Everyone says that the first time the play, and sometimes for a long time afterwards. Even if you have played other first person shooters (FPS), Battlefield has differences from other games out there. So if you are, just sing along with this “I’m A Newbie, At Battlefield-oody”.
OK, it isn’t about Battlefield, but it rhymes better and is funny. It also lets me make a point about the Battlefield series. KD (or K/D), the Kill/Death ratio or score, is one of the less relevant stats in a Battlefield game. It doesn’t hurt to be good at killing the enemy. This is a game about war, and shooting, and blowing stuff up, after all. But it is much more a game of achieving goals, and sometimes in so doing you are going to die more often than you’d like. Still, K/D is an easy score to see, is tracked on your stats, and can give you a feel as to how your direct combat skills are stacking up to the competition in the game.
A question sometimes asked is “What is the average K/D?” But that is a sort of complex trick question, and I’ll get into why in a moment. A better question is “What is the median K/D?” Followed by, for all those who aren’t stats mavens or mathematicians, “What’s a median?”
Easy enough, median is middle (like the zones in the middle of a highway called median strips). Half the players will be above this, half below. Here is some good news for newbies, who worry that they aren’t good players because they don’t have an awesome, higher than 1.0 K/D yet.
http://www.reddit.com/r/battlefield_4/comments/1yomh4/the_median_battlefield_player_kd_is_065/
Rejoice! Newbies, and players with skills well below the hypothetical average of 1.0, make up the majority. This is true of other shooters as well. But in Battlefield, there are ways to score high and help your team even if you aren’t the best at either killing or staying alive.
Killing Efficiency
So why is the average K/D a trick question? Let’s look at a very simple game, a one on one death match.
- Player Ace 20:0, Player Newbie 0:20. Total kills 20, total deaths 20, the average is 20/20 or 1.00. Player Ace shows a 20.0 K/D (zero deaths is treated like one for the stats), while Newbie scores 0/.0.
- Player Alpha 10:10, Player Beta 10:10. Still 20 kills, 20 deaths, 1.00 average. Each player has a 10/10 or 1.00 K/D score — a perfect average game.
- Player Good 15:5, Player Bad 5:15. Still 20 kills, 20 deaths, 1.00 average. Player Good has a 3.00 K/D, player Bad 0.33.
Run any combination, you get an average of 1.00 for the game. The presence of players who score well above 1.0 K/D mean that other players have to score much less to balance. Add more players in the game and the average won’t change. You cannot have a game where all players are above average in a round. Nor does it work out that way in lifetime stats either.
But wait, there are complications. First, you can die from causes other than an enemy kill. Drop a grenade at your feet, fall off a cliff, crash while driving, stand near an exploding gas tank, whatever else is present that can be lethal. This causes more deaths than kills, which would bring the average down below 1.0.
Second, Battlefield (and some other games) offer a revival system, where “dead” players can recover and continue action, and not count as dead. A simple two vs two match example.
- Player Good Player 20:0 & Healer 0:0 vs Good Shooter 20:20, Napping Guy 0/0. Both “Good” players scored 20 kills, but Healer revived every single time, wiping out those deaths from the stats.
This makes it hard to measure whether a high K/D in Battlefield is due to personal combat skill, or the talents and skills of the supporting team. While healing has the biggest impact on survival, vehicle repair, ammo supply, spotting enemies and supporting fire for assists also make a big difference.
Learn your role, play the objectives, have fun, and you don’t need to worry about your K/D or other stats to enjoy the game.
Battlefield Friends – Learning How To Play (Better)
Battlefield Friends is something every Battlefield player should check out. Starting with Battlefield 3 and continuing in BF 4 (and likely to do so for Hardline as well), It is funny, but hidden in the humor are real lessons about how the game works, and how to have fun playing. The first episode points out something that new players shouldn’t do — so let’s get into things to get your game play started right.
Battlefield 4 offers the Test Range, and the Single Player campaign uses the same weapons and vehicles as are in multiplayer. You can use those to learn how to operate vehicles, and practice using your weapons, and in general learn much of how to play the game. Battlefield is also a server-based game (rather than matchmaking). When learning, you can choose the server to join based on game type, maps, and number of players. You can even join an empty map simply to explore the world and practice.
Using Weapons
Using guns is one thing that players of other FPS have to relearn in Battlefield. Most FPS games do not model or track the movement or impact of projectiles (AKA bullets). Instead, they use a hit method called hitscan. When a player hits the trigger button, the hit is immediately registered on the point where the gun is aimed. In Battlefield, bullets are tracked as separate objects.
http://battlefield.wikia.com/wiki/Projectile_mechanics
Using hitscan isn’t a bad thing. It is a reasonable approximation of gun fire at short ranges, and eliminates complexity for both the players and the game engine. Players have no need to try to compensate for the movement of the target or the travel time and drop of the bullets. Let’s look at some simple cases.
A gun which shoots bullets at 600 meters per second (600 m/s), firing at a target 60 meters away, takes 60/600 or 0.1 seconds for the bullet to hit the target. That is 100 milliseconds (ms), or the time of 6 frames of 60 frames per second (FPS) video (the rate used by North American and many other TVs and computer monitors). It is also just at the threshold where a typical human can respond or react to an action. A runner moving at 3 m/s only moves 0.3 meters, or roughly 1 foot, in that time. For games where combat takes place at close ranges, where 60 meters would be a long shot in the game, it is easy and sensible to consider the bullet impact to be instantaneous.
At shorter distances, the travel time becomes even harder to observe with human senses. At 10 meters, the time drops to 16.6 m/s — one frame at 60 fps video. Even with lower velocity projectiles such as those used in suppressed weapons and shotguns, the bullet travel will still be so fast as to seem to happen at the moment the trigger is hit at any close distance.
Battlefield doesn’t restrict you to such close distances. Shots are possible at hundreds or even thousands of meters distance. The Frostbite engine (used since Battlefield Bad Company 2, and is on version 3.0 in BF4) makes it possible to see, shoot, and track the motion of bullets at extremely long ranges as individual objects. Because of this, players must be aware of the effect of bullet velocity, drop, and compensate for both their own and their target’s motion.
Key effects to be learn and be aware of:
- Bullets take a noticeable time to travel and will drop below the aiming point at longer ranges. This most strongly affects sniper rifles, but all guns are capable of shooting at ranges long enough for this to matter.
- Weapon ranges are not compressed (shortened) to make the difference between short and long range weaponry great enough to be noticeable on small (under 60 meter) maps. Every gun can score hits at hundreds of meters distance, though some are much better at being lethal at long range than others. Notably, shotguns and pistols can kill you at more than 60 meters distance.
- Bullets remain in flight even if the shooter takes a fatal injury. This is more commonly noticed when two players engage and one is using a weapon with much lower bullet velocity — especially shotguns and suppressed weapons. Trading kills, where you and your opponent both kill each other, are possible, not uncommon, and realistic in Battlefield.
- Both the movement of your target and your own movement can affect the impact of bullets. A shot aimed right at your target’s head can miss entirely if the combination of movement and distance is enough.
Guns have a fair number of other effects to learn and compensate for. Recoil – both vertical and horizontal, spread, moving accuracy, damage and how it changes over distance, the effects of various attachments, reloading, and more.
The weapon stats shown on the in-game screens and on Battlelog are only a rough approximation of the actual weapon stats in Battlefield. For Battlefield 4, check out http://symthic.com/bf4-stats. There are stats for other games there as well. Symthic uses the actual data used within the game itself, and offers much more detail about the differences between various weapons than is available in the game itself, or elsewhere.
Nothing substitutes for actually using the weapon in the game. The stats can help give you guidance about what a given weapon is best at and how to handle it, but you still need to practice with it. The attachments available can change how a gun handles as well. Aimed fire, standing hip fire without aiming, fire while moving, and more, are things you truly can only learn by practice.
It is fine and fun to jump right into a multiplayer game and start blazing away, but at some point it is worth learning more about how to use the weapons and shoot accurately. Besides the BF4 Test Range and playing the single player campaign, one thing that never hurts when starting play, especially using a new gun, is to simply shoot at objects on the map and see how it handles. If you want to see what the gun’s recoil pattern (the way the barrel moves when fired), pick an empty wall which will show bullet holes and just fire off a whole magazine. This will show you which direction you need to move the mouse (or controller) to compensate for that recoil.
If you can hit targets on the practice range and any target while you are moving, you have better chance to hit enemies in a multiplayer game. And for those who care, shots fired in practice don’t count against your game stats.
Battlefield has fairly good weapon balance. By this, I mean that in each class of weapons, every one has advantages and disadvantages, which makes them equally useful if you learn how to make use of their advantages. Each class of weapons has its own niche as well. Know your weapon’s strengths, and try to find opportunities to use them. While it may seem that some weapons are better than others, especially when you are being killed by them, a good player will do well with any weapon in the game.
In Battlefield 4, the starting weapons for each kit are good enough to use forever. You may like other weapons better, and find they fit your preferred play style more, but they are neither underpowered nor obsolete once you unlock others. There is a nice reward for sticking with a weapon for a while: By 100 kills with a weapon, you get the first 10 (most useful) attachments, 2000 XP for the Service Star, and a Gold Battlepack with more goodies. Give each weapon you use a chance, you might find you actually like it.
This Game Has Vehicles
It is one obvious difference from many FPS games out there. You get to use a wide range of vehicles in combat. Ground vehicles are pretty intuitive for most people, though the weapons used can take a while to learn. Just as with guns, the shells from cannons, especially Tank cannons, take time to hit their target and will travel in arc as they drop. Flying, that is harder. It is best to practice outside of a live game before you try to fly in a game where players will complain about your crashing skills.
Most vehicles have passenger seats, and if you aren’t so good at driving, you might find the role of passenger, especially a gunner passenger, to be useful and effective. It is a good way to get XP to unlock things for your vehicles as well.
Unlocks
Battlefield is a game where you unlock, and thus can use, more equipment through experience in the game. The good news is that the stuff you start out with is always useful, and it doesn’t take long to unlock the things you most want and need to have in order to play effectively. Being a low ranked newbie with just the starting gear will not stop you from effectively killing your enemies, either with guns or vehicles. Yes, the stuff you unlock does help you, but not so much as to give you a big advantage over your opponents.
One thing you’ll quickly notice is that you not only earn XP (experience points) to increase your overall soldier (character) rank, but you also get XP for each kit, combat vehicle, and weapon type as well. You only gain points for a category for actions you take using it. One cool thing for vehicle XP is that the points count for the vehicle even if the gadgets were placed (like mines that explode or sensors that spot enemies) when outside the vehicle.
Weapons are a special case of this. The weapon class counts points earned using the weapon, which includes kills, assists, suppression, etc., rather than any action you can take while holding one. Weapons also have attachment unlocks, which are gained only by scoring kills with the weapon. All of the common attachments for a weapon are earned with 100-170 kills, depending on the weapon, with the most useful ones unlocked by 100 kills. But you also unlock weapon Battlepacks with more kills, which will give you all the remaining attachments available for the weapon by the time you get them all, at 510 kills for most primary weapons.
Ah, Battlepacks. You will earn many of these while playing, and the rewards, while randomized, come fast enough and often enough that you tend to get the most useful items pretty quickly. As in, there is no need to ever pay money to get them. There are three general categories of rewards:
- XP Boosters. These increase the XP you earn while playing for a set amount of time, and are activated in the game on the deploy screen. XP boosts are cumulative with any promotional XP boosts which run — the Double XP weekends for example — so if you are using a 50% boost on Double XP you will get 300% experience, doubling both the boost and your base XP.
- Weapon Attachments. In BF4, there are attachments only unlocked by Battlepacks, which give you alternative versions of the basic attachments, plus a handful of special ones not otherwise available: three optics (the FLIR and IRNV night vision scopes,and the 20X Hunter Scope for Sniper Rifles). The differences are mostly cosmetic (appearance), but some people do prefer the look of different optics than the default on each gun. Note: All guns in BF4 come with either American, Russian, or Chinese optics by default — one of each — with the others unlocked by Battlepacks.
- Cosmetic Items. Camouflage (uniforms) for your soldier, Paints to customize your vehicles and guns, Dog Tags, Emblem elements, Knives (all work the same, but the in game model, animation, and kill message are different), and maybe anything else they can come up with. None of these affect play, but they are nice to make your soldier stand out on the Battlefield.
Again, you will find the the unlocks for things you find most useful will come quickly enough that soon, you will forget how much you wanted them.
Team Play
Everything is awesome when you’re part of a team. Battlefield is a game where you are rewarded in many ways for helping your team mates, as well as for achieving objectives which are needed to win the game. Teamwork is not an afterthought in this game. You should always be thinking about how to work with and help your team, not just who you should be shooting at. This can be hard when you are just starting out, especially if you’ve played other FPS games which do not have similar teamwork features.
First, when you join a game you are not just part of a team, you are also part of a squad. The squad is a small group which makes up a unit which is part of the team — in Battlefield 4, of up to five players. On the map, enemies are shown in red, team mates in blue, while your squad mates are in green (default colors). Find and stick with your squad mates — you get extra points for working with them, and if you don’t know what to do, go with them because maybe they do.
Second, you have gadgets which can help out your team mates as well as yourself. This is most intensely and importantly applied to the medics (BF4 Assault, Hardline Operator) who have medical packs (bags, boxes) which will heal team mates, and ammo suppliers (Support, Enforcer) who give replacement ammo for their team. These two kits are also the easiest to get used to playing at the start — a strong primary weapon and a clear team play task to perform.
In the desert, the saying goes “If you can’t remember when you last had water, you need to drink.” With both medic and ammo packs/bags/kits, you shouldn’t wait until you see a wounded team mate, are hurt yourself, or need more ammo, before you drop them. No, you should be putting them out all the time, any time you are near team mates, or even at a good location where your team mates are sure to come by. But especially, if you see the icon which shows that a team mate needs healing or ammo, don’t hesitate or forget to give it to them. Not only will your team mates appreciate this, but it actually helps them to win the game — and gives you lots of XP.
The repair tool (Engineer, Mechanic) should be used whenever you are near or on board friendly vehicles which are damaged. Again, bonus points for helping your team, and your simple effort can help your team win. This isn’t as hard to remember to do as supplying health and ammo, but you still may need to remember that you can fix vehicles in this game.
Third is spotting. The last kit (Recon,Professional) has tools to help with spotting the enemy, but the feature of spotting is another key element of Battlefield teamwork. It is also one which every player can do. Press the spot key, and the enemies you see will be shown on your minimap (and big map), both for you and for your whole team. You should develop a spotting reflex in this game, where you automatically try to spot enemies even while you are shooting at them. That way, your team will also know where they are, and can help you engage them — or track them down avenge your death.
Last things are orders and objectives. These go together, because in Battlefield, each squad has a leader, who can give orders to engage a game objective. You will see that objective highlighted on the map, and in BF4 will see a line between you and the objective showing where to go. By working together with your squad and following the leader’s orders, not only are you more likely to actually secure the objective, but you earn bonus points for following (or giving) orders and for working with your squad. If you happen to be the squad leader, remember to give orders whenever you can. Both you and your squad will earn extra points, and be more effective in the game.
The team Commander (Hardline Hacker) is also a big part of this when present in a game, offering the squad leaders guidance and support (and extra bonus points) for securing objectives. Squad leaders should try to accept Commander orders when given, as this gives extra points as well, and can help the whole team coordinate better.
You should always be aware of the objectives, and work to achieve them in the game. This is, by far, most easily done by having a good squad and working with them. A good squad will communicate — voice or text chat — and it isn’t too hard to make at least temporary friends with your team mates during a game and work even better together.
Have Fun
Sometimes, you can forget that the ultimate goal in playing games is to have fun. Winning or losing can feel serious, but don’t get so caught up in the goals of the game that it feels like work. There is room in Battlefield to slack off and mess around, try new things, and play however you want to in order to enjoy yourself. As long as your actions don’t deliberately annoy or hurt your team’s play, people don’t mind.
Still, the sense of accomplishment when you work with your team and achieve victory is amazing in this game, and even a newbie can do that.
