server deets to the PS2 outfit joiners?

[MalicE]

Right! so how do I join the mighty GRRR outfit? :D

[Stu]

Hi MalicE and welcome, just post your ingame char name and we can then invite you to the outfit! We are dicussing best way for comm's and it looks like Mumble will be the best option at this stage. we will keep all posted as to how what when and were!

[MalicE]

Hi MalicE and welcome, just post your ingame char name and we can then invite you to the outfit! We are dicussing best way for comm's and it looks like Mumble will be the best option at this stage. we will keep all posted as to how what when and were!

ok cool, I'll post here then soon as I created tonight, only have a Vanu character at the moment.

and then sommer download mumble as well, just have TS running now.

then it's fire at will! :woot:

[Mb12]

My char nickname for TR on Mallory is Mb12, if you would do the honours!

[RussianElite.]

What now rage braai? Confuzzled

[Jackal-GI]

I am on the Mallory server terran republic and my character name is Jakkals

[Pyro]

I only played once when after it came out of Beta, and kinda prefer VS, but will try to join you guys on Sunday.

[DCCarBound]

Testing 1..2..3

I'll play with you guys some this weekend.

[Phatso]

Welcome newcomers. GET DAT PS2 OOOOOOOOON!

[Hubris]

Cool I've tried to add you guys to my friends list and to the outfit. Please would you add me as a friend if you didn't get an invite: grrrHubris. The details of the public mumble server are on the outfit message of the day, if that doesn't work out for us we can always fall back to our regular mumble. Thanks guys see you this weekend.

Enjoy some outfit gameplay!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkPASiodNeM

[DCCarBound]

I didn't get an invite to the Outfit.

[Hubris]

Sorted.

[Shagrul]

Hi guys, would love join, Arthygus is my ingame nickname.

[Pyro]

I am on the Mallory server terran republic and my character name is Jakkals


Joined Mallory-TR as PyroSAJ.

Still a bit bummmed that you can only have your character on that specific server and not move around.

[Hubris]

Hi guys, added you. Reminder come to the session tonight to get some basic introduction to the game and our outfit plans for Planetside 2. Will be a short session around 30min then organised platoon play. Get on the mumble server so you can talk to us, the details are on the outfit message of the day in game.

Yeah I really wish you could have one presence on multiple server or at least change your name if you got a bit excited on day one.

Apparently Sony are not big on those ideas but there has been a lot of pressure from the community so who knows maybe in time it will feature in the game - we already can have three characters on the same server which was previously impossible.

[Pyro]

Was pretty fun. Bit more organised than just jumping in random vehicles with strangers ;)

No mic at the moment though, and android app doesn't work too good when you've got the game's sound on the PC.

Thanks Guys.

[Hubris]

Yeah was some fun, still early days though. When we have two squads and a bit more xp we will have our own armour/air support and will be nigh unbeatable. Last night we tried to push our infantry squad on our own and it was tough going until we zerged with the team. Thats just the nature of the beast, you cant really expect to steamroll a 2000 player map with 12 troops. Sure we can make some impact, but serious resistance is always going to be a problem.

Some things we need to take into the future. Another sunderer with ammo and probably two lightnings to escourt them. Two perma engineers per sunderer. Some AA cover, probably by mosquitos for now. We also spent a lot of time fighting the wrong battles, we need to make flags our priority and focus on those, too often I saw guys just setting up in a spot near a flag and farming kills or ignoring the squadies and the state of the battle around them. PTFO.

We were found wanting in terms of the number of heavies, but I'm sure we will get this right in the future. We need 3 heavies ready to hop out of a sunderer and hit a chasing tank or the turrets. Our medics also did a lot of rambo stuff so we didn't really benefit from revives. Anyway, very good for a first session - I'm pleased with the bunch of guys we have. Don't forget to use the outfit menu to add guys as friends so you can pickup games!

Last thing, set up your NC and VS characters on the Lithcorp and Cobalt servers respectively, you will earn around 1 cert per offline hour so the earlier you start the easier it will be to rank those guys up to a playable level and have alternate characters to enjoy. I'm still trying to get admin rights to the public mumble channel so we can edit the channel names etc. Will give you an update on that as soon as the wage admin gets back to me.

Next Sunday we will do a tactics practice session, focusing on improving our squad play by drilling. The week after that, I will give out a document detailing how to shout in mumble, upgrade trees and our plays depending on the number of players we have so we can all find our role. We probably won't be able to get a full platoon going until early Feb due to it being silly season, but there's still plenty reason to play and get friends involved!


Strength in UNITY! LOYALTY beyond death. TURDUCKEN feeeeva! Enjoy the pubic holiday, that is all gentlemen. Check out this 150 man multiple outfit op.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkxadNR8n9E

[Paul]

I would really love to join in but my gaming is very limited. Should all by done by 17th January then I will be back full time

[SlipperyDuck]

My system crashes with PS2 @ the moment, all started with the patch - completely hangs and all i can do is reboot....frustrating beyond recognition...I'll just have to keep tweaking to see what i can find, if anything

[flycatchr]

lee, have yuo tried the app from razor?

[SlipperyDuck]

what app from razor? - I'll google that see what i find......

[Hubris]

Try validating your install files from the launcher, little spanner on the opposite of the play button.

http://www.razerzone.com/gamebooster

Make sure you run it as administrator, not sure how much it helps but might.

[SlipperyDuck]

Meta Haze said: ↑ (http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?goto/post&id=684774#post-684774)

“
So many of you, including me at one point, has experienced the low fps with PlanetSide 2. Below I will show/tell you how to increase your FPS up to amazing numbers http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/styles/default/xenforo/clear.png


This will not work for everyone, but should work for most people.





=Meta's FPS Boost Guide, Survive in PlanetSide 2 Edition=


-*Vista, W7, W8 only*- Number 1.) Ok, so the first thing you will need to do, and its rather simple.. Go into your PlanetSide 2 directory and find PlanetSide2.exe, Right click it, click the Compatibility tab. From there, Inside the "Settings" box, click "Disable Desktop Composition".


What does Number 1 do? This disables Aero, which notably increases performance.


-*All Operating Systems*- Number 2.) I have edited my UserOptions.ini to improve and get the most out of PlanetSide 2, by editing the UserOptions. Go inside your PlanetSide 2 directory, find UserOptions.ini, inside it..Copy my settings below such as [Display], [Rendering], [Sound], and [Terrain] over your [Display], [Rendering], [Sound], and [Terrain].

Note: Never click or edit any graphics setting inside the game with the UI. It will revert it back and you will have to change this again!


[Display]
FullscreenRefresh=0
Maximized=0
RenderQuality=1.000000
FullscreenWidth=1024
FullscreenHeight=768
WindowedWidth=1024
WindowedHeight=768
Mode=Fullscreen
FullscreenMode=Fullscreen


[Rendering]
GraphicsQuality=1
TextureQuality=0
ShadowQuality=0
RenderDistance=1000
Gamma=0.000000
MaximumFPS=90
UseLod0a=0
OverallQuality=-1
LightingQuality=0
EffectsQuality=0
TerrainQuality=0
FloraQuality=0
ModelQuality=0
VerticalFOV=74
ParticleLOD=0
ParticleDistanceScale=0.650000
FogShadowsEnable=0
MotionBlur=0
VSync=0
AO=0


[Sound]
Master=1.000000
Music=0.000000
Game=1.000000
Dialog=1.000000
UI=1.000000
UseFloat32Output=0
ExclusiveMode=0
HitIndicator=1
LowAmmoIndicator=1
VehicleChatter=1
MaxVoices=45


[Terrain]
RenderFlora=Off




What does Number 2 do? This will edit the UserOptions and strain it to get the most performance possible from editing it.
This is a very important step to do if you want more performance.

-*All Operating Systems*- Number 3.) The final step, and perhaps the most important step. Your cores are all parked by default as Windows set them, this holds your processor back from going to its maximum power, you will need to "unpark" them to get the most performance and get PlanetSide 2 running smooth.


Beware: Laptops may have overheating issues for some reason, Desktop PCs will stay the same temperature as they did before.

http://www.coderbag.com/Images/ArticleImages/manage-core-parking-util-1.png

You will need to download this program, it is possible to do it by registry, but this is more simple as the program does it for you. http://www.coderbag.com/Uploads/Unpark-CPU-App.zip (http://www.coderbag.com/Uploads/Unpark-CPU-App.zip) or your could simply search on google "CPU Unpark Utility", its the first link. Once you acquire this program, extract it into a folder anywhere, Open it up and click the button "Check Status". This will check the registry to find how many cores you have and if they are Unparked, or Parked. Once it shows them up (Will most likely show an extra core for some reason) click on the button "Unpark All". This will Unpark your cores for maximum performance http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/styles/default/xenforo/clear.png



What does Number 2 do? This unparks all of your cores for maximum performance, and gives more power for PlanetSide 2. Will increase your FPS greatly, from Dual Cores all the way to I7s.
This is a very, very IMPORTANT step. You will need to do this to increase FPS.




You have completed the MAIN steps, you should have a significantly amazing FPS boost !
Below is an OPTIONAL step.


Optional Step.) You should try out Razer's Gamebooster, it will help you close out bad processes that run in the background and even Tweak your computer for best performance!
Type "Razer Gamebooster" on google, first link to visit Razers site, Or you could just visit this link for a direct download http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/styles/default/xenforo/clear.png http://dl.razerzone.com/drivers/GameBooster/Game_Booster_v3.5.6.exe (http://dl.razerzone.com/drivers/GameBooster/Game_Booster_v3.5.6.exe)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you all enjoy my detailed guide on how to increase fps and survive in PlanetSide 2 http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/styles/default/xenforo/clear.png”

[Hubris]

Griders awesome work man! Hahaha

[Talock]

Really loving Planetside 2 at the moment and would love to join fellow South Africans. Talock signing up for duty if you have a spot. (TR-Mallory).

Enjoying light assault and have spent most of my certs in this area, but I'm flexible and can fill any role that the squad requires. (Except flying .... I've managed to crash everything I've taken to the air in).

I can bring an additional Sunderer with S-AMS. (Only basic ammo and sight upgrade done though)

Need to get my hands on a jack plug extension for my mic to work, but I can do that soon.

[Elagos]

I'm with Talock, signing up and ready to take orders if you have a spot available. Elagos - TR-Mallory

[Hubris]

Awesome welcome guys! Someone needs to play this song on proximity chat in a zerg xD insta rank up to Officer, true story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhsTmiK7Q2M

[Pyro]

Is there something like a throat mic or something that doesn't need you to talk as loudly? The SO sleeps early; and wakes angry!

[Megageth]

Can only find an Xbox piece: http://www.takealot.com/gaming/accessories/gioteck-xbox-360-tx-2-throat-mic-xbox-360,12810629

Chloroform?

[Pyro]

Can only find an Xbox piece: http://www.takealot.com/gaming/accessories/gioteck-xbox-360-tx-2-throat-mic-xbox-360,12810629

Chloroform?

Mmm... wonder what the long term effects would be...

this (http://www.clearercom.com/index.php/two-way-radio-headsets/throat-mic-headsets/triumph-throat-mic.html) looks promising at $30 with free shipping.

Another option is using the bike helmet's bluetooth, and sweating it out in weird style... That's pretty quiet outside the helmet ;)

[Talock]

Last post needed moderation because on an embedded link I assume. Attempt 2, I managed to find this:

"www.toshop.co.za/home/product/4908#ad-image-2"

[SlipperyDuck]

ah - need to move you to the other group - doing now. . .

Oh and stats:

http://sig.planetside-universe.com/RubbyDuck.png (http://www.planetside-universe.com/character.php?stats=RubbyDuck)

[flycatchr]

Last post needed moderation because on an embedded link I assume. Attempt 2, I managed to find this:

"www.toshop.co.za/home/product/4908#ad-image-2"
i might even just get that for my travelling :)

[Hubris]

Just an important issue update on the recent ~3gb patch. Certs are now earned at 500xp per cert, facility captures have been adjusted accordingly so you still get 1 per outpost etc. Cap ranges have been increased on control points.

Perhaps most important of the lot, good defensive bonuses now apply to xp earning so there is a greater incentive to defend busy bases - but there is no lump sum xp/cert collection, incentivising actually doing something whilst defending.

You also get xp earning bonuses depending on the population of your faction on a given continent. Obviously the less guys you have relative to others you will receive greater bonuses - they're slight so don't get too worked up about them.

You now earn around 5 certs per day, whether online or offline - not been confirmed. I really hope you guys asked Santa to take advantage of the triple station cash and double xp periods! Apparently the battle rifles are an excellent purchase.

[pmurgs]

I've just installed the latest BETA ati drivers, definite fps improvement. The patch notes say the ps2 fixes are for crossfire users like me, so if you are a crossfire ati user, I suggest you try the beta drivers.

[Griderz]

Thanks Murgs, will try them today, need them extra FPS :)

[Hubris]

So another wall of text, blah blah...

I wanted to raise the issue of effectiveness in Planetside2. The world is big, there are tons of players and one is often frustratingly ineffective; but a few can make a difference but only if they play to be effective. That means smart decision making and time efficiency. Zerg armies will steamroll everything in their path, eventually, until they run out of steam; but they're not that much fun, tend to achieve very little sustainably and you don't get as much xp as getting commando.

Generally, aircraft are ineffective at changing map conditions. Even if you rinse everything you see (which is unlikely), you can't cap a flag and the enemy can just respawn if they are determined. The only time aircraft are actually somewhat effective is when they a) drop commandos off, b) trap a spawn room or c) clear turrets and d) provide security. Pretty limited and nothing good ground forces can't do themselves with time. If you are flying, you are just farming xp and should think accordingly.

A gazillion mozzies in one place can do significant damage; but that's rare and your one liberator is never going to turn bases no matter how good you are.

Deploying as infantry, you need to consider squad layout and vehicle. Firstly, you need MAXs if you plan to fight anything over 10 people, so preferably one or two Anti Infantry and one or two Anti Air. Then, you need a good bunch of Heavy Assaults (3 at least), a handful Engineers and a Medic or two. As long as everyone achieves their class roles and is willing to swop class, you will find yourself being very effective indeed. Infantry can achieve anything, provided they work together.

Picking a vehicle is easy. You either take a sunderer (or two which is really effective) or you take a galaxy (or two, which would also be effective). Any supporting vehicles are just that, supporting and in most cases cannot be relied upon to serve the infantry's cause. So use discretion in bringing along only vehicles you absolutely need for the situation at hand. Anything more and you are seriously crippling your ability to be an effective infantry unit.

When attacking outposts, your first priority is to secure spawn points (sunderer/beacon), then to clear the approach to the flag(s) and cap it (them, one after the other - don't wait around on a flag in a hotspot). Once the flag(s) has (have) turned, you can camp the spawn to your heart's content. If there are enough enemies to keep you off the flags, getting to the spawn room is either impossible or a very dumb idea. So if you do any outpost capture in any other order you are wasting your time.

When attacking facilities, your first priority is again spawn points, but this time outer bases give you vehicle spawns too. Whoever controls the outer bases controls the facility, no matter how many guys spawn in to defend the core enough spawned armour will stop any traffic in or out of that base. Armour/air spawns allow you or the enemy to get the upper hand, so secure them early then worry about the generators and finally with the flags.

Air well, flies around and helps when it suits them. Infantry on the other hand (Darren) is by far the most effective, fun and profitable style.

It's a pretty simple formula to apply. If you are fighting superior numbers, don't worry. You are actually in the ideal position to farm xp and achieve everything you want in terms of certs and gameplay. Be smart, establish a good spawn position. Dig in and give them hell until you either rinse or get rinsed. Play tactically and manage your threats, all you need to do is stay alive and you have an army to shoot at and kill upon your choosing. Combat, after all, is way better than base hopping or air/repair farming.

Being effective as infantry in combat means moving a) with your toughest up front and b) from cover to cover and c) together. That simple. As long as you keep the MAX's and Heavies up front working cover, the Engineers and Medics can sit in defilade, watch your backs/flanks and be called upon when needed. There is no point rambo-ing an Engineer or a Medic, its a waste of resources allocated and a cert oppertunity. Xp rewards effective combat, so play with the system in your class's favour (farm it)!

Again it comes down to teamwork. Either you play as individuals or pairs, to farm xp in the most ineffective way possible; or you play ALL together and actually get what you want out of the game. I understand when working as a squad its easy to get fragmented, but going on a liberator run while your mates are dying on the ground is probably not going to turn the battle. Be smart, pick infantry and be a team player by being patient, recruiting players, redeploying or spawning armour and transports.

The best way to judge your gameplay is by K/D. Play infantry for xp, but watch your K/D. It's a trade-off between what's acceptable and what's profitable to you.

This of course is all premised on the idea of being together as infantry. The moment you get fragmented, attacking one by one in seperate locations you become ineffective. You might rinse 2, 5 or even 20 guys alone but they will get you eventually and without support you will lose whatever ground you were fighting for and ultimately be, yes, ineffective. Deploy together, communicate, move out together, protect and help each other.

The spawn system is simple. You can spawn on facilities, outposts and control points (hard spawns). You can also spawn on beacons, sunderers and hopefully galaxies soon too (soft spawns). Generally, you can only spawn in a restricted zone around where you are and have been. You can't just spawn across the map unless you use a spawn beacon, instant action or a map deploy which all have significant timers. Spawn beacons are essential, take advantage of them by redeploying if you get left behind.

Be sure to keep an eye on the map though, in amongst all that chaos you might get cut-off and then you have no choice but to leave and try reconnect tiles; hoping that the turned flags will turn the base or at least soften it for your return upon connecting it again. Don't sit around forever waiting for the cap and eventually getting wiped. Generally speaking you want to go to the nearest connecting flag, but in tough situations you should plan one or even all the way back for regrouping.

If everyone applied that mindset to our play, I think we'd all get a lot more fun and a lot less frustration from the game and have happier farming.

[voiDude]

Awesome Hubris :)

If I might be so bold as to express my opinions? That hit the nail on the head, if we've got a decent amount of guys all on mumble and expert leadership etc - why bother rolling with the massive tank\libby zerg that forms on the server at peak times. We make the least impact there. When we've got the communication and resources to branch of and get other objectives\caps we really should.

[Hubris]

Pfff express your opinion? Never, but now that you did at least you're right ;)

[SlipperyDuck]

http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/photo-caption-lol-0.jpg?w=500&h=367

[Paul]

I started a new character grrrPaul. Thought it would make it easier for organisation purposes. It does mean it is a total noob character and can be molded into what ever is needed.

I was planning on going Heavy Infantry as it seems to be the best all round character

[voiDude]

Incoming PS2 Patch, 30th January.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/happy-new-year-update-02-info.77203/

[Griderz]

Thanks for the info voiDude - some nice changes in there.

[Pyro]

Rewarding people for the boring bits is nice (standing on uncontested points while teammates vacuum up guys crawling out from spawns).
&
Reduces points from camping spawns.

That's already a nice addition.

[Griderz]

Patch is out - 4GB worth. There have been a few extra tweaks as well, hopefully they work out.

[pmurgs]

Patch is a nightmare... so many bugs.

Side note, new ati 13.2 beta drivers supposedly fix the flickering texture issue (and beleive nvidia has beta drivers as well for this).

[Stu]

Shall patch tonight, when I hit the sack let it update all night long... all night....