Tactics SUPRISE! (clan) tactics

[<animal>INSTINCT]

After enough shennanigans in the Tactics Section, I figured we needed at least one semi-serious thread

To all current and former clan players, especially non-realism clans

While playing clan matches in ROOST, many clans tried and tested several "unorthodox" strategies to overcome opponents, especially against opponents who had mastered the map being played.

I'm not asking for any super l337 strategies that you guys may still be using, but I would like to ask you this:

What were some of the wierdest strategies your clan ever tried?

In my experience, the <animal>CLAN tried 2 very zany tactics.
1) While attacking on Basovka, we decided that for the very first wave of the match, EVERYONE would rush the first trench line. The MG and Sniper guys picked regular rifleman, and we figured having two extra guys attacking in a 6v6 match would really help. Result: Horrible failure

2) While playing against RTR on BlackDayJuly, we were getting our butts kicked on the attack because we were almost exclusively an infantry-type bunch. We needed to beat RTR at least once on their map to win the match. So, all of a sudden, <animal>SHELTER had an epiphany, "Guys, don't bother trying to take out their tanks, just drive right past 'em and get to the capzones!"... Result: We actually won without destroying a single enemy tank once we started capping zones... too bad it only worked once.

 

[Zetsumei]

I was somewhat surprised the first time on krasnyi, when the axis capped central first and then immediately went to construction, aiming to lock down the 2 spawn entry points for the allies. Cutting people off with a pincer alike movement. Allowing just a few other people to slowly kill off the people remaining in the other cap zones.

In general in competitive matches what I like is the need for managing the reinforcements of your guys and the opponents. Where in pubs its just putting 2 teams against each other like a meat grinder. In competitive play you often designate people to for instance set up at the flanks to stop the enemy inflow of reinforcements, and retreat on time to make sure that your reinforcement paths do not get blocked. .

Something I like to do myself in for instance zhitomir when your team is trying to attack the krasnyi-apartments, is to hide in the church park near to enemy entry towards the krasnyi-apartments. And basically hide there till a team makes a set of kill so a group will re-spawn. Then you pop out and try to keep them away form the cap zone as long as possible. The initial kill streak of your team combined with the issue of the enemies of getting reinforcements in, really increases your chances at victory.

I like that due to the re- spawns you have a short period of time where you can try to break through and win a cap. Making the battle unpredictable as you cannot often predict when a window of opportunity is opening for you and your team. Its those dynamics that make the game play fun when having a difficult match.

In tank maps it was quite interesting when people first started to use cap wagons. For instance on black day july as axis putting 3 squad leaders in the t34, in order to quickly drive to a capzone and cap it in a split second racing off to the next one.

As a defender drop smoke close to your own objective so the enemy snipers cannot kill your team mates, while the enemies need to cover a few meters of uncovered terrain to get into the capzone where smg's and rifleman can easily pick them off.

Especially in warsaw in the mod that had very long respawn times, we often won the map simply by keeping everybody informed about the spawn timer. (In RO most of the time the attackers and defenders spawn at exactly the same time). As it was very easy to get locked down in the spawn, if you had too many guys going down you needed to retreat to cover your spawn exits. While if you did well you could try to push forward.

Another fun thing is that when calling in artillery you can often call in the next artillery before the first barrage is over. This enables your team to drop 2 artillery strikes at the same time. Single and Double can be used to not only kill the enemy but to steer the enemy towards taking a certain attack path. Allowing the defensive team to only focus on say the right hand side. Allowing the arty to do good work even if you put it in a position where it likely won't make any kills.

On Basovka initially teams played pretty linear, but after a while people started really using the width of the map as attackers. Allowing to push forward beyond the defensive lines. Enabling the attackers to kill some important positions like mg's and snipers, while being able to take down incoming reinforcements as well. Initially this tactic allowed for an easy victory against most teams on the basovka attack.

In some tank maps it can be fun to send in a sacrifice tank, often tanks do not tune in with each other who targets whom. By placing one tank in clear sight can often get a multiple of tanks firing at him. Allowing other tanks to move forward while the defending tanks are now reloading.

For a lot of maps regular grenades bring enough smoke to make it difficult for say an mg to see you. By bouncing a grenade through a hallway, and popping your head out just after it explodes allows you to easily wait till the smoke settles to give you an even chance against a dug in enemy.

In Odessa sending some people towards the first axis spawn street can be pretty effective, not just because you can get some lucky spawn exit kills. But as people start evading that side of the spawn, or try to engage you. Which means that even while not killing them it can keep a lot of people away from the cap zones.

Note: In this case spawn killing in none of the methods is actual spawn killing, as the spawn is always protected and got multiple exits and you're say covering a single street between the spawn and the cap zone. So its more about trying to get somewhere in between the enemy spawn and the cap zone, so you effectively cut them off their flow towards the cap zone. So its the continuous action of, cutting off the enemy routes, defending your own routes, and pushing through the cap zone. 3 variables to mix around with.

(In for instance komsomolapps in zhitomir as attacker it can be important to hold the first staircase over trying to push further, as if enemies are able to control that staircase they can push up to the entrance of the building which is much easier to defend).

 

[<animal>INSTINCT]

Did anyone else here ever play Kaukuses in a clan match, and attack mortar first, but send two guys towards back road and just hide outside the capzone. Then, once you cap mortar, the entire enemy team moves to guard tower. Then you have your 2 flanking guys completely bypass back road and take tower from behind. It worked once for me, but if the two guys flanking got killed, then the whole team was boned

 

[Landrik]

If anyone has an hour to burn and wants to hear about German tactics in WWII, (Which layed out the basics of combined arms used even today) this is a great 50+ minute, five part movie.

There's also a famous "Men Against Tanks" German anti-tank or 'Panzerjaeger' Do's and Don'ts in four parts... about 20+ minutes.

Then there's a sniper tutorial video I remember my dad having on VHS of a sniper tutorial split in seven parts and is very long.

Using these tactics even in typical "run-n-gun" shooters such as Call of Duty or Battlefield, they have been helpful. Considering the enhanced reality of Red Orchestra, these are even more important. See how the Germans fought!

YouTube - Infantry Fire Power 1/5 German Infantry Tactics of WW-II[/URL]
YouTube - Training film from Germany 1943 Part 1/4[/URL]
YouTube - German Sniper Training 1944: 1 of 7[/URL]

 

[Zetsumei]

I really hope that suppression will work well in an working but unobtrusive way in hos. As its the basics of seeing real world tactics actually work in game.