****NEW VERSION****VERSION 1.2****MAY 24, 2005****
I last updated this today, May 25th. I added many new tips & tactics and I also expanded on some tips that were previously listed. Enjoy!!!
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- SOCOM 2 U.S. Navy SEALs Multiplayer Advanced Strategies FAQ v1.2
- written by AL GIORDINO
- This document is copyright(c)2005 Al Giordino
- The game is (c)2003 Sony Computer Entertainment
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Thats right. Heres my new FAQ on advanced Socom techniques you won't read about anywhere else. These are most of the techniques in my arsenal, I will be adding to this FAQ as I can think of them.
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The goal of this FAQ is to help you become an advanced player, and WIN games. This FAQ is going to teach you methods and techniques that should allow you to WIN more consistently. Apply the tips consistently, and you should win consistently. Each tip will merely up your chances of winning by a small percentage. Make incremental improvements. Polish your game. Considering your rank and stats are cumulative, look outside the game your currently in, don’t worry about losses or small setbacks. Concentrate on getting more wins than losses over the long term. This FAQ will help you do that.
Heres the fun part everyone - the tips and tactics. I remember when I was a noob on Socom 1, I wished that someone put together something like this.. nobody ever did, so I took matters into my own hands and made my own. Some tips are very specific and some are general. There's a basic strategies FAQ somewhere out there, this is not it. You should master the basics of online play before reading and using the techniques in this FAQ. None of the techniques presented in this FAQ are a magic bullet to make you play well. Each tip contained will up your chances of winning slightly, or allow you to win in certain situations where you otherwise wouldn't. Mastering ALL of them will certainly give you a much better chance of winning. Still, you can't just expect to read the FAQ and suddenly know how to apply every strategy and technique to your gameplay. Work certain strategies in, MASTER them, and blend them as part of your overall gameplay. If your very new to the game, I again will strongly suggest you at least learn the basics before reading this FAQ. If you already consider yourself an advanced player, read through the FAQ and read about things that you may not already be doing. There’s something for everyone in here, whether your that newer guy trying to become a pro, or already a veteran player.
THE TIPS & TACTICS!
#1 – What the online game comes down to: TEAMPLAY
The online game comes down to WINS. Nobody wants to get MVP and lose the game. Nobody cares if you have the most kills if you don’t win at the same time. To this end, don’t think about yourself. Stop worrying about your stats and your rank. START worrying about WINNING and helping out your team or your clan. Don’t think of yourself as an individual, think of yourself as part of a group – a team. Whether you’re the guy rushing or holding back, do what it takes to get the win. Sometimes this means assaulting an enemy position that outnumbers you 5 to 1 so you can cause a distraction while your team works on another goal, whether its plant the bomb, grab the hostages, or even come up from behind your enemies while you battle them and keep them looking your way. Sometimes thinking only of your team means taking a nade from your buddy in order to kill several of the enemy. Stop whining, stop rubbing your pu$$y, and get out there and help your team win the game. Get the guys on your team to work together. A team that plays together will almost always beat a team of guys who each like to do their own thing.
#2 – Trust your teammates and clan members.
The best part of the online game is playing with your clan. You know how each member plays. You back each other up. You have fun and use teamwork. The problem is, a lot of players don’t trust other players. In a public room, or in a room with your clan, learn to trust and rely on your team. Sometimes this means ignoring your friend whose battling, and trusting in his abilites while you defuse the bomb. Sometimes this means meeting your team at the bomb plant, trusting in their abilities to grab the bomb and be there like they say. If someone says they are guarding your right, theres no need to constantly check and make sure he’s doing his job. Worry about doing your own job for the team. Come together with your team and work as a perfectly oiled machine of death. Stop worrying about your own skin.
#3 – Know when to rush and when to camp.
Personally I rush most of the time. However, camping is important too, especially if you’re a Terrorist, and especially if your newer. Rushing as a Terrorist is the hardest and not recommended for amateurs. If you’re a Seal, it’s a tossup between rushing fast and holding back. Seals have more options on what they can do, since they are always on the offense except for Escort maps. Terrorists are usually forced to defend somehow, which is why a Terrorist rush is riskier than a Seal rush. That being said, they can often be very successful. Just make sure your TEAM is all on the same page about what your going to do. Try and plan things out ahead of time with your team. Consider what side of the game your on, consider what map your on and what the goal is, and consider what the past rounds have done for you. If your getting slaughtered by camping, stop it and start rushing. Unfortunately I view camping as a virus. Campers seem to be affected with this malady and have a hard time rushing, even if they are holding back and getting slaughtered. Leave these amateurs behind, and work with the guys on your team that have a plan of action, and are ready to implement it.
#4 - BE A LEADER
Not to sound cocky, but most of the time, I'm one of the top guys on whatever team I'm on. Sometimes I try and take control of the situation. On occasion, I’ll give orders, literally. I can't help it, sometimes I just know that if we did ______, we could win. Like if I just had another guy rushing left with me, and nobody is backing me up, theres nothing wrong with saying “Hey, _______, rush left with me.” So I often speak my mind. Sometimes its just asking another guy for help, or sometimes it’s good to tell your whole team a plan that you think will work. At least put it out there for people to discuss. The funny thing is most people don't seem to like having someone tell them what to do, until it works, and it works again, and then again. Then people want to hear what the next plan will be. Then again there has been 2 times I got teamkilled for trying to tell people what to do. Obviously we continued to lose, damn non-teamplayers. And I get detailed with my plans too sometimes. I'll tell one guy to go this one way, do something, cause a distraction or whatever, meanwhile 4 of us go another way, and 2 go another. Sometimes its like that, but sometimes it's simply RUSH or HOLD BACK. And usually it works if your whole squad listens up. Think about the difference between having a team have a general strategy, or one where theres no strategy and you have 8 people each doing something else, which team will win? Make your team do the unexpected. It's 5-1 and your about to lose? Rush the hell out of them. You may be saying THAT’S SUICIDE! Well it certainly can’t be worse than what you’ve BEEN doing if you only have 1 win! So stop being such a doormat. Take control of your team. If you don't, unless you have a team of superstars, or your enemy team stinks, you'll probably lose. Teamwork is the key to this whole game, and if someone on your team hasn't started it, why don't you. Tell your team, if you've been camping every time and your losing, speak up, tell those pu$$ies to put the mines away, stop rubbin your pu$$ies and get out of the trees, and lets rush them!!! Been rushing and getting slaughtered? Tell your team to hold back! The problem is that campers get slaughtered and then think they gotta camp even worse so they don't get killed next time. I'm a huge beleiver that in the majority of times, the team that rushes and causes the most surprise to the enemy wins. Teams have leaders, be one. Easy strategies you can say to be a leader:
"Listen guys, we can do this! Let's work on getting them ONE AT A TIME, chill out, hide behind something, and get an easy kill! Once we knock off 2-3 guys, we'll move in!"
(^^^works a lot, great strategy that everyone can understand and follow)
"Guys we've been camping every time and their owning us! Let's switch it up and rush the hell out of them! Hard rush, all of us!"
"They've been camping every round and we're annihilating them! Don't get too confident, watch for the rush!"
"I've seen 4 of them on the right EVERY ROUND, let's have a few of us blanket that whole right side with nades! (or rush that whole right side!)"
THEN after you suggest a plan or give your team a strategy, you have to be the first one in line to do what you say! If you say RUSH, you better be rushing as soon as the round starts, and be one of the guys in front. If you say QUICK PLANT, and nobody else says they are getting the bomb, its up to you to be the guy who gets it. Or at least give support to the guy who goes for it. Don't tell your team to do a quick plant while you go the opposite direction.. and don't say 'hold back' only to rush up front to throw a nade, and get naded. The most important part of being a leader is taking part in your plan and being an essential part of its success.
One last thing about being a leader. Although a lot of the time your plan will work and people will go along with it, often times your plan will backfire and your team will lose. I've suggested rushes on numerous occasions, only to see my entire team get annihilated within 30 seconds and lose. In these instances, being a leader means accepting responsibility for the loss. If you can't deal with people on your team getting mad at you, it's best if you stay quiet and don't suggest any plan of action. By suggesting a plan of action, you have to be willing to accept the possibility of a win AND the possibility of a loss. I have a great clan that listens to a lot of the crazy plans I suggest, and they go along with them most of the time, but I still feel bad when they don't work.. especially if it's not even close. The thing is, when you suggest a plan and win, nobody notices it was your idea. Great job to the team for winning, but the leader doesn't always get the kudos... unless you do what I said, and your the first rusher with 3 kills, or your the guy who grabbed the bomb and planted, etc. On the flip side, when you suggest a plan and lose, everyone seems to be like "it was his idea...". Deal with it or don't be a leader.
#5 - Learn how to RUSH and get BEHIND your enemy
I sometimes say "Rush!" only to have guys on my team go to the middle point of the map but no further. Then they say "I did rush!". Meanwhile they probably got naded or killed by 5 guys all shooting at them because they weren’t fast enough and they didn’t get BEHIND their enemies, instead they just got in FRONT of them. That’s no way to rush. My definition of a rush is to get on the enemies side of the map AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, killing all enemies on the way, and then trying and get around behind their main resistance. Don't just rush the middle area and stand there fighting, that's not a real rush and you'll probably get naded because it’s easy for the enemy team to know where you are. Get behind your enemy however possible (and fast). Rush that left side of the map FAST and then go ALL THE WAY around and come at the guys on the right side from behind! Meanwhile they’ve been looking forward the whole time, they haven’t seen anyone, and their not worried about someone getting behind them at all. Then you come up and put that bullet in their head. I sometimes like to have one or two guys cause a distraction for the majority of the enemy, (nades work good for this cuz they see them and stay put but still looking forward) then the rest of your team will come up behind and slaughter them.
When your about to spawn, hold the stick so your guys starts moving as soon as he possibly can. If you don’t hit your stick until you already see your guy, you automatically lose 1-2 seconds, and in a rush, that’s huge.
#6 – ONLY SUPRESSION IS DEATHMATCH.
I always see everyone playing Extraction/Breach/Demo maps as Deathmatch instead of realizing they can win by achieving the goal, and I always try and turn players on my team from this course of action. The worst example of this behavior is Escort and Extraction, which are not Deathmatch! You don't have to kill the entire other team to win, all you have to do is extract the VIPS. Most Terrorists usually don't have much organization other than saying top/bottom, left/river, etc etc. Usually they run around trying to cover all bases, then hopefully yell out the VIPs position. THEN everyone moves towards the VIPs. Now picture Foxhunt, it's a huge map. If you have 8 terrorists running around random, and 8 seals running around random, its again become a deathmatch. The way you win these maps is organizing your team into guarding the VIPS and escorting them to the extraction. Do you think a Seal team of 8 that forms a perimeter around the VIPS and moves them to the extraction FAST AS POSSIBLE, while watching all possible angles, will win? Or will the 8 terrorists scattered random around the board. The Seals SHOULD win every time. They have all the advantages: best guns, surprise, and most importantly, KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING. Don’t be like most Seals on an Escort and wait until the round starts and they say “Uhhhh, whose getting the VIPS? Are you getting them? Which way are we going?” If a round starts and you don’t know whose grabbing the bomb, or the VIPS, and theres no plan of action, make one. Grab the VIPS or the bomb and tell your team what to do. Move the VIPS fast towards the extraction and have the WHOLE Seal team form a wide perimeter around them, move with them and kill everyone who comes close. This should win unless your playing an experienced clan. The problem is that in a public room, or even in a clan room, it’s hard to get all 8 guys to work together. But they should. The problem is the next round starts and THEN people are like "Uhhh, which way are we going?" or “You guys go that way, I’m going to snipe the left” which doesn’t help anyone at all. Before you know it 30 seconds have passed and the enemy is almost upon you.
Be a leader and tell the team what you think will work. Discuss things ahead of time. Have everyone know what their doing. Heres an idea, have one player go a different direction and cause a distraction! Get it? Your starting to become an advanced player. If your a Terrorist in an Extraction you don't need to spread 8 guys out all over the map in hopes of killing the VIPS. Spread out but stay in small groups. Try and spot the VIPS and then have one of your groups do an all out assault on the VIP position. Forget the enemy, all you have to do is kill the VIPS. It's not deathmatch. I keep saying that because everyone keeps forgetting! On Breach and Demolition boards, a little teamwork is all you need to actually pull off the main goal without killing the whole other team. You can do quick plants for example, or even if their not quick, have your WHOLE team work towards getting the guy with the bomb to the plant site instead of hunting down each and every enemy. If several of your enemies want to be on the other side of the map away from the plant site, let them, the goal most people forget is to plant, extract, guard/rescue hostages or whatever. Most teams don't play like this so don't worry, but be on the lookout for teams who do. If your a T, guard the hostages instead of rushing. Guard the plant site. I think you all get my point.
And BTW, if you’re a Seal on a Breach map, why on earth would you camp back somewhere and give the Terrorists time to set up shop?? Stop being such noobs and get up in there and attack those guys before they can get ready. Rush the breach as fast as you can and blow it before that sniper can get to his spot and get you. Get in there before 8 Terrorists plant 24 mines or throw 72 nades at the spot you’ve been at for the past 3 rounds. Since your obviously not breaching they obviously know where you are, and then they have time to wait for you and pick their nose. Have your whole team know what to do, and execute.
#7 – _DON’T_ BE THAT GUY
Don’t be that damn guy who always goes against what his team is doing or trying to do. I'm talking about those guys who camp back in a tree who says and does nothing while he sees 3 enemies moving to take on 2 of his unaware teammates. Don’t be that guy who sits back and camps the base while the rest of the team goes for the plant or extraction, etc on the opposite side of the map. These damn non teamplayers are the WORST, as their basically playing with the attitude and assumption that their team will get killed or fail in what they are doing, and somehow, they are going to be the ones who held back to save the day. Yeah right. If your team has the bomb and is going to plant or achieve any other goal, DO NOT ASSUME THEY WILL FAIL, AND SIT BACK AND PLANT MINES OR CAMP. Your not going to be a hero. You guys who do this drive me nuts. Then when the group that goes to plant or whatever gets killed and wishes they just had one more guy to take out that one last enemy whose almost dead anyway, everyone spectates and sees THAT GUY camping back and not helping! Then the enemy, whose almost dead, comes in and blows up the mine or kills that guy with nades, and it's all over. You have a much better chance of being there with your team and helping them out and taking guys head on, than being the guy who goes AGAINST what your team says they are doing. Just because you have some retarded idea that they shouldn't do that, or you don't like that idea of what they are going to do, or whatever. Be a damn teamplayer, even if you don't like or agree with what your team is doing.
#8 - M14 Recoil - Learn how to ride the wave!
Everyone says to fire in short bursts with the M14, well forget that, in my opinion, bursts are for noobs. Learn to fire your M14 and if you need to, hold that trigger down! MASTER the recoil, don't just harness it.. it's kind of like "riding a wave".. It shoots so fast and the recoil is so strong, this is a skill that can't be learned instantly, only aquired through effort and time. Basically you learn to apply just enough downward pressure on the stick to completely counteract the upward recoil. It takes a little effort and concentration to push the stick down just the precise amount, but you can pump out a bunch more bullets in the meanwhile versus doing bursts. Plus it becomes second nature over time.. less of an effort and more instinct. Trust me, it's better once you get good, but it does take practice.
#9 - Reload before your enemy!
If your battling a guy for more than a few seconds and one of you isn't dead, your both about to reload. Often people reload at the same time, causing no advantage to one or the other. But if you can tell that a guy has fired most of his clip, and you still have all/most of your health, hit reload now, and then dance around and concentrate on avoiding the last bullets he has left. By the time you have a full clip in, he will just be running out of bullets, and you'll get them every time. You eventually get to the point where you'll know when an enemy's clip is almost out, and if your having a hard time hitting one another, this is the difference between a win and a loss. Because now you can fire without having to dodge at the same time, since he's busy reloading and you've got a FULL clip. Sometimes a guy will dip around a corner and keep shooting at the air near you, where he expects you to be stupid and step into the middle of his spray. Well, while he does that, hit reload yourself, listen to his bullets, and when you guesstimate he should be about empty or when you hear him stop firing, THEN pop around the corner and blast him while he is reloading. We are talking 3 or less seconds here that make a huge difference. You can do this in a million instances, and it helps.
#10 - Don't just strafe!
How many times have you seen guys see each other and start a fight in a big open area, and all they do is strafe back and forth in a straight line, while shooting at the other guy? They even go the same distances side to side every time, watch it and you'll see! So here we have two guys facing each other 15 feet apart, and each is strafing back and forth the same 10 feet and shooting.
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The point is, don't be like everyone else and just go back and forth the exact same distance every time! First off, vary the distance your strafing, be unpredictable. Next, use your environment to your advantage. Duck behind a pole or wall while you reload. Make him think your still there and then try and move somewhere else and come at him from another direction. Up close, dip and dance and be as unpredictable in your movement as you possibly can. Combine this with the reload first technique and you'll pwn. I'm constantly trying to get behind guys, even if we are on top of one another. Also if theres poles, tents, or other things you can get between you and the other guy, those work great. I like to get behind a pole and reload first while he fires his last few bullets, then pop him in the head once he goes to reload. Strafing is good, but it’s just not enough. It’s too easy to anticipate where on his “strafe line” he’s going to be in 2 seconds, and then put your gun there and pull the trigger.
#11 - Quick Plants
On every demolition or breach map you can do a quick plant. (except for Nightstalker really) Most advanced players already know how to do this, but I rarely hear people suggest doing it the right way. The way you do a quick plant is move, and don't stop moving towards the plant site until your there and the bomb is planted. Take the quickest line to the bomb, and then the quickest line to the plant. Quick plants don't take detours, or hide out for a little bit and keep going. Quick plants are suicides runs where you grab the bomb and your either going to plant it fast as hell, or die. Mow down guys on the way but never stop moving. If you hold up too much, you give the enemy team a chance to realize you have the bomb and set up a more defensible position, or anticipate where your going to come from next. Thus, do it fast, and be faster than they can react and counter you.
#12 - Learn to dodge nades!
Pay attention to the sky and the area above your head. It's actually pretty easy to see nades coming if your watching. Move out of the way, dive to the ground, do whatever it takes not to get hit. You can get really good at this, and in my case, I rarely get killed by a nade.. only if I’m stuck or if I don't see it.. but usually I do and then just move out of the way.
#13 - Lean lean lean!
Crouch and lean is the best position in the entire game! End of story! You can see around corners better and crouch lowwww without going prone. You can hide behind small ledges, bushes, etc.. things you normally wouldn't be able to hide behind.. a lot of times, regular crouch and your head will stick out, but if you simply lean to the side you get a lower profile and your hidden. Zipper specifically made almost all the small wall ledges, balconies, etc, the same height. And that height is just above your guys head when you prone and lean right. I think they did this for a reason, so you can hide better. Sometimes you'll be in a position where you can't see a thing, but if you just lean and you'll open up a whole new area of view without moving your player one bit. Stand and lean works great when you want to see around a corner but stay a little farther away from it. As for prone and lean, if you prone and lean it's a little easier for your crosshairs to go left to right than without the lean, which makes it easier to get headshots if your gun is at the correct level. Your just a little bit more manuevarable when you prone and lean, and you can swivel about more and be more accurate.
#14 – HEADSHOTS & Head Level Aiming
Okay so right now I have about 49% or almost half of my kills via headshot! Lets say that 1/5th (20%) of my kills are from nades, so that means that just over 2/3s of my kills via gun are headshots! The way I do it is by always keeping my gun on head level. If you look up or down or anywhere, get it back to head level as soon as possible. Learn when your gun is at head level. I want it parallel to the ground so you can shoot and it will pop a guy 50 feet ahead of you in the head. If its a little low or a little high you won't be able to do this. This technique helps ALL THE TIME. Some good examples are going around corners, or situations where guys pop out at you and you have to pull the trigger without getting a chance to aim. It's good to know you can pull the trigger and generally have it fire at head level. This has saved my life countless times and has enabled to me to get such a high level of headshots and kills I normally wouldn't get. In fact I don't really aim for anything except for the head. You can also find some good information on headshots in my HK5K method thread on the Socom-2.com Tips & Tactics forum. You can find the thread here:
http://www.socom-2.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9628
If the terrain is bumpy, keep an eye out for possible ways an enemy could suddenly come from, and keep your crosshairs there and on what you guesstimate is head level. Move your crosshairs as you move your guy and try and keep it at what you think is head level where your aiming at.
Another great way to get your gun PERFECTLY at head level is just aiming at a teammates head while you run from the spawn! Then just keep the crosshairs at that approximate level as you move around. Also take into consideration the recall of your gun, and move the crosshairs up or down appropriately, until you think they are in a position where just a few shots would move it enough to pop a guy in the head.
#15 - Distractions / Diversions
This is an easy tip but one I haven't read on here nor really see anyone besides myself use. Anyway the whole idea is to throw nades towards where you want your enemies to go. Enemies are attracted by noise so if you have a teammate or two start chucking nades on one side of a map, you can guarantee that a bunch of enemies will be over there to check out whats going on. Smoke especially seems to attract people. Theres a bunch of reasons you can cause a diversion. One good reason is to distract the enemy team while the majority of your team rushes the opposite way and tries to get them from behind, or accomplish some other goal (plant bomb, extract, etc). It also works well in situations where its 1v1. Say its 2v1 demolition, you kill the guy with the bomb and scoop it up. Now theres one guy left between you and the plant. Throw a couple of nades on the other side of the map away from your position, it will distract him while you sneak in and plant. Remember two things, one, throw the nade as far as humanly possible away from your current position. Two, if you know where the guy you want to distract is located, make sure you throw the nade so he does not see it flying through the air because then he'll see where it came from and know where you really are. Anyway there are numerous uses for diversions, just realize how to do them and that they do work very well. Players in this game are drawn to sound like moths to light!
#16 - Keep an eye on your teammates!
Know where each member of your team is located. Keep an eye on who kills who. Often you can get a feel for where the enemy team is, and how many of them there are coming from a particular direction. When you see someone die on your team, throw a nade toward their fading name! I know that sounds basic but so many people DON'T do it, and they should. Also if you see any gaps in your perimeter, step up and fill it. Sometimes there are routes and paths left open and unless someone steps up and guards them, the whole team is put at risk because an advanced player will get behind everyone… and then its all over.
#17 Luring / Retreating
LuFeng taught me this technique so all credit goes to him. Anyway this technique is for use when a guy is chasing you, or your backing away from a situation because you know you'll get killed. You need to be in a spot where the guy(s) can't see you. As soon as your away from his line of sight (hopefully he saw you and is coming) hit L2 to switch to your nades, and then drop one on the spot, or quickly bounce it off a wall next to you. Start moving again and fire off a couple shots to let the guy know your still there. If you do it correctly he'll still be chasing you and should get blown away by the nade! You can also do it where the guy hasn't necessarily seen you yet, but you've seen him. Drop a nade and fire a couple of shots, hopefully he hears them and immediately starts coming to your location only to get blown the fugk up! Obviously you have to be real close to one another for this.
#18 - This is basic but a lot of people forget that if your the last guy left on your team, make sure you have a full clip!
#19 - Keep an eye out for dead bodies.
You can often spot an ambush up ahead if you see a couple of your teammates dead on the floor. Look around to where the enemy might be and chuck a few nades, tread cautiously, or go another route. Vice versa, if you have a good spot and you've killed a few guys and their bodies are lying all over the place.. you may want to move... good players will see their teammates bodies and realize what happened. If your still there you may just get killed by a nade or an organized groups of guys who know where you are. This especially goes for known and popular spots.. if you've got a popular spot and you've killed a few guys and their bodies are lying there.. well, you may want to consider moving to a new location.
#20 - The machine guns
Everyone says these are "newbie guns", but why? Each side has them, its not like the IW-80. Yet you rarely see them being used. People like to say they are noob guns because of the huge amount of ammo they carry which becomes a tremendous advantage when your enemy goes to reload. You just mow them down. However their aim is horrible, really. You counteract that by shooting a lot of bullets but if your enemy has any aim they can kill you first. Is it really a noob gun? I don’t think so. Both sides have the gun, and if it was the best gun in the whole game, everyone would use it. These simple facts make it one of the LESS noobish guns. Why? Because it’s on both sides! (unlike the noobish IW) The only other gun that’s on both sides is the M14.
The way you kill someone with the machine gun is by keeping it aimed at head level and only try and get headshots. They aim stinks but the recall is very manageable. Anyway I use the machine guns all the time, but mainly as Terrorist. Let's face it, the real rankup in this game is the SEALS. They clearly win more than 60% of the time, thus the game is uneven as each team should win 50% over time. Most people rather not be on Terrorist because they know this fact. Well when I'm on Terrorist I even up the odds by using the machine guns. It makes the game so much more even. Especially when you got some newbie Seal whose playing for the second time, yet looks like he’s a superstar because he’s using the IW.
#21 - Bounce nades off walls!
Nades bounce off walls quite well, so you can actually use this to your advantage. Instead of having to stick your body out or expose yourself, see if you can use the walls nearby to bounce the nade to where you want it to go. This comes in help in a variety of locations but most people don't realize this is so easy to do.
#22 - The Dolphin Dip
Most advanced players know how to do the funny looking dive/stand/dive/stand walk but did you know it really serves a purpose? It makes you look like dolphin diving down and popping back up, again and again, thats why I call it the Dolphin Dip. I'm not going to tell you how to do it if you don't know. Everyone knows about jumping all over the place and dipping up and down when your getting shot at by a sniper. But what about up close? This is a difficult tip but basically it just consists of doing the Dolphin Dip when theres a guy shooting at you, and diving underneath his gunfire. It's best used when a guy surprises you by popping out of somewhere and you don't have time to aim and kill him first, so smash that triangle button down and you should dive to the ground. Hit it again and if you do it right your guy should pop back up again, meanwhile get your crosshairs on the guy and hit the trigger as soon as you start to rise.. If you don't do it right and pop back up again your sure to die in prone.. While your doing this whole trick he missed you by firing straight ahead, and then they go to aim down at the ground when they see you dive.. but by the time he's aiming at the ground, you should be standing again.. So if you do it right you should pop him while he's aiming at the ground... if not, he'll still mostly be out of bullets and you'll be alive.. just do your thing.. This can also save your butt if you got a teammate nearby who can take the enemy down while you concentrate on staying alive.
#23 - Firing in midair!
It works, learn how to do it! It's so much fun when you got a guy below you somewhere and you just jump down with your crosshair on him and bullets spraying! Not only does it surprise the hell out of guys but you can kill them while your in midair.. and also it's harder to be hit when your in midair.. It also works good if you got a small group of guys below you and you feel like doing a suicide mission... jump down at them with bullets spraying in midair, land in the middle of them and just cause as much chaos as you can, firing everywhere.. Usually you can get them by surprise and guys panic and they end up killing each other along with you.
#24 - Think of what the other team is going to do.
Basically the name of this technique sums it up. If you don't know all the maps inside and out by now, playing as either team, stop reading and go learn them exactly. Then think about what you would do on the other team. Good players know what most of the guys on the other side are going to do, where they are going to run, the spots that they are going to nade, the direction they will take the hostages, etc etc. Learn the map and how best to play the map as if you were on the other team.
#25 - Go after the best guys on the other team.
This is easy to do. When your in the lobby, check out who the captains are. This isn't a rock solid indicator of whose going to be the deadliest on the other team, but it will give you an idea. Then once the game gets going, keep an eye on the other team and which players are doing the best and find out which way they are going by watching the text of whose dying and whose killing. Then go after these guys. Often you can change the course of an entire game by killing the other teams best player or two.
#26 - Get your enemies gun to not go up
Everyone knows that when your gun goes up to a 'shoot position', it's because theres an enemy nearby. Scan the area and find him quick! Of course if your an advanced player, his gun won't go up until it's too late. Heres how. Of course you already have your nades on Quick 2, and your gun on Quick 1. So when your camping, trying to hide or just be stealthy, hit quick 2 and pull out your nade. As long as you hold the nade, your enemies gun won't raise! So now when your hiding behind that wall, in that tree, or scouting enemy territory, your enemy may think the area is clear. This works especially well with lazy players who don't scan their environment and just rely on their gun. Then when your ready to shoot, hit Quick 1 and blast him before he can react!
#27 - Count Enemy Nades
Okay so nades come in sets of 3 right? If you have 3 nades, how many times do you throw all 3 at the same time? Exactly. A lot. That means when an enemy is throwing nades at you, he will throw them usually in sets of 3. I find this especially noticable at the beginning of a round... So if your rushing, or waiting under cover to move, count how many nades are landing around you and what kind of nades they are. Then move when you think they are done throwing, or a pause in between while they reset their Quick 2 to whatever they have next. (nade, mine, claymore, etc)
#28 - Get your enemies to friendly kill each other! (by LuFeng and AL)
Let's be honest, friendly kills happen all the time. Everyone is greedy for that kill, so they shoot their teammate in the head along with their enemy! It's happened to everyone, and everyone is guilty of it! Example-when in a firefight with 2 or more seals/terr try and weave around and let the friendly fire do your job and help you live! What happens when there are 2 or 3 on 1, greed or just pure carnage sets in and everyone WANTS THAT KILL NOMATTER WHO DIES!!!! It's rare that players show control and don't blast their friend along with the enemy whose right there! So jump in the middle of a group of guys and start firing, and bobbin and weavin. If two guys are facing each other and shooting you in the middle, theres a good chance they will kill each other along with you.. it's the same as getting 2 kills and dying, which is awesome. Usually you will see a team kill in this instance so make sure to put yourself in the middle, if theres a chance you could die to help your team by hurting thiers. Theres nothing you can really do except going nuts, shooting, bobbin and weaving, and trying to position yourself where the enemy will be shooting each other. (Okay heres another tactic, surround yourself with guys and have a teammate nade you! Thats right, cause a big commotion, get as many guys around you as possible, and blow them all up! I'd sacrifice myself to get 2-3 guys any day of the week! Let your team know what your going to do ahead of time so they know to nade when they hear/see you battling. This comes in handy in so many situations. Remember, living isn't what counts. Killing isn't what counts. WINNING counts. (Then come the secondary goals of getting kills for yourself and living.)
#29 - Hostages / VIPS
The thing that will drive your teammates nuts the most is when you accidently kill some VIPS or Hostages that you should be rescuing or guarding, and you give the win to the other team! Sometimes people mess up. It's the worst! It's embarassing and gets people mad at you. The thing is, it happens to everyone.
So if your a Terrorist, a lot of the time you can win by getting the Seals to kill the hostages accidently. Learn how to do it. Grab them fast and bring them to a place the Seals will nade, or position them so the Seals can't shoot at you unless they are also shooting at the hostages. My favorite map for this is Fish Hook, and I'm writing this up because just last night I went 8-0 on Fish Hook as Terrorist, and got MVP. The thing is, I didn't even go after Seals whatsoever. All I did every round was chuck 2 nades at the right beach, then ran back and grabbed the hostages, and then brought them to different spots each time... not even trying to kill Seals, b ut trying to get the Seals to kill the hostages. And it works.
You can do the same thing if your a Seal and your trying to extract some hostages (not VIPS). Run them over a Terrorist PMN mine and kill them all. The Terrorists get the kills and the Seals get the win. This is also a reason NEVER to plant PMN mines if your a Terrorist and guarding some hostages! Experienced players know this, it's usually the noobs that plant PMN mines all around the hostages.. only to have an experienced Seal come up, grab the VIPs and walk them right over the mine and get the win. So don't plant mines unless it's an Escort map - not extraction.
Also if the other team has killed 2 VIPS or hostages, you can just kill the last one, and your team will win. This doesn't matter if your Seals or your Terrorist. Get the other team to accidently kill 2 of them, and kill the last one yourself and get the win.
Ah yes, if your one of the last Terrorists left, and you have the hostages, you don't necessarily need to be near them so they follow you. Seals also can't grab them if you already have control, even if you are hidden away in the other side of the map. So sometimes you can stash the hostages in a certain spot, they still will be following you, but they can't go anywhere.. meanwhile you run and hide somewhere else. If you can't stash them, just run away from them and don't even worry about them. In fact, stay as far away as you can, and they will constantly be running to your position. It confuses the Seals because usually the Terrorist is right with the hostages... and it forces the Seals to come and find you, and sometimes you can get the draw. You can also bring the hostages and yourself to a small, defendable, spot where the Seals can't get at you without also accidently hitting the hostages. INSIDE the right breach on Fish Hook works great, so does the top of the boathouse (although everyone knows that one).. Also the smaller turret/tower on Blood Lake. I've gotten many draws there by climbing up the ladder and proning. The hostages just run aimlessly at the bottom of the ladder, the Seals know your there... but can't shoot you if your prone.... and if they throw nades, unless its placed perfectly, it will bounce to the ground and blow up the hostages. Keep an eye on the ladder for any Seals coming up. I'm sure theres more spots like this, so find them and use them, and don't worry about killing the other team, go for the draw...
#30 - MOVE and LOOK are independent
Exactly what the name of this tip says. Move and look are independent. Yet most players run around with their guy always looking to where they are going. The funny thing is, you don't need to do this. You can move one way while looking in a completely different direction, and this is something that is extremely helpful. A lot of the time, you may be trying to get somewhere, and theres plenty of teammates in front of you watching that way. If your in the rear, start running backwards and keep an eye behind your team! I always run backwards and it always helps! As you know, killing people from the rear is the easiest.. and how many times have you been dead before you know it from a guy shooting at you from behind? So if you move through an area, or you think someone may be behind you, or you just want to make sure, start running backwards. You can also make a beeline straight to a target, while simultaneously looking left and right, and up, and behind you. Yet most people don't. Use this technique to scan your environment while you move to where you want to go.
#31 - Use the spots that nobody else uses
Yeah theres tons of them on every map. One of the fun things about Socom is I'm always finding new spots to ambush people from. By using the spots that nobody ever uses, it gives me a much higher chance of success. At first when Socom came out, you'd expect the other team to look in every nook and cranny for you. But after a while, especially that since the game has been out forever now, everyone knows everything that every other good player does, and it's just repetition. Theres so many places on every map that players no longer even worry about, simply because they know that "Nobody uses that spot". So be the one to use it and get them by surprise while they walk by without even worrying about it! It might not naturally be the best spot, but now that the game has been out a year and a half it's a great spot because NOBODY uses it. Or theres those other spots that nobody would expect you because "Only noobs hide there". So surprise them by using a noob spot! Again, the bottom line is finding spots that people don't anticipate you to be.. for whatever reason.
#32 Mini Ambushes
STAY FROSTY. What this means is keep your cool at all times. A mini ambush is an ambush that you set up in the middle of a fire fight. A normal ambush (camping) is when your sitting in a bush or behind some rock, waiting for a guy to come along. It's the easiest kill you can ever get. A MINI AMBUSH is the same thing, only you set it up during the heat of combat. Nerves of steel are required here. If you are fighting against a guy and theres some sort of terrain around you, such as rocks, walls, trees, etc, use them to your advantage to set up a mini ambush. Almost everyone tries and puts things between them and the enemy during reloads or just plain old bad situations. A lot of times during a close quarters battle, you and your enemy can lose sight of one another, for just a second or two. It doesn't matter who puts something between you two, or whose hiding to reload. Either way, you can surprise the enemy by doing something completely unexpected by just getting behind something and STAYING COOL, not moving for a second or two, INSTEAD of just keep moving or popping back out to continue the battle. Get it? You can just stay crouched behind something only 5-15 feet from the guy and don't come out. Thats the hard part. For a second or two he'll think maybe you did something like that, but if you STAY FROSTY and just wait 5 seconds, he will automatically assume you went somewhere else and start moving or looking elsewhere, or even better, coming out in the open and walking towards you to check and see if your where he thought he saw you go, but meanwhile he's thinking "Theres no way he just stopped behind that ______ (box)." Then you pop out and get the easy kill. Works awesome among the rocks on Blood Lake, crates on Rats Nest, Frostfire, hell, just about any map has objects to hide behind. The thing is, most people when they get in a battle just keep spraying and moving and going all nuts, instead of just using their head and staying put behind a rock. This happens so absolutely infrequently, that nobody even suspects your hiding there! They ALWAYS think you must have moved somewhere else and they didn't see.
Anyway I hope these helped for now. Learn them because they do work... This FAQ will be edited on occassion to include new material. Happy huntin and maybe I'll see you on the battlefield.
One day the student will become the master. Let me know when your ready to challenge me!
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About the Author:
Al Giordino
TRLCKER98@hotmail.com
AIM handle: TRLCKER98
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