Individual Tactics

Tactics at the individual level are as complex as tactics at higher levels. The individual usually has little say in whether or not combat is initiated. But sometime the option does arise. You can either still still and let them move past you, or you can attack them and hope for the best. If you are moving as the last person alive and are given the opportunity to revive if you sit still, YOU SIT STILL. I see people get killed all the time in a stupid rush against an entire team. Staying alive and getting the revive is your primary goal when you are the last person. Getting a kill is secondary to that goal.

COMMON SENSE

Individual tactics, more than any other level of tactics are extremely common sense. If the enemy doesn't know you are there he's not likely to shoot you. If he does know you're there and is firing at you, he can't hit you if there is something in the way that his bullets can't go through, unless of course you stick your head up to shoot back. If you don't stick your head up and shoot back he is going to move into a position where he can shoot around your cover or throw a grenade at you, provided grenades are allowed.

This is what it is all about and it is amazing how commonly people mess it up. Amateurs (like AppzOfFear) will stand out in the open (believing they are bullet proof?) and try to mow down the opposition. What usually happens is that one of the enemy guys takes aim from behind cover and ventilates the the noob. When faced with a large force. Try and use hit and run attacks in which you take out their lead man and run like hell on an unexpected path. This, best done with a sniper, vastly confuses the enemy as the don't know where they are being shot from.

Another thing that amateurs do is keep sticking their head up to fire from the same spot. Eventually the enemy gets a chance to aim and when the amateur does get predictable and stick his head up again he gets shot because the enemy was waiting for him. A professional will vary his firing location and he will look around cover instead of over it because it is easier to silhouette yourself by looking over something. When one is camping, you should change your location around if possible. Once your position is known, an experience player is going to put a high scope on your head and hit the (X) button. This is especially important when sniping. (For more information go to the sniping tutorial)

It is never easy to figure out where the enemy is when he is shooting at you because nine out of ten times he is shooting from cover or concealment and you are trying to avoid getting hit rather than finding the enemy. Most of the time, if you are wearing headphones, you should be able to hear where they are coming from. (If you don't have headphones on, GET THEM). If you cant here them look at the tracer rounds in the air and follow them to the source. This is especially good for finding snipers. It is very difficult to pinpoint one single shot (which is why snipers prefer firing only once) and the more shots the easier it is to figure out which direction the shooter is in.

Another important aspect of individual tactics is presenting as little a target to the enemy as possible. This is one reason for crouching, or laying prone. An amateur will show a lot more of his body than a pro when firing from cover. For instance, when a pro fires around the right side of a corner, he/she places a very small amount of themselves outside the protection of the wall. This makes them hard to hit with a gun or even a sniper from a distance. A noob will throw their whole body out in the open making them a much easier target due to their small profile.

When an individual fires it is usually his intent to hit and kill the enemy. This is not done by 'throwing bullets' at him, aiming is the most effective way of hitting the enemy. Aiming is also best accomplished when the weapon is braced. This becomes even more important at longer ranges when the target is smaller.

Consider the size of everything. Bullets are very small, even a 30mm cannon round is small when you compare it with the area it is being shot at. Bullets do not home in on living targets, they go where they are aimed at and where gravity helps guide them to. This means that it is much easier to miss a target than hit it, unless the target is close enough to count pimples. This statements truth can vary due to lock on.

A pro is going to aim his weapon, even a machine gun, an amateur is going to spray and pray. Machine guns put out more rounds than a regular rifle, they are not more accurate. The advantage of a machine gun is that by firing a larger number of bullets at the enemy the shooter is more likely to hit OR force the enemy to take cover. The use of a reflex sight is especially important as it gives an almost straight spear of bullets which is almost impassible to the enemy.

If the enemy takes cover he can't fire back effectively because it takes time to aim, time he no longer has. Of course the spray and pray practitioner might get lucky but chances are he won't. Spray and pray was the method preferred in Vietnam and thousands of bullets were expended to just get one single hit, and that was not always fatal. Explosives and shrapnel scored most of the kills.

Another reason a person will get in the prone, or behind something is because he/she can then brace his/her weapon and fire more accurately. Fox holes usually have the edge of the hole carved out to brace their weapon and expose as little of the shooter to the enemy as possible. Fox holes (or fighting positions as the Marines call them) are not just holes in the ground, when properly built they provide cover, concealment and a brace for their weapon so the shooter can kill the enemy with a minimum of personal danger.

Moving under fire is also important. The shooter wants to get closer to this target because it is easier to hit him. Running across the open is stupid, the runner is a big target and very hard not to see. Running is fast however and is most effective when the individual has to cover a small distance. Crossing a long distance (like thirty or more feet) is suicide unless the individual's buddies are keeping the bad guys from looking.

Zig-zagging is good when running toward the enemy and he is aiming at you, it only makes you move slower when you are running across his front. Zig-zagging can also be bad if you are zigging or zagging in front of a buddy behind you who is trying to provide covering fire, he might accidentally shoot you in the back. (This is only a problem with friendly fire on) While this doesn't work well with lock on assault rifles, against snipers the time at which you zig and zag makes it difficult to predict where to position the crosshairs ahead of you.It is always important to move unpredictably when the enemy is firing at you because he will try to anticipate your movement and aim at where you will be. Shooting at a moving target is not as easy as it sounds, especially at longer ranges, don't forget the bullet is very small compared to the target area.

Another thing that is important about movement is the person should know where he is going before he moves and it shouldn't be far away. Solid cover should be chosen before the person even gets up.