I'm getting trolled hardcore by the looks of it. As a riflemen. I do not fear a machine gunner at all. I can easily kill a machine gunner no matter where he is set up. On the ground. On the stairs. In a window.
As a machine gunner I have much more fun hip firing (because it offers a challenge) and I rack up a lot of kills especially in close-quarters urban environments. Much more kills than any machine gunner setting up on the floor outside the enemies spawn on fallen fighters for example.
Those machine gunners are bad, and they are setting up in bad places. If you can see them, you can kill them. The trick is to -not get seen-. Same for riflemen. You succeed when you focus on stealth first and foremost. Kill them before they even know you're there.
And hip firing is a valid machine gun strategy. Less effective than SMGs due to the lack of ADS and the massive recoil, but if you can kill folks in CQC with a hip-fired MG more power to you.
However, I'm just the opposite. I switch away from the MG in a close quarters map. It's a big sniper rifle for me, and (using FallenFighters for an example, as it's the best map for MG'ers so far) I get the most kills sniping Germans from the Russian spawn with the DP-28 (incidentally forcing them to get their heads down and letting my guys move up). I stay prone and fire in short bursts, so the riflemen never get any sort of clear view of who's shooting them, even with killcam on. I usually change positions every time I run to the ammo dump, setting up in a new location to keep them from honing in on me.
So far I've managed to rack up 15-30 kills per match plus tons of points for killing folks on objectives and for kill assists. I'm playing a machine gunner exactly how they're supposed to be played; suppressing the enemy from long range with rapid bursts of fire so my squad can close in and take them out.
And like I said. I'm more of a hipfire person. And...like I just said right now. No matter where you are...as a riflemen it's a lot easier to kill a machine gunner.
Not true. A rifleman can't shoot five shots in just over a second, almost guaranteeing a kill if you aim right. You get one shot for every dozen of mine. Just because you are a capable marksman (and because very few people play MG right at the moment) doesn't mean the class is useless.
Also. WHAT COVER? Most cover isn't cover. It offers very little in terms of bullet stopping power.
This cover is called concealment. It's very useful. It may not stop bullets, but it does block line of sight. The wooden fences on Spartanovka, for example, are useless as cover, but I can set up prone and shoot through the holes in the bottom of the fence. Nobody ever sees what killed them, even if killcams are on.
The best way to not get shot is to not get seen.
And hide yourself where exactly? To be totally hidden would mean you can't see the enemy at all.
Than you need to learn how to hide better. Prone prone prone is your friend. I never use the cover system. I go prone, even if I'm hiding behind a wall. The simple fact of the matter is that it's much easier to see a guy standing than a guy laying on his stomach.
Also, pay close attention to the geography. I've had enemies run less than 10 meters from my position and not see me despite being deployed and capable of seeing them simply because I was tucked into a lower elevation than them. It's easy to see a running person. It's very hard to see someone prone, especially if they're in a ditch. Also, world geography is bulletproof. So basically the only thing sticking out is your gun and the top of your head, and everything else is totally safe.
Take things slow. Whenever you might possibly be in view of the enemy, go prone, never stand or crouch or sprint, because movement draws attention. Crawl a few meters at a time, let enemies you don't know you can kill pass you by, get behind them into a superior position, and then let it rip. It's amazingly effective. I do it every night on numerous pub servers.
You'll get the derp kills from people who willingly run out into the open or see their friend get shot right in front of them. But the fact remains the same that for you to see your enemy they will be able to see you.
Sure, but it's a matter of target identification. He looks at me and thinks "is that little round thing sitting in the grass over there a rock or a human head?". All I have to think is "HUMAN" and open fire. Bam, he's dead. I'm concealed, it's hard to tell where I am and whether or not I'm part of the scenery. Meanwhile, they're usually running upright back to their front lines, meaning I have a much faster target identification time than they do. I hit them from the flanks, when they aren't expecting it, and kill them before they can react.
Once they know your position. It's much easier for a riflemen to gun you down behind your "Hidden cover spot" than it is for you to gun them down.
Which is why I don't stick around when I get discovered. I've taken off running on multiple occasions once they start pinging shots off my location. I stand a much better chance running from a 2+v1 fight than trying to gun them all down. My cover spot has been compromised, and is no longer cover. Sticking around is just asking for a rifle bullet or grenade.
Not to mention your field of vision.
The best spots for machine gunners offer the maximum cover with a very narrow field of vision. Hard to sneak up on me, and if you try to come down my lane of fire, you basically can't see me until you're already in my sights. You don't want to be defending a huge wide swath of land, as the best strategy against an MGer is to spread out so he can't focus his fire on the group, allowing your mates to shoot him while he's shooting at you. By keeping the field of fire narrow, you prevent anyone but the guy you just killed from laying eyes on you.
Any spot for a machine gunner to set up is a spot they need to move away from after firing. Enemies will home in your location pretty swiftly.
Right. Shoot and scoot. Keep them guessing. This is a good tactic for any class, not just MGers. Predictability = death.
Honestly sounds like you play the camping game of camp hoffin. Setting up on the stairs of Appartments.
Except I never stop changing positions when I play MGer. I camp -far- less than the riflemen. I may not be on the point, no, but that's because my weapon isn't for that. I'm harassing the enemy, softening up their reenforcements, and diverting their attention away from the objectives. Assault and rifle guys need to get on the point while I'm providing fire support.
And as I said, apartments gets me to change away from MGer pretty quickly. I'm no good at hip-firing, and I don't help my mates by stair camping.
tl;dr - When you play MGer you need to keep moving, avoid exposing yourself as much as possible, never leave prone, and narrow your lanes of fire. Do all of this and you will dominate everything else at all ranges period.
