Post by tarz on Feb 22, 2014 0:51:54 GMT -8
I'm going to be writing a basic stalker cloaking guide on what constitutes poor, good, best stalking practices. While the update has only been out a short time, even from one event, watching some of our more successful stalkers and our less successful stalkers has made it abundantly clear what constitutes good practice and bad practice.
I'm going to steal some of this post from something I wrote earlier, and will update this post as we continue to figure out what works better.
So, let's get going.
Playing a 'stalker' is different from playing the rest of Planetside, even most other FPSes. It does go against all the twitch reaction other FPSes demand in nearly all situations. We joked about being AFK squad, but truth be told that is nearly true. You don't so much as engage as you do wait. What you do is divert, distract, and misdirect. You will not generate certs for yourself. What you will do is generate wins for TXR and for our allies.
Where others come in shooting, you wait. Patience is your greatest tool, your ability to wait for the absolute perfect moment is paramount. Flip points when people leave, and watch entire platoons come back from the front line because of 3 men. Kill medics and disappear, making the enemy shoot in corners back and forth, run around knifing the air, and laugh at them while you watch. You don't fight in the front lines. You fight behind them, and move them entirely.
Cloaking has 3 light refraction 'stages'. You have strong refraction, medium refraction, and low refraction. While this is true for any given cloaking skill, the stalker cloak has one unique advantage; indefinite cloaking while stationary. That being said, the lowest refraction state is only achieved while crouching and stationary. More low refraction for you.
Stationary in full (natural) light, crouching.
Stationary and standing, full light.
Moving, full natural light. Note the strong contrast from the exploding aircraft. Another reason why you should hug walls, etc. Less chance of someone catching you through light refraction from strong sources.
Seriously, you're invisible. Don't even hide, right? Wrong. And sometimes? Right.
Doesn't make sense? Don't worry. We're about to clear that up. One of the biggest misunderstandings in playing like this is what constitutes hiding, and more importantly good hiding.
Remember all those details about cloaking? Here's where they come in handy.
Light refracts through your cloak. This takes the form of visual distortions that look as though an area is out of focus. How do we adapt to that? Background noise. In a low refraction state look for low variation backgrounds. You want as little "signal" to be distorted by your noise. Look for low detail rocks, patterns on walls, etc. The more monochromatic the better.
Also consider foot traffic. What is the level of traffic in your current area of operations(AO)? You want to look for low traffic areas and paths. The less people, the better.
Balancing these two is the tactical relevance of your position. Sure, you can be a stealthy bastard in the warp gate. But you're also useless. Try to find positions of tactical importance. Provide over watch on a point. Secure the point itself; kill medics; remove engineers. Just be sure about where you do it from.
Consider height, both positive and negative. At great heights not only are you out of sight, and common paths; you generally have one of the best backgrounds you could have - empty sky. At depths you also get a great background - ground (Duh?).
It's also worth noting that the effects of stealth are noticeably more effective in darker areas. Avoid lights, no matter how strong. And noting that physically obscuring objects like bushes are to your advantage. Basics still apply.
Being detected isn't what you may think either; Often enemies will run within a foot of you, and you can just sit there. They won't see you. It does go against everything shooters have taught you, but honestly the new cloaking is good. Really good. Most players will have no idea you are there if you picked your spot properly.
I'm going to steal some of this post from something I wrote earlier, and will update this post as we continue to figure out what works better.
So, let's get going.
Preamble
Playing a 'stalker' is different from playing the rest of Planetside, even most other FPSes. It does go against all the twitch reaction other FPSes demand in nearly all situations. We joked about being AFK squad, but truth be told that is nearly true. You don't so much as engage as you do wait. What you do is divert, distract, and misdirect. You will not generate certs for yourself. What you will do is generate wins for TXR and for our allies.
Where others come in shooting, you wait. Patience is your greatest tool, your ability to wait for the absolute perfect moment is paramount. Flip points when people leave, and watch entire platoons come back from the front line because of 3 men. Kill medics and disappear, making the enemy shoot in corners back and forth, run around knifing the air, and laugh at them while you watch. You don't fight in the front lines. You fight behind them, and move them entirely.
Fundamentals
Cloaking
Cloaking has 3 light refraction 'stages'. You have strong refraction, medium refraction, and low refraction. While this is true for any given cloaking skill, the stalker cloak has one unique advantage; indefinite cloaking while stationary. That being said, the lowest refraction state is only achieved while crouching and stationary. More low refraction for you.
Stationary in full (natural) light, crouching.
Stationary and standing, full light.
Moving, full natural light. Note the strong contrast from the exploding aircraft. Another reason why you should hug walls, etc. Less chance of someone catching you through light refraction from strong sources.
Hiding
Seriously, you're invisible. Don't even hide, right? Wrong. And sometimes? Right.
Doesn't make sense? Don't worry. We're about to clear that up. One of the biggest misunderstandings in playing like this is what constitutes hiding, and more importantly good hiding.
Remember all those details about cloaking? Here's where they come in handy.
Light refracts through your cloak. This takes the form of visual distortions that look as though an area is out of focus. How do we adapt to that? Background noise. In a low refraction state look for low variation backgrounds. You want as little "signal" to be distorted by your noise. Look for low detail rocks, patterns on walls, etc. The more monochromatic the better.
Also consider foot traffic. What is the level of traffic in your current area of operations(AO)? You want to look for low traffic areas and paths. The less people, the better.
Balancing these two is the tactical relevance of your position. Sure, you can be a stealthy bastard in the warp gate. But you're also useless. Try to find positions of tactical importance. Provide over watch on a point. Secure the point itself; kill medics; remove engineers. Just be sure about where you do it from.
Consider height, both positive and negative. At great heights not only are you out of sight, and common paths; you generally have one of the best backgrounds you could have - empty sky. At depths you also get a great background - ground (Duh?).
It's also worth noting that the effects of stealth are noticeably more effective in darker areas. Avoid lights, no matter how strong. And noting that physically obscuring objects like bushes are to your advantage. Basics still apply.
Being detected isn't what you may think either; Often enemies will run within a foot of you, and you can just sit there. They won't see you. It does go against everything shooters have taught you, but honestly the new cloaking is good. Really good. Most players will have no idea you are there if you picked your spot properly.
ROE (Rules of Engagement)
While there isn't a formal set of standards for ROE, as a stalker infiltrator you should always assume that you only take out an enemy when you run the risk of discovery. Which means they are staring at you. Angrily. Down their sights. Otherwise, stop shooting unless ordered.
ROE could be classified in 3 stages. Again, these are not formalized so any names I throw on them doesn't matter. Just remember the tier concepts.
Green - Fire at will. Not sure you will ever get this as a stalker, and I'd imagine it'd be a pretty special situation for this to be used. Try to stay behind enemies if this happens. If you are detected, move fast and get close. You might be the weakest class health wise, but it's twitch and timing if you can fold the engagement into a dirty knife fight, and you can minimize the effect of the enemy's greater firepower and armor.
Yellow - Engage when detected/Silent take downs only. If you feel the need to engage, you have two options. Harass at a distance (Useful if you have a superior hiding position), or get dirty. The crossbow will break shields, as well as any decent secondary weapon, by the time you close distance to the target. Ideally you should uncloak <= 5m from the target, break as much of their shield as possible, and knife. This should be enough to deal with most targets. Remember, you have no primary weapon. While there are good secondaries, they aren't SMGs, LMGs, Shotguns, ARs, etc.
Red - Do not engage. That simple. If you get shot, tough it out. If you get seen, run. But you don't shoot. Again, I think this will be a rare situation, and 9 times out of ten you will be "yellow".
ROE could be classified in 3 stages. Again, these are not formalized so any names I throw on them doesn't matter. Just remember the tier concepts.
Green - Fire at will. Not sure you will ever get this as a stalker, and I'd imagine it'd be a pretty special situation for this to be used. Try to stay behind enemies if this happens. If you are detected, move fast and get close. You might be the weakest class health wise, but it's twitch and timing if you can fold the engagement into a dirty knife fight, and you can minimize the effect of the enemy's greater firepower and armor.
Yellow - Engage when detected/Silent take downs only. If you feel the need to engage, you have two options. Harass at a distance (Useful if you have a superior hiding position), or get dirty. The crossbow will break shields, as well as any decent secondary weapon, by the time you close distance to the target. Ideally you should uncloak <= 5m from the target, break as much of their shield as possible, and knife. This should be enough to deal with most targets. Remember, you have no primary weapon. While there are good secondaries, they aren't SMGs, LMGs, Shotguns, ARs, etc.
Red - Do not engage. That simple. If you get shot, tough it out. If you get seen, run. But you don't shoot. Again, I think this will be a rare situation, and 9 times out of ten you will be "yellow".