Shaping the Battlefield - PlanetSide 2 Gameplay and Strategy

[@ThutoMolefi]

Wrel always sounds so calm even when streaming. This dude could be a pilot and be like "Hey there folks, Wrel here and I'll be your pilot today. We'll be flying through a tropical storm so you may experience some turbulence. With that said I'd like you to fasten your seatbelts and hope for the best, Wrel signing off."

[@Durbs012]

I agree with the sunderer ideology in theory, but in practice when it happens I've never seen it done for the right reasons. Friend of mine had a guy C4 his and then immediately put his own (deployed, not supplemental) sunderer in the exact same point. The only conclusion I can draw from that is that he wanted the experience for himself and his team instead of letting some random guy get rewarded for his placement. I've only ever seen it happen from the team the guy is on [which I'll redact], so while I understand where you're coming from I think that's where the community's frustration over that tactic comes from.

[@WrelPlays]

I've seen the "selfish Sundy TK" a lot in the past, much less now though, since Deploy Shields made Sundies more difficult to destroy by a single player, and doubly so, now that deploy zone radius has been decreased. Even so, I'd rather people at least start to think about when it's appropriate and when it's not.

[@fuzzythoughts8020]

Can admit I've TK'd friendly sundies to put my sundy in more or less the same spot. It was because while I was obviously maneuvering into a protected nook they drove up beside me and deployed, stealing the spot before I could plant mine regardless of how shielded the sundy is by the environment.

[@ssiriss2455]

The more I watch ur videos the more I enjoy them. The effort you put in to them really shows.

[@JasonMansfield]

I've been a huge fan of smoke for a while. It's a huge help when enemies are dug in and defending without moving, especially when they're shooting out from their spawn room.

[@ragingagent5040]

Light assaults are the kings of flanking. Get a few to cause trouble away from the front lines and people will go running to put out their fires. This will give the rest of your guys room to break through the now weaker line.

[@b4ux1t3-tech]

I am really glad I subbed to you a couple years ago. You are a great source of PS2 wisdom for me to absorb upon my return to the game/

[@WrelPlays]

Glad you still enjoy the channel! Thanks for the support.

[@dragoncrystal24]

Very interesting video. I think I'll definitely use some of these methods to strengthen my forces. Already I've been using sundy placement to give my allies better places to spawn. One of the biggest times I've seen this used was when attacking a tower somewhere in esamir. We were attacking from the ground straight at it. Complete cert farm both ways, but we were losing momentum. As a sniper, I was looking for a good spot to take out tower guys, and saw a cliff to one side of the tower. After parking a sundy at the top of the cliff, the battle completely shifted. People spawned like crazy up on the cliff, and we were able to suppress most of the resistance on the tower, at least for a while.

[@edwardkaashoek1122]

Nice vid Wrel! I think the best way to use smoke is when there is a lot of enemy maxes, engies en medics. You throw your smoke and then enjoy your easy C4 group kill.

[@pokebreaker]

This reminds me of an unintended lecture I made about 10 ago on Reddit, concerning tactic viability with Light Assaults, and why they get the negative attention they do. "Unfortunately in war games, it's hard to measure the value of certain things that can't be statistically captured. For instance, Suppression. The act of suppressive fire does not net you any points (in most games) and it can't be tracked anywhere, so there is no way to tell how well it's working. However, suppression DOES have an effect on the battlefield, being that it can (and often does) cause a delay in the forward progression of the enemy. Therefore allowing your forces to move forward with "less" danger, as the enemy is trying not to get killed; as well as potentially buying friendlies time to reinforce positions (running from spawn or redeploying). I'm sure we can all think of times in PS2 where we were pinned down behind a wall or a rock (or inside of a Teleporter/Spawn Room), While the enemy may not be able to hit you, the bullets flying your direction are enough to make you stay behind cover until there is a break in the firing (reloads, enemies killed/suppressed). In this game, most people aren't trying to suppress, but to kill, and are just bad shots. This also does not mean that there won't be people that run out and get themselves killed anyway. Now to my main point. The Light Assault has the ability to create disruption, misdirection, and chaos on enemy positions. They can harass the enemy to get them to change their focus from that of moving toward the point, to that of trying to find this person constantly picking them off one by one on their flanks. If an LA can redirect 10 or more enemies in his/her direction (that is opposite of the point), that is 10 or more enemies not moving directly towards the point. As we all know, EVERY second matters in PS2, because you can lose a base at 1 second left on the cap. Just as with suppression, there is no way to measure the effectiveness of a Light Assault's work (if they are doing it with disruption in mind, which most aren't). Although it can be somewhat similar to the tactic of backcapping a base behind an enemy zerg, FORCING the zerg to come back or risk losing territory; therefore relieving pressure on your friendly forces at the previous location. Since leaders can't count how many enemies were redirected, it is assumed they are not effective (and they are usually right) All that being said, MOST players are not YET capable of playing a Light Assault, even in it's basic usage, let alone advanced tactics focused on supporting the main effort by redirecting enemies. An LA's mobility is a MAJOR advantage. One that is often used very lightly to get into a location, but not to get out. Players will get a height advantage and camp that spot, instead of consistently moving around, keeping the enemy wondering where the hell they are. Movement is also what keeps the LA alive longer. Sorry for the wall of text... I have more to say, but I feel I should cut myself off. I think I met my daily text quota..." -Pokebreaker

[@ChertovBaobab]

Good tips. Also, lemming analogy is briliant! :3

[@cliffordanderson6651]

Sometimes when a small battle feels stagnated, I choose to grab my light assault and C-4, and try and find the sunderer the enemies are spawning at. By taking it town, I completely reverse the fight and the enemies seem to "magically" disappear.

[@WinterSoldier-oz6zb]

Yaaayyy, good to hear your voice again wrel. One thing that I have often found is extremely effective is a well positioned spawn beacon (for example in a tree on hossin). Watch some of Moukass's videos on team play if you want to see it done right.

[@xMElpx]

Sometimes its interesting how people want to fight tactical, but have no idea what they are doing. When I was BR 11 or so, and when we were loosing a base in my old team, they just said, push them out. I said: "Dudes, they have 70% overpop." Nobody cared. And then surprisingly they said: "Oh, better move to another fight". Or I said, lets put some C4 on a flash and drive it at the sunderer. Same thing. And I think you all know from life that first experiences are most important. Just do me a favor and hear at all people in your squad even if they are new. The ideas are sometimes great. Oh, little tip for shaping the battlefield: Take an infiltrator hack the enemie vehicle turret and spawn a sunderer. With this method I changed a really big fight. Its the little thing......or people :)

[@Fusiondax1]

always very pertinent and very interesting, keep up the good work.

[@Ideeem]

Usually when fights freeze, I switch to trusty engie with sticky and proxi and get some kamikazee multi-kills. It never gets old.

[@KAINReNz0rakaReNe]

nice vid man, keep them comming :) Shaping the general community in how to exploit and advance in the art of war will only give us a more enjoyable game.

[@betmynamespookedyou4665]

It's awesome when you say "Hey guys, Wrel here"

[@jcj94brony]

My favourite trick to pull the tide of the fight, Suicide C4 Fairy. 2 bricks of C4 tossed into a room and clicked has a huge impact, especially when that room is a cap point. It may take 12 deaths to get there, but so long as you swap out the route you take, you'll get your kill.

[@YinYangGreen]

My buddy and I run harassers almost exclusively, so to push a fight along, base allowing, we pull a canister with stealth and basically act as a really big but fast max. Not only does this result in a lot of dead enemies, but our presence at the front lines gives allies cover and clears a way, forcing them to advance to shoot at things. Often times we'll get to the point and take it and hold it.

[@rastordusquick686]

how about you and your 2 or 3 squadmates hop in a valkyrie, get behind ennemy lines (empty ennemy base behind the one you're attacking) hack the terminal, spawn 1 sunderer each and dispatch them all around the ennemy base to provide several spawn at once. this worked a lot of time for us.

[@55445]

This. ALL of this. I cannot describe how much of this. But this.

[@90simissthe]

i have found personally if a battle is starting to stall out and people are not pushing if you just or just your squad start a good push it will convince other people to start moving up it's best to do it from like a diagonal to the enemy rather directly at them the goal or more to get your team to see you pushing rather then getting kills me and my friends call it putting on a parade

[@mightyzog]

One thing you didn't seem to mention is the usage of sunderers when defending a base. That is, rather than spawning directly at a base under attack, I redeploy to the next nearest friendly base, pull a sundy, and drive it back to the base we're defending. The idea is to open up a new front and attack the enemy from an unexpected direction. This is particularly important when being spawn camped, but I've gotten to the point where whenever I deploy into a base under attack, I immediately redeploy to the next nearest base, pull a sundy and drive it back to the base under attack. It does two things (1) enables attack from an unexpected direction and (2) if the enemy does manage to cap the base, your team can immediately counter attack by deploying at your sunderer.

[@broonfondlemajik1798]

So glad I found this vid. The amount of times I've looked at spawn locations and thought 'why is this even here??' and subsequently I've been forced to destroy them. I feel bad about it. But when I look at the map and see how badly the faction is loosing ground because so many people are spawning at a location where we frankly have no reason to be there I feel forced to act and ruin someone elses plan. The crown is a prime example. It baffles me why the game puts so much emphasis on going there even if we have no link for 3 hexes. Its maddening.

[@kobold90]

I can at least tell you why my sunderer is at that shitty place. When all the good places are blocked, I'll park my sunderer in the gap. A bad sunderer is better than no sunderer and when all the good sunderers died you'll have a place to spawn and keep the enemy busy until a new sunderer stands at a better place.

[@broonfondlemajik1798]

I'm not talking about a mass of sunderers with some in bad places. I'm talking about only 1 sunderer in a terrible place getting blueberries slaughtered in a place with no tactical value / encouraging them all to snipe counter-productively.

[@mr-littlecubeoid6578]

this is why i like this game shaping the battle is so fun

[@Alpha00Fox]

"Dealing with public players is like building bridges for lemmings"-Wrel 2015 I had to stop and laugh for a good long while after that.

[@MegaDerf110]

Badly placed sunderers and, even more, sunderers undeployed without any reason during battles are one of the main cause of defeat for the TR of Miller. I've been in so many good fights and then, when I'm about to respawn, someone decides to move his sunderer (that then gets destroyed after 5 minutes of unsuccessful parking attempts).

[@googleoperationcyclone]

Usually I just focus vehicles with my light assult build. Ambusher jets, c-4, no fall damage iso, typhoon rockets, and switch between a Lynx, and a shotgun for any infantry.

[@OmegaChoad]

This game is out on ps4 very soon. Its the main reason I got a ps4 over xbox one. Cant wait.

[@olstar18]

Sounds like me when I get tired of fighting over that last sundie at a base we're defending and take my light assault on a c4 run. Ends up with a severly damaged sundie and several dead engineers along with a bunch of people who used to be holding the stalemate at whatever choke point facing me instead of where my platoon is now pushing out.

[@HorkSupreme]

Had a base assault where I spammed smoke and we finally were able to take the base after 15+ minutes or so. I hate IR/UV scope, it seems like the majority of time it is useless (way too bright to see properly), when indoors, in shadow and in smoke.

[@Acedew]

shoving a few bricks of c4 in a group of allies has always helped me shape a battle :)

[@isaacpendragon]

I'd love to blow up Sundies that are just there to mess the battle flow (like the ones parked on top of Broken Arch Road cliffsides), but I just can't get myself to do it. :/

[@MagicalProductionFIN]

Wrel What do you think about this little idea I had: Boats. If SOE is gonna add new continents would you like there to be water combat? I think it would be cool and something new the game and I can't see really any downsides to it.

[@Sobergrey]

Then we'd need a water whale, and maybe a giant tank for the land whale. Gogo Whaleside 3

[@MagicalProductionFIN]

But if there'd only be a fighter boat thingy, a bigger ship for troop transportation (it would have 12 seats and be cheaper than Galaxy) and a small fast one that would be vulnurable to small arms fire

[@Sobergrey]

Aww, no submarines? No underwater bases? No diving suit MAX? :(

[@baron8107]

Better Idea: Lakes. At least then there'd be an explanation for calm water.

[@zancospancos]

add a 'gills' implant for limitless fun beneath the waves... and little mermaid themed costumes for Vanu

[@gerryw173ify]

What if I did want to farm certs? Some of us people aren't exactly flowing in certs Wrel.

[@AFBBProductions]

I once blew up my OWN sunderer even though it was well placed, in fact it was too well placed and because it stayed alive, the enemy was already back capping and the only way we could save the previous base was to destroy the current sunderer so the pubs would spawn at the nearest base.

[@fetB]

well, you could have just undeploy it

[@Eleolius]

***** But that wouldn't be nearly as fun.

[@andrewbakkas2211]

Wrel where did the soft point/high velocity ammo comparison video go?

[@minshd]

Great video on tactics! You get my cookie!

[@bensmrz8131]

Hey Wrel I know that there has been quite a bit of controversy over some of this video but what your saying is ultimately true, if a sunderer is causing more problems than solutions, eliminate the sunderer!

[@dstubby82]

I almost never quick spawn. I find it's always worth it to take that few moments of down time to look at the map to see the flow of battle.

[@Frang14998]

What does this symbol mean? At 0:21 the )( symbol.

[@fulmetalmage]

i have recently come back to the game. and noticed the quick respawn button, i imagine a lot of newer players use it but i dont have any emperical data so its just a guess. however personally i think its a terrible idea to use it 99% of the time. using the map to respawn gives you at least an overview of whats going on and what you can expect when you respawn. if you see 2 enemy mbt on the sundi that you are spawning at, spawn as engi or heavy or la with c4 and try and try to rep the sundi or take out the tanks. without a map overview before you spawned you could not have known might have spawned your smg infiltrator and just got blown up. as you say, if you loose a sundi you loose momentum.

[@BRiCKsld]

Nice camo on your Sunderer !

[@saturnGEEK]

On Briggs NC, it's practically impossible to shape battles, since every single outfit pretty much has some form of beef with each other, and in turn every player has 3 enemies to deal with: VS, TR, and their own faction NC. Any attempts to shape the battle so that NC has better odds in winning the battle are completely destroyed by friendly players, whether they go against what the major outfits are doing, or the fact that players just want to stay in the same spot all of the time & be farmed infinitely.

[@Xios505]

I absolutely agree with you on destroying badly placed sunderers: I've done it before and I'd do it again. Having pubbies spawning in the wrong place effectively alters the centre of mass of the entire force and often results in good, even fights being torn down in one or two minutes due to the opposing force moving into strategic positions they otherwise couldn't have. If you *know* you know better than someone - do it.

[@erkki542]

whats the current player cap per continent?? i heard it was reduced from 2000 to 1200 in some patch. havent played ps2 for a long time and thought of coming back :)

[@virgilgreyson905]

Wait you can modify INI settings to disable smoke grenades?

[@yelectric1893]

Hi Wrel, do you have any advice for cqb trac 5 users, because I only have 30 certs and it is going to take a LONG time to grind. Maybe what sights to use, Where to hit, And more faction specific information for new players. (I have been playing this for a year and Im only level 27)

[@OrpheusKeys]

Excellent video! Hey wrel what do you think of ps2 coming to ps4? Do you think it will have a positive impact on the community?

[@billy_cross]

yeah I blow up stupidly position sunders all the time it's annoying when you spotted a sunburn and you have to run right past the boatload of people camping the spawn room or or you got to run past the vehicle spawn which is also usually a hotbed of activity or it's just too far out and for whatever reason you keep spawning at it

[@Eleolius]

Wrel. Good thinking. Amoral a bit, but good thinking. All that said: I would only be okay with the tactic if blowing up a friendly sunderer cost the player who blew it up nanites- and paid them to the TVK'd player's nanite balance. Because that way, you would be able to destroy a bad one, but it would cost you, and allow the guy to instead at least go buy a MAX or a tank or something nearby. I also think that if you blow up a friendly sunderer (Meaning doing more than 50% of it's hp in damage to it, and achieving the killing blow), it should disable the AMS on your own sunderers for about 10 minutes. Because that way, sunderer placement stealing would stop. Just some ideas. Though, the video was great. I honestly wish I had the opportunity to play with you sometime. If only to be able to learn from you. Your Thoughts On Better Gaming series has really had a big impact on my gaming life, in the past six months. I appreciate it!

[@FSXPro2001]

What gun is he using when firing off the balcony explaining the smoke?

[@ParadoxicGer]

Hey Wrel, where did your HVA/SVA video go? Was there something wrong with it? I wanted to get some info it and now it is gone:/

[@fetB]

on his twitter he said he pulled it for now cause of a possibly major oversight

[@Sobergrey]

What kind of video settings do you have? I've never seen any metal object in my game shine the way they do in yours.

[@SweatyControles]

What is your NS-7 Heavy Assault loadout? Thanks!

[@Tortalino]

I have a big problem. My vehicles and planes have no upgrades or weapons. They are weak and pathetic and I lack the certs to upgrade them properly especially since I'm trying to upgrade my infantry. So, how much can I do as a foot soldier? (excluding maxes and smoke which you mentioned)

[@hfyccfjg3494]

Even though this is old, you can do a lot of stuff as infantry. Vehicles are more of the transporters, they'll clear the path into the bases. But it's the infantry that are necessary for capping. Some play sessions I have never gotten into my own vehicle, instead I've been gunning another or just getting dropped off at an enemy base by a galaxy. Maxes are kind of useful for things like max crashes. But, it's more of play style than anything. If you find yourself playing more infantry than vehicles, you could just focus your infantry first.

[@jeffwu5210]

hi wrel i have question.... how many anti-tank mine the engineer can carry? did they change that? I watched your video about the deployment shield and you carried 5 tank mine??

[@kristianjensen5877]

With the Munitions Pouch suit slot equipped on the Engineer you get to carry extra AT mines at certain levels. I think level 2 and 4 allows you to carry additional AT mines, while level 1 and 2 allows one extra C4 each and level 5 allows you to carry a single additional AI mine. It's horribly expensive in certs though.

[@TigerAceCrew]

Then there is me, being the "dickflitrator", who sneaks in the enemy base, kills people every now and then, sabotages terminals, turrets, kills important people (engineers repairing their tanks/nearby Maxes) and keeps a dozen or so people in wild goose chase, creating chaos, and maybe providing intel for my squad. I am not really a good "front line" person. I have my moments, but I usually get picked off easily. But Stalker Inflitrator is really my thing. And if all else fails, I can always whip out a turret in a cleverly angled spot to anger defenders and rack up a hundred or so takedowns (kills and 70%+ assists), which is I guess better than nothing.

[@meemops268]

What's that gun he using the first time with the smoke

[@billy_cross]

one thing you didn't mention is simply destroying the enemies spawn points when you're defending and you're in a pitched battle that's been going on for a while you have to go out and destroy spawn point and squad beacon.

[@darkspacex]

what do you think about the new cont. koltyr?

[@gunfumaster1024]

Best thing to do against Prowler artillery mode is to just have a stalker hide behind them and deploy a spawn beacon. Someone will definitely have C4 and at least distract the tanks. If you thing about it, a Magrider is good against a Prowler because of the afterburner, a Vanguard is good against a Magrider because of the magnetic shield, and the Prowler is good against a Vanguard because of the artillery mode at long range.

[@LordCommissarDrac]

never thought about that o_o (prowler user here) I think the TR needs a close range prowler gunner weapon like the vanu saroon and the NC...whatever the hell that cannon you all use is called but something like that, the mini chaingun is terrible for the prowler at anything beyond 50m and that is not where a prowler should be.

[@larryvickers2480]

AJloverftw32 Halberd?

[@gunfumaster1024]

Larry Vickers Enforcer.

[@LordCommissarDrac]

Larry Vickers the halberd is still not as good as the Enforcer or Saroon at range and has a much larger punishment incase of a miss

[@larryvickers2480]

AJloverftw32 That's true but the mini gun is better than both up close. The Halberd seems the only choice. You COULD go basilisk, it's not as terrible as it looks, plus it would be decent vs infantry.

[@xXPhoenix19Xx]

Ooooh New wrel vid

[@armycraft20]

Has wrel a 16:9 monitor? Just becouse its feels like this is the best scale for me.

[@Aca969]

What happened with your'e SPA vs HVA video?

[@k2k4]

Omg I'm not the only person who gets pissed off royally when I spawn with quick spawn and I am stuck in the useless area between the biolab and the adjacent base and 200m from the nearest jump pad or teleporter. I swear spawn locations that bad are how emeralds tr lose so often. twenty of our guys suddenly respawn 200m from the battle where they aren't any help to capping.

[@UncleBoom]

Always find a way to make me feel stupid wrel lol, Thanks for the Videos. As a dumb public player I have the opposite issues, I have trouble reading the map, knowing what icons mean what and at what status the icons are - what I need to do in those various stages, and how the status of locations effects what I'm doing. Its a lot of learning for a game I dont find social AT ALL. NO chance to even try to ask other players what icons mean- or why I spawn out at a quiet base for no reason- or why I can't repair base turrets which show red even though the region is firmly in our control... No Way to figure it out without devoting lots of time to it. True, I'm not scrolling through the forums or applying for outfits, I'm just trying to learn how to be effective. alas, recently I stopped playing PS2, and unless some friends start wanting to play it - I'll probably quit before my first weapon unlock. I play support, I watched your cert videos and its not new to me. I'm racking in "Solid" point totals per spawn - yet, the silence of players and Lack of Any Coordinated Effort at ALL makes this game really strange, considering it is made to be played with so many people at such a large scale. it actually pisses me off now, that No One tries to even Listen - much less Mic Up in a game like this. It's really strange - and for all the effort to simplify information for a new player like me- I feel buried by it's complexity.

[@yoyojoe618]

If a sunde is sitting in the ground bay of a bio-lab during a seige, would it be being useless?

[@yoyojoe618]

I mean a defending factions sunde.

[@WrelPlays]

yoyojoe618 No. It serves as a way for players to immediately pop into the vehicle bay when they spawn in, which saves some time. Also, if that sunderer is running AoE repair or ammo, it can repair or resupply allied vehicles when they pop in to hide from enemy fire.

[@Namelesswhirl]

It's always easier to shape the battlefield when you're in a squad of like-minded people (ie an outfit) It's awesome when you, or your squadmate sees something that can be done. So you mobilize and destroy their convoy. But I have found it hard to shape the battle when no one in the squad wants to fallow my orders. Ether they think that crashing there face on that brick wall is fun, or they don't understand that it's better for your team to move forward. I have been leading squads on and off for the last two years, and I have seen plenty of both. Exciting & depressing, but you have to remember that the best thing you can do is train the new recruits how to work together. Although as I have seen, and no doubt others know it can be pretty hard to do.

[@runescaper1333]

Did you remove the soft point bullet video?

[@maxximuss]

the best way to shape a battle is to give out intel on general coms, i know alot of people don't like talking on it, but those lemmings wouldn't be lemmings if they knew what the game plan was, and in almost ever case where people share useful intel in coms, it shapes the battle,

[@Ookamimoon66]

Hi Wrel are you signed up for the ps4 beta?

[@heliowolf5042]

Shaping the battlefield in SP2 something I, a terrible fps player with little experience, and a low end pc learned very quickly. Not bragging just saying is really is not super hard even as an individual if you think tactically a bit. What I did was run to the front line as a engineer and set up an anti infantry turret absolutely as far forwards as possible, preferably in a narrow corridor and then just fire constantly. I would die many times waiting on the turret to set up but when I succeeded I would often noticeably shift the battle line in our favor.

[@kelemenszabo1467]

Very interesting video, and I definitely agree with most of the strategies in this said. One thing that really bothers me, however, is that the spawn beacon simply isn't effective enough in my opinion. It's too easy to spot and has a cooldown for spawning on it. I feel that Battlefield 4 handles the spawn beacon much better, making it easier to hide, but still emitting a beeping noise to anyone in close proximity. The ability to place out indoors too not have to parachute (or drop pod in Planetside) is also something that the spawn beacon in Planetside 2 could use. Besides, you're put in a squad by default in Battlefield, which makes the beacon more useful in itself. When it comes to destroying poorly placed allied sundies, you may feel justified in your actions, but the owner of the sunderer and the inexperienced players spawning in it definitely won't, and this just comes down to a lack of perspective. In their eyes, you just wasted their 400 nanites and a lot of their time, and they would probably have a hard time listening to anything you have to say after having seen you pull such a douchey move. I would suggest trying to negotiate instead. Tell the inexperienced players to switch to light assault and jump down to push the objective, or tell them to spawn on a better placed sunderer, in this case yours, instead. I think this would still have the same, if not a better effect and both parties will see a positive outcome. What do you think?

[@liambass4416]

I tried negotiating with a br8 today who was trying to lead a squad, i wanted to lead the squad as i was the second highest br in the squad (45), he didnt even reply and just kept on trying to attack the facility. We didnt capture it by the way, in fact we lost the place we were attacking from, which was Abandoned NS Offices.

[@davidritchie1678]

A Sunderer next to their spawn location seems to be a common mistake. You want it close to the point but you don't want their spawn separating you from your Sundy.

[@kingnight4823]

obvious tactic: flanking: if you got to armor zergs butting heads try to either get a sundie with AT maxxes engies heavys or some how get armor behind them [this is where the tr shine in my opinion with there annoying but fun shoot from a mile away prowler]

[@zj6074]

The average pub won't ever think of that. They'll make a beeline for wherever the nearest enemies are. Tactical units use this all the time to great effect but the pubs cant ever figure it out. Only way its possible is to park a sunderer in a very close flanking position. Even still, doing so puts the sunderer at such great risk that it is hard to generate pressure before the spawn point is lost.

[@GuiltlessGaming]

Yeah, I do this as vanu with comets. It's op. But since everybody else is stupid af, I have no engineer to supply me when I'm out.

[@kingnight4823]

ya but even as a squad could do it. if its a 2platoon vs 2platoon fight one splits its forces in half and attack from the other side making a crossfire but it does weaken the main front making it possible for that front to falter.

[@Nuclearburrit0]

I remember this one fight were my faction would capture a base then for a few min switch to infiltrators to kill the people who were pulling sunders from the next hex over then as light assault captured that hex... All without a platoon

[@Finnv893]

are you gonna review the raven after soe nerfs it???

[@PsychopathicCake]

Wrel is there such thing as head glitching in PS2? I've never seen it. XD so I was wondering if you encounter head glitching.

[@WrelPlays]

Nah, not sure I have. Bullets fire from the camera, and the camera is located closer to your chest in PlanetSide 2.

[@jonasga]

I find rocket podders shaping my battlefield. I always find myself swapping to dual burster to make a lonely rocket podder rage quit, and then not wanting to drop my MAX right away. That rocket podder usually ends up getting 20 of his more honorable a2a fighting friends killed because I like to get use out of any MAX I spawn :P

[@kaizokuAUTO]

Hey wrel.I have a question.What recording system do you use to make your Planetside 2 videos?I have an R7 260x grahpics card which can run Planetside 2 at about 80-200 fps on low settings (because I hate flashy lights on ultra) but whenether I record with Fraps I get about 15-30 fps, which is quite frankly disgusting.Any ideas?

[@roidroid]

I'd be more inclined to agree with your Sunderer TK point if this game was really about winning territory. But it's not. For a lot of players **the game is mostly about fun and earning certs**, not winning territory. To demand they do otherwise, by using violence to destroy their property (their Sunderer), is a morally questionable act on your part. As you pointed out in another video, there's no real end-game goal in PS2. So to use such violent methods to push your own ideas for overall strategy and your personal goals onto your faction is a dick move. If we knew you were going to blow up our shit, we'd TK you **on sight** everytime we saw you, and would be perfectly justified in doing so. Because wow, fuck right off.

[@ZippytheHappyChimp]

Really, this whole video would be more accurately entitled "Ways to make the game less fun for others, for your benefit." No-one likes smoke, and smoke works because no one, friend or foe, has fun in it. The choice is TK or go away. Back capping, and TKing sundies fall in that same category.

[@WrelPlays]

You make a good point, but it comes down to what you consider more enjoyable. If you can tell me with a straight face that you've never been frustrated by your fellow teammates' lack of action, I'd be very, very surprised. How many times have you seen an "evenly matched" fight completely shut down because players refuse to leave the spawn room? Even the people inside the spawn room, shooting out of it, aren't having a good time. But what if there was a way to make the fight more enjoyable for everyone involved? Sometimes, a slight inconvenience now can create a lot of value later.

[@bloodffox705]

I agree with roidroid . You can´t forse everyone Wrel to play a meta game just because you want to. I personally tried a meta game, i joined a clan active in such ways (scrims, comunity clashes, and strategic plays around map) , and i didnt enjoy it even for a second for many reasons i wont specify. Last few months the leaders started using word "random players" . There are no random players, there are only players, the name "random players" is just used by those who are trying to do meta suff, wich works not because people are not interested in it or eventually get outzerged or whatever, are depressed and justify the fails on the lack of interest of other players. But they have no rights to blame them, since game is free and everyone can fit his favourite role and play how they wants. You dont like the fight? Press the redeploy button, thats what it is for? Fight another, this was in one of your´s videos Wrel. Doing a selfish moves just as spaming smokes on frontlines,or justifying to TK enemy sunderer because YOU think personally this leads nowhere, because YOU dont like the tide of battle, because YOU dont enjoy the battle is more selfish then you would ever imagine. You dont have the rights to do it, whatever the part of community , we are all equal and we demand to play game how we want, not how bunch of people realize , they want us to play, it´s not how games work. Therefore, this video has some points, but most of them are leading me to conclusion "im selfish and you obey" , not even a bit in "meta game". You are talking about shaping the fight trough motivating allied forces by some unconvential methods. But how about to think trough it, place a wiser sundee, people will discover it´s better position, that´s how PS2 works. The bad sunderer stays there, and gets no spawns anymore. How about to flank enemy defences and put a sundee behind, destroy the line of tanks from behind with stealth squad, or even 2 man army MBT works like that. I´d like to praise the smoke on points, but you know, IR/NV scope on Medium / Low is just broken and highlights nothing, instead, everything is bright. And i bet 90% of comunity is running maximally on medium if they want to keep some frames in pocket. That means, i cannot use IR/NV, because it´s simply broken, and SOE can´t fix it for like half a year now? So yeah, i´m avoiding smoke fights for a racionally good reason. Despite that, honestly, how many places the smoke on point? Majority just wastes the grenade in the middle of friendlies, because they think it´s so funny. To sum up my point is: You must rely more on individual actions of yours turning the tide of battle manipulating enemy forces, despite forcing people on your team to do what they obviously can´t figure out themselves. Cheers.

[@leitwolf101]

Wrel But Wrel like you alrdy said, not every Player has the same point to play Game. Maybe the owner of the sundi wants to farm for his Directives or another player has a great farm at the moment and now you come in and destroy it only for your sake as a objectiv Player. If you would kill my Sundi i would TK you the whole day cause you destroyed the fun for me.

[@bloodffox705]

leitwolf101 Of course you would and most of the victims would. Because people are not interested in meta they dont understand. Wich is ofcourse understandable. That means for you, it´s just another teamkiller, for him, it´s a vision of better fight. But that you don´t understand meta is actually absolutley okay. Game is meant to be fun, however there is a faction of people trying to work some tactics around it. For most of us, me included, game is meant to be fun, and i can say that, when i tried both competitive clan and fun-based playing with friends. I enjoyed the second more. So i´d part sides with you and farm-or not, i dislike the idea to turn the tide of battle by basically negatively afecting your teammates to force them do stuff you want them to do, because you simply enjoy it.

[@Poporitown]

Regardless of whether or not it is "moral" to blow up a friendly Sunderer, the title of the video is "Shaping the Battlefield - PlanetSide 2 Gameplay and Strategy", and removing a spawn point from the map does indeed change the fight, for better or for worse.

[@Sobergrey]

If I had my way, any TKed vehicle (Within a reasonable percentage of damage done by teammates, 80% or more maybe) would subtract its cost in nanites from the killer. Or, at the very least, block the killer from using explosives for a certain amount of time.

[@PureVanilla18]

How well could I run this? CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory Storage: Seagate Barracuda 250GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card Case: Deepcool TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

[@EnchanetdSomething]

Interesting with the TK on a shitty Sunderer. I generally wouldn't, but there have been times when I perhaps should have. Instead, I tend to rely on fellow squads spawning from smart locations and carrying the battle. Whether the BR1-10s are in the right place or not doesn't actually worry me as most of them tend to accidentally kill me anyway. Let them spawn on the mountain and snipe.

[@alexanderrenner5252]

Am I the only one who goes to the search bar whenever Wrel says he could dedicate another vid to x, y, or z?

[@bentaylor839]

What are lemmings?

[@BassmeantProductions]

i guess i find it surprising that players don't know this stuff already. how many years of cod must one play to not know the basic principles behind tactical gameplay? good on you making the video, bad on them for needing it in the first place. my hope is that ps2 pushes the entire industry into big game mode which will force players to adapt and get better or get weeded out. at a certain point, no amount of videos will help if they just don't get it.

[@jhuntalattad7922]

Actually in a zerg fight i kinda enjoy it even by dying, because its funny how i go back to their backs than just backstab them(in the HOSSIN map).

[@TheGhostAvatar]

Most of this was based around shaping the battlefiled in terms of offense. What about the defense game play.

[@Gendgi]

very cool video

[@Semmarv]

Fucking hell. Wrel just recommended smoke. Gonna be team-killing a lot of people this week. "It doesn't work well as a screen, but as a general annoyance". You said it yourself. It's great for trolling people on both sides. That's it.

[@Eleolius]

People need to get up and move sometimes. I hate when shooting galleries happen. Now, I don't think spamming it everywhere is a fun mechanic. I do think if it's done selectively... as Wrel's clip showed, it would be good. However, most players don't have smoke launchers anyway.

[@ace0071000]

Actually, I would be using smoke if not HE-GL and flash nades. I so much hate the moments, when you have MORE forces than enemy on the outpost, but loose it, cause most players are like: "Hell, I'll stay at the spawn room, cuz they are SHOOTING outside"

[@azure7687]

Been looking for a game with strategy that isn't league of legends this seems like a good fit. :}

[@pantheis]

As part of the Devil Dogs, I'd never TK a Sunderer, no matter how badly placed. I'll just wait for the badly placed one to get blown up and then move in.

[@GabeKMC]

How do you get so much xp for kills? i only get 110

[@GabeKMC]

and also what are your graphics settings at? If you reply, It will help very much :D

[@jhuntalattad7922]

Gabe The Man I think in one video i saw his graphics is high and ultra except the shadows and particles is low(maybe)

[@GabeKMC]

jhun talattad yewa i found out, if you'd like to know, reply

[@weatherchildlp1884]

What I hate is when I get trash talk for "camping" or controling an enemy vehicle terminal. When I am looking over a terminal I kill people at the terminal not for kills but to prevent them from bringing new vehicles to the fight. Sometimes I go to a base where most of the enemy armor comes from and try to control the terminal. It is amazingly effective becouse you seriusly hamper the enemy ability to bring armor to the fight.

[@Eleolius]

While it's kind of a valid tactic... It is kind of anti-fun. Shooting people while they're on a vehicle terminal is... well, a bit artless. You're shooting people who are helpless to fight back, and will 99% of the time have no reason expect- or DETECT you before you kill them. And I don't mind getting killed off of terminals, if it happens before my nanites are spent. But when you kill after they hit vehicle spawn, they lose the nanites- and it doesn't even spawn the vehicle. That is the more annoying thing. If it's a frontline or very populated terminal, I don't mind. But I hate when I spawn at a terminal and die- when no one has used it in the past 10 minutes. Because the person doing that isn't doing it to help their team- they're actually hurting it by not being elsewhere- or pulling armor at the terminal I just used- and back raging my own team. I guess I also think there's something wrong with players who only play one way, and one way only. I know players who will -only- camp vehicle terminals. Or Will -only- fly ESFs. I sit there watching ESF pilots fly ESFs- they're out of nanites... they wait at the air spawn for 5 minutes. It's kind of... cheap, to me, as a fairly (BR 40) player. And I say that because I genuinely suck at ESF flying. I have -no- Idea how ESF guys can nail a running infantry 100% of the time while flying at the same time. And playing against Vanu/TR air is a pain in the ass. Because in games, I hate dying to only one or two kind of things in a game full of hundreds of ways to die: when I die, it is ESFs. It does not matter what I am doing, they always seem to pick -me- out of everyone. And when an ESF decides to kill you, there is -nothing- you can do to survive it once they engage you. And pub player's refusal to put small arms on enemy ESFs, and many player's predilection for never, ever, ever running anti air except when an air zerg shows up, means that many ESF pilots get essentially free reign. I play NC primarily, and I understand the Reaver is the worst ESF in terms of a/a, so we almost -never get any kind of air support, because all the air purists (the guys I mentioned before), fly TR/Vanu. And I oftenfind TR mossies bombing fights of Vanu and NC... 4-6 hexes away from the nearest TR push. And instead of supporting the TR, they're busy shooting people and accomplishing nothing for their team. I also love when I spawn a Valkyrie, for a little flying practice, and am killed 1km from the gate, by a Vanu gate-camping trio of scythes... as the NC. On a map dominated by 60% territory of the TR, who have 50% population. And the ESF pilots aren't helping their team by flying CAP, they're not camping the winning faction's gate spawn- they're camping the NC, who have -nothing-, no pop, and no threat to the Vanu. At that point we didn't even -have- a border with the Vanu. It's -that- kind of mentality- I'm going to kill you because I can, not because it is helping my team to do so, is a dirty mentality. And it's especially prevalent among Infiltrators and ESF pilots. That's why. So long as you don't spend all day, every day on a vehicle terminal, and are coordinating your efforts with your -team-, then It's a good tactic. Just be sure you're at a vehicle terminal that is threatening -your- faction. I cannot stand VS infis killing me at a terminal that only borders TR territory.

[@weatherchildlp1884]

Eleolius I agree. For the most part :) It is not something I do a lot. I do it very rarely in fact. Plus when people are already stopped at the terminal (obviously in the menu) I dont shoot. Usually :). Even if I do it I do it in a heavely contested areas. BIG fights, etc... I, myself, get sniped a lot when I am at a terminal and usually those snipers are easy to find and get rid of.. It is not a tactic I promote but I felt it relevant in light of Wrel's video. These things can grately influence the flow of battle.

[@weatherchildlp1884]

Eleolius Oh, and going deeper into enemy territory just to troll people at terminals... That is an ugly tactic and I would never advise it or do it... Imagine a big battle that is at a stalemate. you keep destroying their sundies and they keep bringing new. Imagine if you stop their sundie income for just a minute. That's a big influence on the battle. These are the scenarios I talk about :)

[@Erik-hc8wc]

Why cause a change in battle when you can get into a good head to head bash to farm epic amounts of certs. I lost my account and had to make a new one so farming is nessessary.

[@SchergeSatans]

To be honest, your suggestion to blow up poorly placed sunderers reminds me of that one kid back in school who was really good at playing football, and while the others mostly played for fun he always tried so hard to win the game that he would constantly shout at team mates to take some effort and not just goof around. That's the problem here: sunderers can't be deployed too close to each other and players have different goals in mind when they deploy them. I've placed "farming sundies" before and if anyone had blown that up, it would have ended in the biggest team-killing war this game has ever seen. Then again, I would make sure that I don't block the tacticall important spots.

[@WrelPlays]

What if that kid who was really good at playing football was actively trying to get everyone else to enjoy the game? That's how I view this process. There isn't any shouting or whining, there's just a guy who is really good at football, huddling everyone up, sharing plays, and getting them all excited about doing something. If you blow up someone's Sunderer, enemy or ally, people move on to the next spawn, or where enemies are coming from next. It's barely a hiccup in the scheme of things.

[@simonlamoureux5440]

There's value and merit to both, letting a farm/poorly placed sunderer exist and also destroying it. Letting it exist can be fun for the better players on the "Farmed" side if its a farm in which you spawn in cover, and try to leave or attack but get blocked off. Obviously everyone won't agree with that, but I find it fun to try different tactics and sometimes still win. (Remember that farmed Sunderers doesn't always mean that they are in a bad position, it can just be overwhelming or well placed enemies locking it down). Destroying a sunderer that's being farmed, while definitely a dick move no matter how you slice it, can still be better for everyone involved (Except for the enemy who's lost their farm) or at least as good. This is assuming that the battle in the region is big enough and holds several other sunderers, if it's just a few people who are farming (but doing very well) or there are no other sunderers nearby, then its better to let the sunderer exist. If it's a few people, no matter how skilled or deadly, eventually they can be pushed back, if it's the only sunderer in the region then that's pretty self explanatory as why to not destroy it. Now, onto why it's not so bad to destroy a sunderer in a bad spot or that's being farmed (Without the exceptions I mentioned) is that PS2 is such a huge and massive game, that you can (and almost always do) spawn at a neighboring sunderer and get just as much if not more action *while being as successful if not more*. In proper battles, the loss of one sunderer is most of the time not even noticed, but it's not always about being successful. (Also, I'm writing this with the intention that this be explanatory to new players who wouldn't get all the nuances or implications of the game and comment. So that's why it's painstakingly elaborate)

[@WYO_Dirtbag]

Those NC MAX anti vehicle rockets are wayyy fucking powerful.

[@Eleolius]

I'm inclined to agree. aim-guided missiles are -always- very powerful. AV turrets aren't OP because of their cool down and restrictions. That said, the Nc max sacrifices -so- much in anti infantry potential in it's other arsenal. I've played all maxes a good bit, and I vote TR for anti infantry (Dual Mercies is beast), VS for .... well, hybriding AV anti infantry work. Dual comets is a blast. The NC max is not very whelming for me because unless you have the Raven. And I don't.