Knowledge favours defense

(Zan) #1

Don’t you find Battery, fuel dump or rhine bridge are starting to be quite hard as people know them?

It’s quite known (I think) that defense is easier as teams grow. But until not much ago, outside clan wars, only part of each team counted towards that.
Now, with equally large teams, maps are harder, as most people of the teams count towards the increasing difficoulty for attack.

Maps like Fuel dump or rhine Bridge are getting quite hard. I’ve not seen an allied virctory in Fuel Dump in the last 10 or 15 games. Maps like RTCC v2 seem to be awfully hard as soon as people get to know them.
Lately I never win Oasis in allied team without axis making a huge mistake near the end.

Do you think ET will turn into an endless strugle to win with allies? Battery can work as a test, as it should be the first to reach this state of “allies only win if the skill difference is overwhelming”

Maybe it’s a problem with ET. Mines, satchel that destroy objectives, double air strikes and artillery, all help more the defense than the offense.
An example of this could be fuel dump. In 8vs8 campaign, an organized team could set 6 FOps to constantly artillery the three paths to exit the mountain and still have 2 engineers planting mines to kill anyone who manages to survive the artillery and the SMGs (FO could shot between arties). The only reason I see of Fuel Dump being still possible to win with allies is th discoordination between Axis, and the still high number of people who doesn’t really know the map. But what will happen when this changes?

Of course I mean allies as “attacking team”, if more new maps have axis as attackers, the effect would be inverted.

(Borsuk) #2

WHY BOTHER WITH SPAMMING ARTY ON FUELDUM IF YOU CAN SEND MORTAR AND FIELDOP TO ALLIED COMMAND POST AREA AND SPAM BRIDGE REPAIR CRATES ?

This means they are NEVER going to repair the bridge. This means whole Axis team minus 2 members can camp the caves. Do you know what it means ?

I don’t think Battery is so hard. One mortar + good sniper for clearing the bunker and you’re set. No place to run, no place to hide.

(Pamper) #3

Have you tried that? I’d think with only one person mortaring, they’d be able to slip in a little repairing and do the job gradually (assuming 4+ engineers). Of course, axis only really needs 2 MGs + field + medic to camp the tunnel well, so they can assign more guys to mortar (2 soldiers, one field, and one covert spotting the targets).

I don’t think Battery is so hard. One mortar + good sniper for clearing the bunker and you’re set. No place to run, no place to hide.

Battery is very hard, the single hardest map to defeat a smart Axis defense. The bunker you mention has NOTHING to do with defending that map. Axis shouldn’t even try to hold either of the two bunkers. They just need to protect the interior of the battery.

You know the corridor that has an inside MG emplacement pointing at it? That is the ultimate choke point. That’s where Axis should defend. You can defend it in the same way you do the bank vault (two mobile MGs pointing at the exit, field+medic supplying them). But it’s even easier here, because b[/b] you have that emplaced MG too, and more importantly b[/b] you spawn INSIDE the chokepoint.

Imagine how hard goldrush would be if Axis spawned inside the vault. That’s what battery can be like. If Axis uses this plan, no Allies will ever make it through the corridor. And if no Axis try to hold the west bunker (or even fight in the outer rooms of the battery), then no uniforms will be stolen either.

Of course, this plan won’t work on pubs. Random players, even if they’re smart enough to stay off the beach and avoid the back door, will always try to reclaim the west bunker. And FieldOps just can’t resist airstriking Allies running up the hill. So your forces will be dispersed, weakening defense on the master chokepoint and providing uniforms for rear entries.

It’s ironic, but Battery would be much harder for the Allies to win if they permantently owned the west bunker. That would just stop Axis from going outside and giving up uniforms. Instead their only choice would be to focus on a proper defense- and that defense is unbeatable.

(DG) #4

you forget the panz, probably because in ET panzer players are 99% laughably crap players who think that one shot one kill is a good ratio.

(BlackDeath) #5

Yeah, panzers for axis on Battery are really devastating. Allies swarm up the beach in a group, BOOM, half of allies are bye-bye :slight_smile:

(Borsuk) #6

Hmm, you’re right Pamper, I ocassionaly see it on pubs. Trying to attack main building with good defence is frustrating, and there are no real solutions. Perhaps rifle grenades ? Smoke grenades ?

Is it possible to access main building without going thru corridor (stacking) ? It would require at least several people, but one or 2 soldiers could slip in… crossfire, you know…

(BlackDeath) #7

Its just better not to capture it, in fact, i just run by everyone, plant, and win. Works every time.

Smoke grenades help, but then the enemy just backs up to the stairs, picking you off from an elevated position from your front and left flank. It’s just a murder hole…

B_D

(SideshowBob) #8

good defence needs good attack - real world lesson.

i’ve played both sides on battery where the axis have had good defence at the mg corridor. sometimes the allies break through, and it’s just a case of better use of firepower. rifle grenades, smoke, flamethrowers, grenades and some suicidy players can get through that choke point.

(Dyne) #9

I really loved ET in teh beginning. But now that people are getting better, axis win allmost all maps exept radar. If axis play good it is quite impossible to with on fueldump and battery if your playing allies. The game is pretty unbalanced and too easy for people to spawncamp. But what can you expect from a free game. It was fun for quite awile and maybe it will get fun again with some good custom maps. Up till now i dont like any of the custom maps. Rhine is the only one that looks a bit good but is too easy for axis to defend in my opinion.

(Englander) #10

I dont agree,if both sides are fair in skill and numbers then these maps are fine,the best way to win Fuel Dump as allies is C-ops and Engie meet in the Garage and go over top,but IMO if you find your losing as allies all the time its because your team must have less experienced players than the Axis one and not the fact that the game is unbalanced.

(Jahuu) #11

What the F?

I mean I was playing fueldump just today, and allies won:

1.Get tank at the bridge.
2.Blow sewer gates.
3.Get a uni.
4.Go to FD.
5.Scan for mines.
6.Blow defenses as covop.
7.Engy blow up the FD.
8.Hurraaa!!!

Battery is very hard, but it is up to covops:

1.Smoke the assault ramp area, bombard the WB with granades.
2.Go up to get an uni.
3.Change spawn to CP.
4.Open the door for team mates who regurarly spawn near you. You have become the “doorman”
5.Blow the guns.
8.Hurrey!!!

(damocles) #12

Winning on battery is easy if you have a good team (even if the axis are good too).

There are two things to remember:

  1. Engies with grenade laucnhers. These guys (if good enough) can drop grenades into strange places that can help clear the cliff top and make it a lot easier to build the bridge. They are also good for getting to the MG nests.

  2. Don’t take the west bunker - EVER. As soon as you take the west bunker, they have an east defence of the gun controls. The easiest way to win is for the allies to all pile straight to the gun controls the instant the ramp is built. This way the axis spawn behind you and your engies can plant while the rest defend from defusers. And any engie tyhat plants should stand atop his dyna with a grendade in hand. You see someone coming to defuse you start priming and you hold on to it until you die. (unless they back away in which case throw it and start another going)

You don’t need to bother with the back door. It’s effectively useless. A good axis team won’t give you the chance to get a uniform let alone open the door.

(SylverDragon) #13

Sorry to nitpick, but I have to. Why do you have the covert blow the defenses on the depot? This gives away the fact that you have someone back there, and might cause half the axis team to respawn back there, before the dyanmite gets planted. I’ve always found it better to go through the top and jump down to the depot. This also tends to avoid the mines that inevitably get planted both inside and outside the depot gates. And makes for a longer run by any axis who is planning to disarm. Also, if the covert has enough health left, he can ambush the axis as they come up the ladder to the roof.

(Korollary) #14

Defence is always easier to play, on pubs or in clan play. Stop playing campaign mode, and try Stopwatch, where it is fair by design. The XP system is not really fair, either, i.e., the winning team typically has more XP, which leads into winning again, and widening the XP gap even more, etc.

(DG) #15

yeah, im having a lot more fun on the stopwatch server, esp since i changed it from ABBA to AB so it doesnt take all day.

its using etpro to fix XP levels aswell, currently starting at:
Light Weapons is fixed at level 3
Covert Ops is fixed at level 3
Battle Sense is fixed at level 2
Others fixed at level 0
might end up fixing them all at 0, just felt that would lead to faster gameplay (noticed already covops can blow the ramp up a bit easy though, but tbh doubt taking the bonus off will do that much)