The Infantry In You
The most basic of roles you can take is the rifleman. Theirs is a job of wandering about and shooting things. You don’t generally get any fancy toys, or anything that sounds terribly fun to shoot. You do get a simple pat on the back for just staying alive.
Lets start with the basic kit
Rifle | 1 [most likely 5.56mm] |
Ammo | 200 – 300 rounds |
Bandages | 10 – 20 |
Entrenching Tool | 1 |
Earplugs | 1 |
M72A7 LAW | 1 |
Smoke [White] | 2 |
Radio AN/PRC-152 | 1 |
Map/Compass/GPS | 1 each |
Flashlight [Maglite XL50] | 1 |
So in this kit you have a rifle, and hopefully enough ammo for a few firefights. A radio so you can hear people. A couple of smoke grenades to create concealment. Earplugs so you can keep hearing things. An e-tool so you can make good cover. A flashlight so you can see your map in the dark. A map/compass/gps so you hopefully don’t get lost. An AT rocket to maybe deal with a lightly armored vehicle. And finally bandages for your wounds, which you will get.
Now that you know what you have, we need to cover some basic infantry combat ideas.
First, the most important thing is if you can see the enemy and haven’t been told otherwise shoot them. Shoot them a lot. Next up is to listen to squad/team leads. They will tell you where the group is moving, why, and what to look out for. They may also ask you to do things other than shooting or moving. Things such as “Hey throw a smoke grenade out over there” or “Grab the wounded guy and take him back to the medics”. Not your main job, which is shooting, but useful for everyone’s enjoyment.
Next is cover vs concealment. If you’ve been around the internet or FPS’s at all you will know these terms, however bear with me for a friend. Concealment is anything the stops the enemy, or friendlies from seeing you. This is useful because generally if you can’t be seen you won’t be shot. Sometimes this won’t work because of a variety of reasons that can be summed up with you have bad luck. Concealment will not stop any of the bullets now flying at your head. Cover however is like concealment, but it stops bullets. How much depends on what it is and what is flying at it. Stone will stop just about anything short of a tank round, which if you have bad luck will also be flying at you. At which point hope you get back into the fight sooner rather than later and have more fun.
Now, remember how you have both smoke grenades and an entrenching tool? Those provide concealment and cover respectively. They take 5 – 10 seconds to get up and during that time you are exposed, so take that into consideration.
Next up is the inevitable consequence of being shot. You have wounds, alt + windows key will let you open up your self menu and you can use your bandages to stop bleeding. If your screen turns old timey black and white, go see a medic about getting some extra blood, otherwise walk it off once you get patched up.
Now lets talk briefly about other roles you might see out there. Squad/Team lead, this is the guy who is running things. Hopefully hes not getting shot too much. He’s going to try his best to keep you in the fight and having a good time. Near him you might see a radioman or he might also double as the radioman. The radioman is there mostly for coordination and to make sure that Air, Ground, and Zeus are on the same page. Next is the Medic. He has plenty of goodies if you get wounded. Try to make sure he is covered and not dead. Then we have special weapons guys. This would include machine gunners and AT men. They are going to be carrying heavier weaponry than you and are going to need to set up and have a better idea about whats going on in a game sense. If you run into large amounts of infantry attacking you, or a bunch of armored vehicles, these are the guys you want on your side.
Finally we shall touch on some upgrades to your basic kit that you might consider. Firstly Grenades, yes frag grenades. Why didn’t I include those in the basic kit? Simple if you aren’t careful these hurt your allies a lot more frequently than the enemy. But if you are pretty good with them they can save you a bit. Next up is more grenades, namely the other colors. Red means danger, you pop one of those you can almost bet that an airstrike will be coming in soon. Green means friendlies, generally this is used to mark position so that air can tell where you are to not shoot you. Other colors are not earmarked for anything special so you are free to use them if you really want them. Sights are next. A simple holosight can be a nice upgrade if you don’t like the iron sights. If you want something a bit longer range an ACOG-alike is available. Anything with more zoom is probably not going to be terribly useful unless you have a larger round than 5.56mm.
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