Hello Everyone, Little background info for the next three paragraphs, skip it if you want. I may make some comparisons to Planetside 1. And I'm going to try and answer questions before you ask them so this might be a bit long. Long time PS fan, back since the days of PS1 beta. Achieved highest ranks,etc. I consider myself a fairly decent FPS player in general as in most games I top the score boards. I'm not a pro by any means, but somewhere higher than average. I've played PS2 only a little bit for a variety of reasons I won't get into here. I tend to play for a couple of days, a week at most. Then get bored and leave for 4 or 5 months. I did spend quite a bit of money on the game simply because I wanted to support it as I enjoyed PS1 so much, I had no idea what to buy and probably made bad choices. Move forward to this go around and I decided to try the infiltrator. It is by far the class I've had the worst experience with and there is a very good chance the fault is my own. But I must say the class just feels so... broken, maybe, just maybe it's not all my fault. So help me find out. I have read some guides to help myself progress a little further, a little faster, but feel as though nothing I do helps me get any better at playing the class as it is in PS2. Let me be clear. If I use the class to snip it's just fine. I am not talking about sniping and running around in the background. Often times I will try to go around and hack turrets, or anything else I can. This helps at least somewhat but it's very slow leveling this way and is not always the fun I'm looking for. At this point I'm currently using the stalker method of stealth. I know that there are different levels of stealth and I am never truly invisible. I do my best to move very slowly, crouched. I don't use call outs unless It's safe to do so. I try to stay out of corners, If there are too many enemies I do my best to get out. I try to move when no one is looking. What I'm finding is that no mater how slow I move while crouched, especially inside a building, everyone can see me. I don't think I've even seen anyone use the darklight flashlight on me yet. Seldom does someone run past me when I'm crouched and not moving in the middle of a room somewhere without shooting me, let alone if they see me move while crouched 10-20 yards in front of them. I don't get it. Tips please, is it just me or is it like this for you too? The rest are some ideas that have probably been shot down multiple times before. Am I doing something wrong? Back when I played PS1 the infiltrators where truly invisible as far as I recall, without a time limit restriction and they were still hard to play well as they never had a primary weapon. I'm in no way saying this is how it should be in PS2. It's just a reference. The following are things I think would work with Stalker, as we do not get a primary weapon when using it. The lack of a primary weapon is what made PS1 infiltrators "work". First of all the sound we make when removing cloak makes us completely obvious to anyone who can hear what just happened. This makes it that much harder to be sneaky when you have to remove your cloak to attack or hack. Hacking should be something we can do while cloaked. Same with things like shooting motion darts. We have to remove cloak to attack which is crazy for me to try and comprehend in real life. This is not real life, so I can accept it for what it is. I'm not saying we should stay invisible when shooting, but perhaps when we shoot it should de-cloak us and the next shot should attack. Just one less button to worry about when suddenly someone can see you. I think when we are crouched, standing still or moving we should be 100% invisible unless the person has black light on. If it turns out to be too OP then we could be 100% invisible until we are within 3 meters or something. There's more, but this is long enough. Thanks for any feed back.
I don't play infil much, so don't have too many suggestions, but I can tell you for sure that in PS1 infils could not snipe - their inventory space wasn't wide enough for sniper rifles. They could only carry 3x3 size items like pistols and ACEs plus ammo.
There is only 2 states of a cloaked infiltrator - deep cloak where you are nigh transparent, works only while you are crouched and sit still. Regular cloak is engaged whenever you move. At all. Even when crouched. And it is far more visible then a deep cloak, experienced player can see it quite easily and pretty far away too. Also there is a delay before you change into deep cloak, so you need some time to get into it. However if you get any sort of damage you will light up like a christmas tree for a split second. Yeah, PS1 cloak suit seems to be quite a mischievous device. I personally would prefer stalker in PS2 to be able to remain cloaked indefinitely even on the move since visibility on the move is sufficient enough to be detected in short range. I am kinda annoyed by passive stalkers that do pretty much nothing beside sitting in corners for weird reasons, maybe this would motivate them to move around a little more for a change. Also I want to note that PS1 had more things going on in base capturing as such and cloak suits users could grief enemy in more ways beside just killing them unlike PS2. Best alternative in PS2 is just camping a gen or being tacticool by spying and telling your squad what enemy is doing.
I seem to remember the space restriction they had as a 4x4 pack if I recall. Not that it matters, as the sniper was 3 wide. What I could not remember was if you could take it and carry it without it being in your pack, and I seem to be correct in thinking that it was not something we could do. I understood that there were three stages of cloak, maybe a fourth. I'm going to give inaccurate percentages es an example of transparency level. 1. Moving while upright. Very visible within 100 yards or so. 1.5 Running while upright. Even more than above. 2. Standing still OR Crouching and moving. Somewhat visible. 85% transparent? 4. Crouching and not moving. Nearly invisible. 95% transparent? How long is the delay from the time you stop moving until the time you are transparent. I always figured there was a second delay or so, but nothing longer. Is that about right? In PS1 infiltrators were annoying if they wanted to be. I know I cursed them sometimes. But that's why I ran dark light as soon as one took me out. It was our counter to the 100% invisible infiltrator. If I recall Darklight made it so you saw in black and white, and did not see as far. That's the thing though, we have a counter that is perfectly usable. Why are infiltrators punished because other classes don't want to counter us? If every other class ran a Darklight infiltrators would be ruined and they would have to buff them, or nerf Darklight ASAP for CQC. Besides wanting to learn how to play the class better in PS2, I suppose I miss some of the old PS1 that I was used to. But infiltrators really do feel extremely inefficient at doing much except camping. I'm going to go mess around with Darklight Flashlight and see how it is. Looking forward to more replies.
Even before reading your post I had a pretty good idea about what the problem was going to be and after reading it, my suspicions were confirmed. Your problem is more or less what the majority of infiltrators have and that is you overuse cloak. People often wish for cloak to be buffed to the point where a player is practically invisible and while I do not support that, the fact is that the current cloak doesn't work like that so you can't play as if it does. If a person is actively searching in an area or just happens to be looking at you, he'll probably see you. Cloak in its current form is a far more situational ability than most players think. From what you described I can tell that you are basically running into people or end up within engagement distance while still cloaked. You are then disadvantaged based on having to uncloak to engage. Whenever infiltrators complain about this I ask them "Why were you cloaked in the first place?." Every other class can get around just fine, they can run from cover to cover, run around bases, ambush other players, WITHOUT cloaking. So why do infiltrators think they have to be cloaked whenever they aren't shooting? Some will mention that infiltrators have less shield but honestly, 100 shield... that's one less shot. If another class can run from point A to point B without dying, then an infiltrator can as well. While the gun choices for a CQC and Med Range infiltrator are limited, you can play the class exactly like a medic/engy and do just fine. So if an infiltrator isn't supposed to be running around cloaked, then when exactly are they supposed to be using it? Basically only 2 situations to be honest. Long range sniping and running away. The sniping part of it is pretty obvious. And for running away while you aren't invisible while cloaked, it can still help if you manage to get around a corner and bolt. This might make cloak seem underwhelming but that is how it is right now. Until it gets changed people need to learn how to use it how it is rather than how they wish it to be. Hope this helps.
Okay I can see a few things you could try doing to improve. BE STILL: Right off the top of my head there are a few tips for deep cloak, which is when your stationary and crouched. First even if your not moving a muscle your character animation still has lung function. When enemies get close enough to cuddle its very possible for them to detect this subtle shift. Especially if your right against a wall or background which can be distorted. A good solution to stop the breathing animation is to Aim Down Sights. Just ADS and hold that position like you have a bad case of arthritis. Listen for audio cue's like footsteps and then when the danger has passed release ADS and look around normally. BUGS: There is one exception to this trick because of a bug and slopes. If your on a slanted surface you will experience the dreaded wiggly aim. You can imagine this does not help your situation because it causes you to jiggle around and affects your accuracy as well. So just be chill when this happens and hope for the best without going into ADS as they approach. Don't look around just freeze. Sadly this bug will also drain your cloak and ruins perfect vantage points as well. You will encounter many jaw dropping bugs with the infiltrator class. BEWARE THE LASORZ: The Laser Sight found on like every single weapon works like a mini Darklight. If you see high BR enemies running around with their red sight active be aware they can scan with it similar to a Darklight. Its very easy to pick out a wiggly line and open fire. Your saving grace is they pretty much have to ADS directly at your position and be relatively close. Its a thing you just have to deal with and thankfully not everyone knows about this at the moment. Most prefer Darklight anyway since its much easier to find us using a cone rather then a tiny thread of light. TRAPS: For a stalker, consider that AP Mines are a solution to not having a primary weapon. They cover your tail, can be used on unexpected groups of enemies. Can be thrown over cover objects, paired with EMPs (betties / proxies. Claymores are directional and instant and don't work in the same way.) AP mines offer you more options and directly increase your potential killing power allowing you to adapt to more situations then you would be able to face without them. However you become reliant on the regeneration implant in order to heal yourself back up to full health. Regeneration will not work while your cloaked but there is no reason why you cannot sneak away and heal back to full when the time is right. But what exactly is a "trap"? Mines don't necessarily have to be involved. You should probably be running a motion spotter with stalker because players tend to stop moving and kill these similar to how they go for spawn beacons. Max Rank, you get four of these devious little devices that can help keep you safe with radar, earn xp, and function as player bait. A trap can literally be anything. You could sit on a dead corpse and spam call-outs for a medic and just wait patiently knife in hand. You could toss an EMP and dispatch someone at range heading towards an ammo pack, or frankly any other point of reference you have been able to figure out they are intending to go for. When you control the engagement that is the perfect time to spring your ambush. You can even EMP and detonate enemy exploves through walls blowing up entire rooms. Have fun with it and get creative. CLOAK: Aloofs example is perfect in terms of SMG play. The cloaking sound is our worst enemy and it ruins our ambushes more then shoddy hit detection ever will. Please keep your Infiltrator farts to a bare minimum. However don't neglect the fact that as a stalker, you don't have to uncloak willy nilly. You can sit for a second, fully recharge and sprint between locations, use cover as a line of sight break, and easily loose a tail without alerting anyone. The ability to actually control your cloaking sound is huge. Yes you have to give this for a moment once you make an ambush. However we generally shouldn't be going for more then 1 target a time in most cases without support or combat aids like mines or EMP. Personally I sprint around allot and dart between cover its very difficult for people to keep track of me and they tend to linger at my last known location (usually obvious enemy corpse) since they don't expect a stalker to just haul *** and re-position. Again audio like footsteps, and watching mini map radar is very useful. That being said, higher traffic areas, 96+ vs 96+ fights cloak sound doesn't seem to be as much of a difference. I tend to have no problems being flashy with it, and my biggest issue is just the sheer number of eyes watching everywhere in these style of fights. In those cases I will flash cloak and expose myself as little as possible. Taking a shot with my crossbow and quickly recloaking in most cases. Your overall tempo has to slow down in massive fights. I would recommend small fights to start with. If you do have to fight in populated placed try working the outskirts. If your in heavy combat you have to be more reliant on what you can actually see around you with your own eyes, and who can actually see you before making your move. The other option is to use your allies as bait and hang around near them as support. This can be a huge challenge because sloppy heavies are bad and spray the hell out of everything including you. Some people may even hide behind you while deep cloaked in an attempt to troll you and draw enemy fire. Allies can be helpful but also very annoying. Good allies are amazing though and you can really be helpful to the team-play but that is an entirely new post. AMBUSH: Actually killing enemies successfully I think you should have no problems with given your experience. Pick a weapon which works for you. I prefer higher alpha damage weapons like the Crossbow to make the most out of the short time I have the initiative. Your true test 1v1 as a stalker will be Heavies and Nano Mesh Generator (shield) which can instantly add 600 HP and directly mitigate the lethality of your ambushes. My advice - play dirty, use your knife, EMP, Mines. Headshot when possible and try and do all this before they have enough human reaction time to turn on their shields. (Video of practicing ambushes in various forms.) ESCAPE: Killing is only half the equation. You really should develop some escape routes as your playing. If your super aggressive like me you tend to get greedy and it can be tempting to farm, or chain ambushes longer then you should. So having a thought in the back of your mind "I should leave through the window" can help you actually follow through with a rational plan rather then getting caught up in the moment. (Video shows some escapes in small combat) Stalkers need to be in control of whats happening and the moment you start playing re-actively and letting enemies decide where you can / can't be is when the noose starts getting tight. So try and be unpredictable. Seriously having an escape plan has saved my *** more times then I can count. It was the single biggest breakthrough in my personal play because of the cognitive reasons mentioned above. For me the biggest issue I have is lack of ammo when I solo. I hope this helps its pretty massive but stalker is really about awareness and reading your opponents so you know when its safe(r) to make that ambush. Respect your oponents they are pretty smart and it gets really awesome when you start to be able to get into their heads and figure out what they are going to do next.
cloak is not really cloak for infiltrator. any good player can see it. you cant use cloak and try to run into enemies without being killed. I ve killed many infiltrators with my em4 longshot even though they were cloaked because I could see their cloak. you can get a ton of kills by sniping. save certs for em4 longshot and also the attactment that allows you to reload without zooming out.
Quick question about your seeming love/hate relationship with PS2 - are you playing with a squad or outfit? It isn't everyone's cup of tea (I tend to Parallel Wolf alongside allies) but it might make the game more fun for you. Note that any kind of movement can draw the human eye so even turning your character in place or moving your PoV around could cause trouble. it's an odd game. I often find a spot to hide in and some guy will simply run straight into the room and nail me without me having moved a muscle in ages. Sometimes I can screech to a halt on a walkway and people will run straight through me. I tend to find it safer to be off the footfall of traffic. Try to avoid very regular backgrounds to hide against. Areas with visual distortion such as downwards gravity pads can be good masks. Bushes are sometimes useful but...they can be an obvious place to hide...so as with other spots people will fire into them on a speculative basis now and again. (Oh, and disable the extra flora in your graphics options. That way you aren't trying to hide behind a bush that other people might not be seeing!) On Darklights - it isn't always obvious when folks are waving them around in daylight. It might be difficult for you to see the cone of their Darklight. If you see your own arms suddenly take on your faction colour then you are being hit with one. Very important: your allies can give you away as the enemy can see you if you get hit by your own Allies Darklights. Also at one point Darklights shone through walls. I don't know if they fixed that. There were also bugs where ammo clips inside your weapon would not cloak, and sometimes your head or gun would not cloak while you did. Was supposedly fixed, I thought but might have been broken again. Heck there are times when I see an enemy INF running much further away than I think I should. Also, try to avoid changing cloak states as often as you can. The noise is not only a good indicator of distance but it is faction specific, too. If possible, wear camo appropriate to the terrain you are in. Camo doesn't make you impossible to spot but I find it makes you stand out less. @CuteBeaver: good write-up. I never thought about breathing giving me away!!?
A bit off-topic but i just gave infil my 1st try today,and I am having the exact opposite issue,I was plaing on broken arch road,just got my sundy over the base with 0 friendly presence and about 24 enemies there(we were defending the depot),and i figured why the hell not might as well try it out. Sniping is impossible for me,and to be fair ive only ever played a dedicated sniper in BF2 a loong time ago,and while the drop and velocity felt just right on the xm98,the things that really rubbed me the wrong way were the scope sway (too strong and completely unpredictable at first sight), the delay between pressing the shift key and the sway actually stoping,the absolute lack of momentum in the movements of my targets (tbh probably the number 1 reason I actually enjoy the infantry game with any other class),and the somewhat uneven movement animations. That reduced me to picking off only stationary targets - other snipers,engis and the occasional low BR medic standing on the spot while revivng. Well that got boring rly rly fast and once, plus other teammates started spawning on my sundy the position was compromised and soon I was getting countersniped. Then I decided to try the stalker cloak,and man was it amazing! Fired a couple of darts to make sure no1 is climbing up for the sundy and began making my way down,cloaked a couple times to break potential spots(no implant active),and used the erosion lines to mask my approach. Once i made it down i was wondering how to approach the situation and noticed an engi running for the vehicle console.That seemed familiar,I`ve died countless times in the same situation,so i slowly moved out of his line of sight,decloaked and fired away @ him,getting a shotgun to the face from the next engi that was going for a tank :/ 2nd try,went back down to the vehicle terminal, got a heavy in the back after making damn sure there was no1 else around and decided to hack the terminal.After that I climbed back the mountain a bit so I could oversee the approaches to the terminal and went into deep deep cloak,not long after the next guy came,tried to get a vehicle and started shooting away at the terminal. Didn`t even have to move,just filled him up with the beamer :F Ignored a few small groups passing by on the road,changed position slightly, killed a couple of infils trying to hack the terminal,another guy or two going for vehicles unaware of the hack ... and then a heavy,with his pistol in hand and with the dreaded darklight! I thought i was dead for sure! He started looking at every bush and every corner,spinning like a lunatic right bellow me and never thought to look up!About 20 secs of patrooling around and checking the building nearby he gave up,changed to RL and fired at the terminal,only to have his scull filled with beamer rounds,and me getting a tell to **** xD A small group came to the terminal,finished it off and repaired it again killing a couple LAs from my team that decided to come down for a change in the process.No biggie just let them take their tanks and hack it again Same story goes for a bit longer untill my team finally pushes trough and thanks to the lack of supporting enemy armor the base falls quickly. This is the 1st time I have felt that me as a person have had a significant impact on the turn of events in a fight,not only by providing logistics as usual(read deployed sundy),but denying the opponents attack force the armor they need so much. Overall I`m sure I will be playing stalker again,despite only getting in such a great position by a fluke and not really having the patience to work bigger battles from the outskirts. The cert income was pitiful as well,but the adrenaline rush more then makes up for it. Sorry for the wall of text. TL;DR: Sniping sux.Stalker works.
If you are having trouble sniping, try out the sniper rifles that can use lower magnification scopes. There is 2 for Vanu, a bolt action, and 10 shot-semi auto. The Ghost and Phantom. For me, with a 4x scope, i play a lot better. There is also no sway. The vanu benefit of a semi-auto is that there is no bullet drop. For 4x scope range, you can head shot then body shot with the Phantom before a person can react, and they are dead. Otherwise, One hit kill with the Ghost. This guy uses 4x scopes on bolt actions and fights close quarters...check his videos for another way to play [NUC[ elusive1 -
I think I would love the semi-auto - the default SR already feels good with only the scope destroying it for me. 6x seems like the perfect zoom level for a BASR,though with the sway removed maybe I could reconsider and get the ghost with 4x.Would prolly choose that path if I ever decide to cert a sniper loadout,thx for the input! And for the vid,I call hax!!!1! No way i could ever do that xD
If you are crouch walking and cloaked, we can see you the same as if you were running and cloaked. All you are doing is making it easier for the enemy to lead you and crouching is putting your head in his hipfire crosshair. You are better off running. A standing infiltrator is a dead infiltrator. You are a crystal statue, very noticeable. Cloak only works when you crouch completely still. I would recommend instead of hacking base turrets as an infiltrator to just switch class and just destroy them all. I use the Engineer's AV turret, it has unlimited AV ammo, you can kill every turret at that amp station solo. You get 100XP for each turret and there is no XP cap on it like there is for hacking.
um so quit being a turtle. no one gets ahead in planetside by crawling around. the name of the game is speed. you wanna be successful then max out hunter get an smg and flank behind enemy lines. ive taken out entire armor columns just by sneaking behind the enemy and hacking a turret or two. and always move, NEVER EVER EVER stay in one spot.
Thought I should post an update for everyone. I've been playing a lot since posting this and have improved quite a bit after taking some advice and changing my play style. 1. I've decided I'm always visible and it has helped. 2. I've also sped up my pace to a high degree. Whenever I play stealthy characters I tend to move slow and steady while in stealth, waiting for just the right moment. When out of stealth it's full speed ahead. It's just how I think stealth classes should be played so it's hard to change that programming in my head. Now I tend to move very quickly even when cloaked what feels like 90% of the time. 3. I tend to use the dart gun with stalker, move in within range and take out enemies with one or two shots. Mostly staying away from HA, but not always. 4. If the battle changes I'll go hunter cloak and snipe, or SMG with a silencer. 5. I'll sneak around and find AMS locations for the platoon when I am playing with a good group. I've had bad luck with mines, but use them frequently. I don't think I know the most traveled routes yet so I'm probably placing them poorly. Often they just get shot. Sometimes I get completely lost in facilities. Overall I'm having fun though I think the Devs could do a better job helping new people get their bearings in this game. Especially explaining how the game works, how to cap specific facilities, etc. It's a huge learning curve for the new player and should be a part of the VR training. As well they should explain how the infiltrator has stages of visibility for new players. Maybe a video that shows it. Maybe have some AI infiltrators running around in VR. I've had a couple new infiltrators ask why their weapon is disabled not knowing they can't use it with Stalker. Why even have a main weapon slot with Stalker if you can't use it? lol Thanks for the write up, read it all and took away some good advice. I do both, I typically join a platoon and only stay if the leaders are good. Some of them seem so arrogant and rude I can't stand listening to them tell people what to do. The outfit I joined seems great so far when they are playing. We just roll through and destroy things, leaders are pleasant to take orders from. People listen and quickly do what is asked, each squad will work together or independent depending on the scenario. It reminds me of when I played PS1 and lead our outfits, only now things seem faster and smoother for many reasons. Mostly how easy it is to communicate and join squads. Man was that a hassle in PS1.
