I think the North road is overlooked alot early in alot of matches, the Germans tend to attack Russian 2 first, being the easiest to attack. The mindset of "lets take out a base quickly to get the Russians scrambling" same with German 1. This ia a major mistake, due to spawning. Was the idea of no vehicles at German 1 by design? Same with Russian 2 (exception of jeep & ice cream truck)?

I decided not to put too many vehicles near the front-most bases to prevent easy enemy caps. One transport vehicle, one tank, and one jeep within a short run. That way even though the bases are far forward, it is hard for the enemy to cap the tanks and dominate the area. I actually played some very intense drag-out matches between Russian #2 and German #1 being the LAST bases. That is some mayhem!

yeah, sometimes the "easiest/closest" bases are the hardest to destroy, even though the G2 & R3 are the hardest to infiltrate. I played in a match last night (no time limit) about 5 v. 5 & actually finished both rounds within 40 mins. It's a rare occurance on that server! Teamwork & strategy go a long way.

Yeah, losing the right flank around Russian #1 is bad for the russians... but merely a minor annoyance. Losing control of the back road where the tanks spawn by the 45mm gun is even worse. It basically leaves the russians with only the KV1 and the BT7 to fight off 3-6 german tanks. A lot of ruskies give up at that point and hunker down rather then commit suicide trying to retake the right flank. (And then, instead of learning that lesson... they stop guarding the right flank as soon as it's been retaken... <sighs>.)

One tactic that I haven't seen discussed yet (and it's a bit advanced?) is to control the spawn by parking your forces in the spawn point. Can you force the germans to spawn at German #1 if you get enough people behind their lines? (Likewise for the germans forcing Russians to spawn at Russian #2.)

I'm a bit hazy on the respawn algorithm. It seems to prefer to spawn you away from enemies and close to your forces.

Probably you could force that spawn. You would have to be all over the other backup locations though. That would also require some armor support. And most likely it means you need infantry standing IN the spawn zone. Generally it is set to spawn away from enemy/near team. But the spawn logic has never been perfect in this game...you can never account for the random enemy running through your spawn just as you plop down into his lap.

Slyk, is there a timeframe for completion for this map? Just curious.

One thought I had looking at the early map (from your Jan 12th posting). Seems like Russian 1 should be flankable through that long N-S treeline. Or at least you shouldn't have to go past Russian 2 to get to Russian 1. Maybe it is and it just doesn't show on the overhead map.

And I'm very glad to see that the After-Hourz team decided to make a new UO map.

Will the vehicles be stock, or current Barb tanks? Any possiblility of an Elephant or SU 152???

Size-wise, how does the BAS area for the new Barbarossa map compare with the BAS area for the old Barbarossa map?

More thoughts on strategy:

1) Just because you've lost the base on a particular hill is no reason not to give up control over that hill.

The germans have a bad habit of ignoring their right flank after G2 falls (as everyone rushes to the defense of G3). Same issue when they lose G3 (but not as severe because it's easier to exit the tank park and drive past G3). The russians have a bad habit of ignoring the R1 hill on the right flank after R1 has been lost.

If you want action, setup shop on a hill where the base has been destroyed. A sneaky russian infantryman on the R2 hill can provide early warning against left flank attacks. You can also be a huge thorn in the side of any german tanks who think it's fun to setup shop on the R2 hill and shell R3.

Germans at the ruined G1 base are a nasty surprise to any russian tank that is attempting to slip in via the south road. Half of the time that I attempt to bring a tank into play at G2 I end up getting damaged by a german hiding in the ruins of G1.

2) A single tank on the north pass by Russian #1 can hold off a lot of armor. A pair of players at the north pass (one on the 45mm and the other in a tank) can hold off even more germans.

The north pass at Russian #1 is a great place to practice turret-down and hull-down defense in a heavy tank (see the Wikipedia link for details). Most of the time, while waiting for targets you should go turret-down. (Stay on the lee side of the hill and you should just barely be able to see the bridge area over the crest of the hill in front of you.) A good analogy is to be like a tunnel spider, waiting for flies to wander into your kill zone. When you are turret-down, germans down at the bridge will not know your location unless they are using binoculars or a sniper scope.

As soon as you see movement down at the north bridge, you should alert teammates and creep forward to a hull-down position. Just after you creep forward enough to fire, you should reverse direction and creep backwards right before firing. This will give you a slight downward angle on your gun elevation, allowing you to hit lower targets without moving forward into a more exposed position. By rocking forward then back you are only exposed long enough to get a round off and you provide a very difficult firing solution for german gunners down at the bridge area.

No-so-smart germans will panic as the shells begin to fall. They'll attempt to backup to the cover of the house by the N bridge. This can cause traffic jams if you panic the first tank in the armor column. Basically, if you can keep them from crossing that bridge you'll probably win the engagement. Sometimes without taking any damage to your tank. Smarter germans will realize that they need to advance at speed in order to get out of the kill zone.

If the germans manage to get 2-3 vehicles into the N road fields, you're probably going to have a difficult time. Make every shot count. Hopefully, you had already notified your team about the german advance and have reinforcements on the way. If not, now is the time to cry for help (although it's going to be late to the party). If you have enemy infantry as far forward as the 45mm gun, it's time to fall back and attempt to keep them from getting over the north pass and into the house behind you.

(Remember the primary goal of defense is to deny territory and disrupt the enemy's plans / timetable. Stay alive and make them pay in time/blood for every meter of ground. The longer it takes them to advance, the greater the chance of your reinforcements arriving and driving off the assault.)

The other problem that you will face is germans sneaking in via the middle opening, walking up the riverbed towards R1 and shooting you in the rump. The only real solution for that is to rely on teammates to watch those sectors.

Other hull-down defensive / offense positions on the Barbarossa map. Hull-down / turret-down really works best in locations where you have a long field-of-view and can engage targets at long range. At shorter ranges, it makes you a sitting target.

The other requirement is that you be in a position where you cannot easily be flanked. Which is why the north pass at Russian #1 is the best example of a good hull-down defensive position.

(Hopefully we see more tank scrapes and hull-down positions in the Barb2 map... <hint hint>)

a) The depression by German #2 that holds the pak stationary gun. The main downside to this position is that if your tank gets destroyed, you make things difficult for anyone who is using the pak gun. Still, it's a good example of a "tank scrape".

B) Left edge of the map by German #3. There's a hill right by the minefield (near the house where the 2 tanks spawn). You can wait there in a turret-down position and watch the hill to the east for incoming russians. Also good for keeping an eye on the back road that leads to German #3. Downside is that you're blind to the area around the pak by G3.

c) The egress point by the german middle pak gun. You can watch both of the approaches by the German #1 base. Not really a good turret-down position, the best you can do is a halfway hull-down position. Still, you can engage targets at long-range and you'll be deadly against inbound jeeps. Biggest risk is artillery fire or snipers in the G1 ruins (or the bunker to the north of G1) taking pot shots at you with anti-tank rockets.

d) The road by Russian #2 base. This is a tough hill to defend in a tank. There are 3 approaches from the german side of the map that can see you at a long distance. And defending against the southern approaches makes you a sitting duck against the north pass. Even with the rocking motion, you'll have a tough time hitting targets in the south river approach without exposing yourself to return fire.

e) The road by Russian #3 that leads back into the right-side spawn area. Not a bad place to sit in a BT7. You can help by watching the town street along with the right-side spawn area. But you're going to be blind against any enemy movements along the outside edge of the houses (south side of town).

It's good map design to keep the bases from being vulnerable to fixed gun emplacements. Even better design when you avoid situations like Foy where the stationary weapons can hit spawn points.

Needless to say, I'll still be looking for ways and locations to shell those bases from a distance. Breaking open bases within the first few minutes of the round forces the enemy to play defense to guard their bases. Doing that at a distance means the enemy will find it difficult to prevent those bases from crumbling.

Why do I suspect tonight's south flank rush of the germans with 4-5 tanks against Russian #3 at the start of the 2nd round was Hellfighter's idea?

It worked very well. All of the russians except 2 of us were off playing rambo with nobody defending the south flank at all. The germans rolled our 2, immediately rolled our 3, and then rolled our 1 within the first 7 minutes.

One of those quick matches you just love to hate, unless ur on the winning side, of course

Hah, no, I was the sucker that stayed behind to welcome the germans as they rolled into town will all that freshly painted armor. Apparently they were in no mood to sit down and discuss armistice treaties. It was a darn good blitzkrieg up the south flank, we managed to wipe out 2-3 of the incoming tanks but the advance scouts were already slipping into the bunker and starting the plant while we were fighting off the armor.

...

Thoughts on getting around Barbarossa.

1) Walking - Definitely the slowest (although the KV1s aren't much faster). If you stick to cover, avoid well-traveled areas, you'll almost always get where you're going. Stealth is a key element, as is knowing how to break contact and evade any pursuit. It would probably take you 3+ minutes to run from one end of the map to the other.

2) Jeeps / Horches - All of the jeeps/horches (sp?) on the Barbarossa server are designed to blow up a few minutes after they leave their spawn point. So it's senseless to swipe enemy jeeps. However, jeeps are the fastest form of transport on the Barbarossa map and can get you from one corner to the other in under 30 seconds. They're also an excellent way to escape a tank and a good jeep driver should make sure to weave and dodge a bit to avoid shellfire. It may be a good plan to bail early and walk, because jeeps are noisy and will wake up most defenders. Especially if you use the machine gun.

4) The half-track. Moderately slow, but can take up to 3 shell rounds before it's destroyed. This is a great way to storm the russian village, especially if you can multiply the targets that a gunner has to deal with. Just make sure everyone knows to start bailing out as soon as incoming fire starts hitting the HT. The driver of the HT should continue in as far and as fast as possible to add to the confusion. Passengers should attempt to escape into cover and force the enemy to spend time searching (or wondering). Note that you should always blow up abandoned half-tracks (they will not auto-explode and respawn).

5) The russian truck. A bit faster then the half-track, but not as well armored. I think two good hits and it's going to go up in a ball of flame. Still a good way to deliver multiple headaches to the germans at the same time. Note that you should always blow up abandoned trucks (they will not auto-explode and respawn).

6) Light tanks (BT7, PzIII). Fast and agile (especially the BT7). The downside is that they're noisy and a prime target for just about everyone else on the battlefield. Be prepared to bail early and make sure that you destroy the abandoned tank.

7) Heavy tanks (KV1 mostly, but also the PzIV). Slow as molasses in January, but they can take a real beating (roughly 7 frontal shots). Not a great transport vehicle as they need to be guarded by infantry and other vehicles in order to make it to the front in one piece. Any infantry or light tanks that escort heavy tanks to the front are great team players.

Barbarossa definitely rewards players who are crafty and careful with each spawn. Zerg rushing a defended base typically results in failure (and lots of free points for the defender). But if you can manage to get 3-5 teammates at the target at the same time, you stand a very good chance of overrunning the defenses and taking control of the area.

Plus, sometimes the best teamplay is to provide a distraction in one sector while your teammates are planting the bomb in another sector. Especially if you can stay alive for a minute or two and cause excessive mayhem that forces the enemy to hunt you down. (Every enemy that is hunting you is one less that will be attempting to defuse the ticking bomb.)

No, not me, thanx though. All I do is cheerlead for the massive blitzkreig R3 assaults at game start until my temple veins are bulging; I long since learned organising any type of tactical attack via chat falls on deaf ears. Mostly its luck if you got enough vets who know about bypassing R2 and R1 at start to crush R3, and even more luck if they've got together in a massive wing attack on one flank. On the other hand, most likely Samoan would've 'bullied' the kraut ranks for first attack on R2 [he's a/the master of ownership of the R2 hill in a tank] then going to R3.

(I feel your pain about trying to get more then 3 teammates pointed in the same direction at the same time. It's a lot like trying to push a wet rope.)

I did a bit of light reading on the Blitzkrieg topic over at Wikipedia, that battle was almost a textbook example.

Last night the russians had an infestation of germans on their side of the map. Every time I turned around on the russian side of the map you were stumbling over german bodies. Needless to say, with such poor (and porous) defense by Ivan the russians went 0-3 in the first round (not a single german base destroyed).

Calls for defense at various points went unheeded, suggestions that certain passes be guarded went unheeded, players driving right past bases being planted, and players running past tanks that were being stolen. Situational awareness was nil for the most part.

Please post all Barbarossa II related posts HERE. Thanks!

Okay, here's a very sweet spot for the germans to shell Russian #3 from. It does double duty as a shelling point, plus it helps the germans to protect the south road (a.k.a. the "S" curve) that leads to German #2.

Click to view attachment

Basically, you should take the PzIV and align it with the fence so that the front right corner of the PzIV fits into the little corner of the fence at that spot. Alignment is semi-crucial, but not terribly so. Just make sure the PzIV is parallel with the fence and that the fender is shoved into that spot.

You'll notice that I show 4 different shots of my attempting to get into position. Each of the 4 middle images corresponds to the upper 4 images, showing the target point. Remember, do not use the right-mouse button to zoom in. These are all un-zoomed aiming points, to allow you better situational awareness.

Click to view attachment

You can also use this spot in a PzIII, but due to the flatter trajectory of the PzIII shells (the PzIII has a higher muzzle velocity then the PzIV), you'll need to aim downward a few notches.

Other targeting notes:

- Elevation matters the most. At most, you have about 2 notches of vertical movement before you're too high or too low.

- If you're hitting Russian #2, your targeting is too far to the left.

- The PzIII is better suited for defense against russian infantry on the S road then the PzIV. The machine gun on the PzIII's turret has a better range of elevation.

General notes about attempting to hit Russian #3 from a distance:

The town buildings in front of Russian #3 really really really make life difficult for long-distance shelling. As a result, the best spots to shell from are the far left flank (near German #3) or the far right flank (on the south road). Those provide enough of an oblique angle to the town that you can bypass most buildings and hit Russian #3 square on.

That being said... here's the middle german pak position to hit Russian #3:

Click to view attachment

There's also a good spot just as you're leaving the german tank park on the left side. There's a fence post in the middle of the downed fence. If you push the PzIV up against it so that the post is in the middle of the tank, there's an easy shot to Russian #3. In addition, you'll be able to guard the area around German #3.

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

The last good spot to park a PzIV that I have today is the very corner of the map by German #3. You'll have a modest view of the area around German #3 (to watch for inbound russians) and a reasonable shot at hitting Russian #3. Shove the tank into the corner of the map with the hull facing south.

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

Aha, now it's time for German strategy.....

Yeah, auto-assign has been cruel to me this week, often putting me on the german team.

While the one PzIV in the spawn area is great for shelling, you'll get too much flak from teammates about shelling from the starting position. (They don't grasp the concept that bases need to be opened ASAP to give the enemy things to worry about.)

So I went looking for less obvious spots that could also serve as defensive positions.

Opus X knows a spot where you can park the PzIV by the German #3 base (south side) and shell Russian #3. Basically you pull up beside the base on the right side, put the bottom of the "T" on the tip of the tall medium-green pine trees and adjust as needed. It's a fairly "loose" target in that you have 3-4 notches of azimuth and 1-2 notches of elevation.

The downside of that spot by G3 is if the rear middle russian 45mm gunner starts attempting to surpress the G3 pak gun. You'll likely end up taking incoming fire as they attempt to soften up the area around G3 for an assault.

With a tank at G3 & the PAK near 1 & 2 you can bring down R3 real quick. The problem isn't bringing the bases down, it's planting them in the correct sequence. (1-3-2 or 3-1-2) for the G's. I hate autobal <~-

More newbie moments.

1. Never assume that the spawn is safe territory. We saw multiple tanks exit the german spawn on the N side and drive right past a prone russian who was hiding in the weeds. (*waves* at Dolphin Girl)

2. When you spawn, LOOK AROUND.

3. Never, ever, plant a base without packing a satchel. Never storm a bunker without a satchel down the stairs or down the vent pipe. But be on the lookout for russians camping on the stairs. Also watch out for TheRapist, who camped *outside* the base and waited for a defuse team to rush down the stairs. At which point, he was about to toss a satchel down after them.

When it gets late and I'm on my last game of the night, it's relaxing to curl up with a suicide satchel and my arty binocs in the basement of a bunker. As soon as I hear a jeep that does not appear on my radar, I pop arty off then prime my satchel. If they get inside, me chasing them with a live satchel down below gives them the choice of running away (into the arty above) or staying and dying.

Or I'll just play dead on the floor with a primed satchel (press and hold the L mouse button). More then once, I'll get germans planting on top of me without noticing I'm alive. I'll simply press the R mouse (while still holding the L mouse down) to start the timer, then chase them around the bunker.

4. Listen to your teammates when they cry for help or shout out enemy positions.

Best example of this: I was in a tank, attempting to provide overwatch for a bomb team to go below at Russian #1. First german goes down the hole, gets cut to ribbons by a portable MG setup in the basement of the bunker. So I warn the next german to use grenades before entry... he goes right in, dies. I watched three more teammates go down into that bunker and die before the russians counterattacked and drove us off the R1 ridge.

Next example: Germans are warned of a russian hiding in the bunker by G1. German tank ignores the warning, drives right past the bunker and gets a rocket up the tailpipe.

Last example: Russians leave the north road undefended. Constant reminders to check the north road go unheeded. Germans manage to get 3+ tanks and infantry to Russian #1 which then goes up in flames. (The russians then had a rough time getting that many germans off of their right flank.) We've seen the same thing with G3 and G2.

...

Outtakes:

Russians manage to take down all 3 german bases to their foundations, but all of the russian bases are undamaged. I think that round ended in about 17 minutes, 3-0. We're not sure what the germans were doing that round. There was a lot of griping in the open channel by germans who were frustrated at their teammates' inability to shell any russian bases. The russians had a huge advantage that round because they could go minimal on defense without worrying about bases being planted.

Germans managed to get R1 and R3 in the first few minutes. Yet we spent the entire rest of the round attempting to take and destroy R2. That round ended up as a 2-2 stalemate. Someone was heard to quote "I thought R2 was supposed to be the easy base?".

Another quote heard this week boils down to: "It's up to the germans to win or lose."

...

5. Whoever controls the map will probably win. Which basically means:

- guard the flanks
- spread out for maximum coverage
- don't let infantry onto your side of the map
- whittle / disable / destroy / warn against any enemy incursion
- engage and destroy any enemy that you see
- watch your teammates, help them engage anything they're shooting at

(A lot of times a tank driver will manage to corner and trap an enemy infantry. But, if the tank driver gets out of the tank, they run the risk of dying and their tank being stolen. A good teammate watches for this and will go in after the trapped infantry while the tank driver keeps them pinned down.)

I've done that when protecting the bunker I just planted. Sometimes they kill me and run out knowing I had a satchel primed. But sometimes they think I'm already dead & they ignore me and run to defuse. Thats when I stand up and bash them!

(evil grin at Cpt Canuck)

Yeah, I know it's a cheap tactic, but effective when the plant team isn't expecting it. Usually only works once or twice before they start getting smart.

But to dislodge a deadman satchel requires that they have time to either stop and toss grenades (and wait) or time to run back upstairs after killing me. For a reasonably defended base, it's a good way to force them back into the open where teammates can get at them.

If you have half the bomb timer left and still alive, toss smoke nades to cover your carrying a primed satchel.
Actually, also when a satchel tossed down vent you will stay alive if you get to go onto the bunker stairs leading to the roof, whereas the roof and entrance of the bunker = death in such a situation> normally.

With about half the time left and no smoke nades to cover your planted bomb, have hilarious fun running arund the middle shelves in the bunker with satchel in hand as a defuser chases you around. You can usually last 5 seconds depending on what the chaser has for a weapon. You can last very long against 2 or 3 pistol defusers- they know they have to kill you asap if you have satchel in hand and timer running out. But toss that satchel and the 2/3 mark of the timer at the latest; by the time it goes off the only live defusers arriving in the bunker won't have enough time to defuse.

A lot of players are getting a lot smarter about looking for satchels. I'm only getting about a 50% success rate at killing bomb teams when I drop a satchel upon death. It still forces them to run back upstairs, but it's definitely not a fool proof tactic. (I'm not terribly surprised.)

Dropping satchels down stairs or down the vent pipe still works very well (there's not much you can do).

One tactic that some folks have used is tossing smoke / frag grenades up through the vent hole from down inside the bunker. Satchels can also be tossed up through the vent hole (but riskier). A lot of times, these grenades will kill inbound defusing teams who aren't expecting grenades to come popping up that hole.

(And now that Smolensk is out, I'll start looking at that map.)

if you are ranked high enough,

you cna go absolutly nuts from down there with smoke, grenades adn satchels. timed well with an arty drop can really mess with impatient defusers.. really fun to watch ..

It's funny how tactics have changed, eh...

1) I used to always just guard the stairs after planting, and mow down the defusers as they try to come running down the stairwell. Then, defusers began throwing nades into the stairwell before heading down.

so had to change...

2) Began using the satchel technique...

but we're all becoming smarter to that...

3) I've begun leaving the bomb/base entirely after I've planted it; wait for the defusers to move in and then follow them in myself and kill them as they try and defuse.

4) Or go halfway up the stairs so I can see the entranceway, and mow down the defuse team as they try and throw a satchel down the exhaust pipe. Before retreating back down to relaod... and do it all over again.

When I'm on a defuse run, tactics vary based on time left, whether the bomb is still being planted, or if there is arty being dropped on the base.

a. Active plant or no arty

If the bomb team is still actively planting the bomb, a satchel down the stairwell will almost always kill them and stop the plant. The easiest toss is from the left hand window where you toss at the stairwell on the opposite side. The best throw is to bounce the satchel off the far wall so it rebounds down into the middle of the basement.

b. Arty dropping

If there's arty, I'll stay outside the drop range and try to toss grenades down the stairway. This has a small likelyhood of success because the bomb team will be sheltering far away from the stairs (to avoid getting killed by arty). As soon as arty finishes, I try and get a satchel down the stairs. I may also go for tossing smoke grenades so that they land downstairs to confuse the situation.

c. Two-man defusal team.

One player should toss a satchel down the stairs. The second player should drop a grenade on the stairs, another down the vent, head to the stairs and immediately go below as soon as the satchel / grenade blows. The satchel-tosser should remain above for a few seconds (in case of a deadman satchel). Keep an eye out for enemies lurking in the area who will attempt to disrupt the defusal. After the deadman satchel window has passed, the second player should get below and defend the defuser.

...

Most mistakes that I've seen have involved players who run below in a group (all dying to a deadman satchel). Or players who stare at the person doing the defusing rather then guarding the stairs against enemies who are trying to stop the defuser.

...

Long-range fire support is starting to fail more often. Mostly at G3 where the rear middle russian 45mm can plant shells at the entrance to G3. Players are getting smarter about timing the shells or jumping in through the windows.

(I get a kick out of watching tactics change over time.)

I've started parking a tank in front of the target base to partially block the incoming long range fire. Have to be quick doing this tho as the tank will blow in only 2 or 3 hits. Throwing a satchel or grenade down the pipe is out of the question. So you have to head down guns blazin' to get the bomb planter, and of course hope they havent left their own satchel for ya.

Hopefully won't have to deal with the long range guns as much in Smolensk. My ultimate pet peeve.

ScrapyardBob, I think you can make a PhD on Barbarossa secrets!
Keep up the good work!

To Hellfighters main message:" If there is a plant in one of your bases, and you are standing with your thumb up somewhere; DEFUSE, DEFUSE and DEFUSE" - I totally argree, especially if it is R3, G2 or G3.

The-Blind-Norwegian

There's 2 main simple things I do now that are very strong defending a plant.
1. Hide behind the shelves upright with a submachinegun and position yourself that you look through only a slight gap to the stairs... usually you are well hidden from view and this causes hesitancy to defusers charging downstairs seeing if anyone is home- this means certain death for the pausing defuser as they get to bottom of stairs as you pop out of cover fast to say hi-and-bye with a short smg burst.... using such tactics can rack up half a dozen bodies of defusers.
2. When nades are tossed in, from the stairs> Bolt up the stairs spraying an smg like crazy[other weapons won't have the same shock value]. Usually the smug nade tossers will die with eyes bulged out in shock at your audacity to come out fighting instead of the usual practise of waiting inside bunker to be blasted by nades.

We should pin this topic...

Notes for the admins:

- The default respawn times on the pak40s and pak45s are 120 seconds. They can be changed with server-side settings (scr_pak40_wait and scr_pak45_wait).

Things that I saw while watching the mayhem on Barbarossa tonight:

- Germans that failed to guard their spawn. At one point, there were (6) german vehicles sitting idle in the tank park.

- Players who ignore noise or don't check noise locations against the compass. If you hear rocket fire or gunfire or tank noises... CHECK your compass to find out if it is friendly. I watched more then a few newbies die because they ignored compass information.

...

The best thing that I saw was a Russian offensive that was almost perfect and involved 6+ players.

A. Russians seize the area around G3 and steal both tanks while planting G3. Other russians make their way into the tank park and start stealing all 3 heavy tanks.

B. All Russians proceed to move towards G2. This is where they made their critical mistake.

C. The three Russian heavies setup shop at G2, one russian hangs around the G2 spawn house.

D. Germans rally and eliminate the Russians at G2.

...

The mistake that the Russian's made:

G1 was still intact. One Russian should have stayed inside the tank park spawn shelter and the second Russian should have hid around the G2 spawn house. If they had done that, the germans would have been 95% likely to spawn at G1 and the Russians could have taken G2 with ease.

The way the spawn logic works in Base Assault is that it will attempt to spawn you near teammates and away from enemies. But it only checks for enemies that are within 1000u of the spawn point (1000u is about as far as you can throw a grenade). So in order to force the Germans to spawn elsewhere, you need to stay close to the spawn points.

Because the Russians failed to force a spawn at G1 by the Germans, the Germans started respawning in the tank park. That gave them access to armor and they were able to break up the assault at G2.

Thank God for spawnkilling

Damn, finally got through all of the tips here. I didn't know about the HT's and trucks not exploding by themselves like tanks do. Good tips on the shelling spots.

ScrapyardBob make a good point with this.

On many occasions, I have been a gunner on a jeep (either team) when an enemy jeep passes by (1, 2 or 3 guys aboard). In the cases that I do not finish off the jeep or its passengers, my driver typcially continues on to its final destination rather than continue pursuit of the enemy jeep. More than once that has resulted in a base being set/destroyed while we were too far to defuse.

I have taken to pursuing enemy jeeps no matter the situation (unless, of course, my arty can be dropped on a critical base plant for me team). It usually results in the enemy jeep being destroyed, or at the very least, the enemy personnel being eliminated.

A particularly effective maneuver is cutting off jeeps that you see across the map that don't see you. Often you can find a "pass" at which to cut them off. I have wiped out several three-man jeeps using this tactic, ruining their devious plans.

That brings me to another point. Drive jeeps in third person view. It's MUCH easier to rotate around and see "hidden" enemies and vehicles.

One more jeep point.

When you are manning the MG on a jeep and don't see an enemy, stop shooting the f'n thing.

Maybe this isn't strategy, but it is much easier to pinpoint the direction of gunfire than an engine in my opinion.

It also allows you to have a full "clip" when you do see an enemy.

Same goes for anyone hopping on the mg of a tank. I can't tell you how Pissed I was at someone who shall remain nameless two nights ago that was just spinning around and shooting the mg on a BT7 I was driving. They didn't notice the german that was standing in town and nailed us with a bazooka.

ALSO, when using a MG with the slider bar ammo,
use SHORT bursts at solid targets or sometimes for
suppression against hiding places. Then your bar
recovers fast for the next shot. To run the bar down
to nothing on a long burst is inviting the enemy to kill
you while the bar recovers....

JIM

A new trick I have been toying with that has been fairly effective for defending G2. Take the Pz III from G2 and park it against the bushes close to the PaK pointing north by G2. Have the tank face the south S turn. This effectively allows 1 person (cause that's usally how many people stay and guard G2) to set up some 360 degree defense. Also, if you move from the driver to the commander's machinegun position the tank stops running, allowing you to use your ears to hear incoming enemy vehicles. Another usefull tactic, if you have some help guarding G2 is to take the half track from the riverbed and use it as a road block in the S turn. Man the machinegun to take care of dismounted infantry, and have a panzershreck available for tanks. When and if they destroy the half track, it will still serve as a roadblock for a few extra (and maybe critical) seconds until it blows up.

Agree, that works well against the Russians.

This I would like to point to Goose. Goose on most occasions does not believe opening German 1 is something that weakens the Russian teams efforts to blow German 2 or 3.

When german 2 and 3 are open and 1 is still closed. The germans will still spawn at their spawn area until there are several germans are killed at once, or if the russians are in the spawn. If German 1 is still open, and you go into the German Spawn, they WILL SPAWN at German 1 allot more! This is where this is a huge advantage of taking out German 2. So please, when someone asks not to blow open German 1, understand that they will not spawn there early, but if you plan your attacks right, they will all spawn there and not be able to defuse a planted German 2.

There are so many people that say they are sitting next to German 1 and they are not spawning there so they should shoot it open. They dont realize that by them being near German 1, it helps them spawn in their spawn area instead Do not go near German 1 and go to their spawn and voowaalaa!!! They are now going to be spawning at German 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope this helps the Russian players. It seems since Canuck mentioned about how bad the German team was, Allot more people have gone German on a regular basis and its hard for the Russian team to win. Just like I said before, its who is playing on which side, not that the map favors one side over the other.

Winning with Russian is easier...period.

Found another team tactic that worked well last night. For the Russians: Get the T 34 and the BT 7 to hold the North pass. Use the building and base as cover(this is important) to hit the enemy tanks coming through the gap. I was even able to hit the STuG through the window of the house. After the first rush, move up and begin shelling G3 from long range. Have the rest push the middle with someone moving on G2 to either steal the G2 tank, or one of the Pz III's directly behind the German center PaK. I found that most of the time a couple of folks can hold the germans in the north, while G2 gets popped early. Advantage Russians!
Germans: Move toward R3, have somone move up in a jeep with the tanks along the same route. As long as the Ruskies are attacking North, R3 can be cracked pretty quick. Especially if you can get on the 45mm AT gun behind it. (I think this may only work in games with less people). Once R3 is cracked, blow it while the 45mm gunner starts hitting R2. This basicly turns into a race, since no-one is defending. I think defense may actually be couter productive in this case, since it would cause Ruskies to respawn in a position to counter attack R3. This tactic lead to three two straight German victories last night in a couple of 5 v. 5

Seems some people don't like MG gunners on their tanks at all ; couple of times I hopped on a tank and had to get off because they kept spinning the turret at full speed, so I got dizzy ... I for one really appreciate a top gunner to watch my back.

" I for one really appreciate a top gunner to watch my back."

Well it all depends who you get. I don't know how many time i've had someone on the MG and all they do is shoot at nothing, then when someone does come along, their asleep at the switch and I get killed.

The "spinning turret" is a game glitch that sometime happens to the gunner when the tank or jeep is driven sideways on an incline for a bit. Sometimes it is possible to recover from this "spin" once the vehicle is on more level ground, but a few times I had to hop out because it was caught in infinite spin.

So knowing that it isn't the gamer that the problem, I actually usually have quite a laugh when I see someone spinning out of control on a jeep. I also always laugh when I see someone riding the side of a tank. Since you can run faster than any tank you ride on, and you can't do anything, it makes no sense...so it's always funny seeing someone there who just must think it's "cool". Either that, or they're to tired to hold their "forward" button.

I espeically get a kick of guys sitting on the stug since their perched forward. They look so funny all propped up there.