What's the most effective way for one person to play PlanetSide?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Arkanakaz, Nov 29, 2020.

  1. Arkanakaz

    The goal of PlanetSide is to control territory for your empire by capturing hexes.

    So this is not about getting kills or certs; this is about the thing one soldiers can do that helps their empire gain the most territory. So what is it?

    Some things towards the top of the list in my opinion:

    • Be the one combat medic in an area doing the revives
    • Taking out a deployed enemy Sunderer
    • Deploying smoke to allow many teammates to cross open terrain
    • Picking a good Sunderer location for many to attack from
    • Good Router deployment
    • Controlling the points of a base in a back cap or cut off, during a low population fight for a hex
  2. Johannes Kaiser

    In essence, all the things that don't count for base capture contribution.
  3. JustGotSuspended

    The goal of Planetside 2, like any other game, is to have fun.

    Since it's a massive multiplayer online first person shooter, it's reasonable to assume that the people who play this game have fun by killing/shooting people in large fights.

    Kill deployed sunderers only if you're going to push and start a fight elsewhere, otherwise you're either stalling/trolling a fun fight people want to stay at, or you're encouraging zerging. And whatever you do, do not kill deployed sunderers in low-pop hours, especially if it's the only fight on the continent.

    Additionally, refrain from using smoke. Again, it's troll material that bothers allies and serves little purpose asides from dropping frame rates.

    Remember it's a COMBAT medic. Shoot first, rez once the threats are gone. Reviving people is great, just make sure you're not feeding the enemy free kills.

    Also, the thing that gets the most territory: zerg, double team a faction. I don't see those on the list.
  4. Arkanakaz


    I was in game watching two factions shooting each other on either side of an opening, the soldiers at the front would get killed and the medics would revive them and the same was happening on the side with the other faction - with the fight at a standstill. Nothing wrong with that, usually I just join in with whatever is happening. It made me wonder though; what does actually move the fight forward and backwards? Therefore this post.
  5. OneShadowWarrior

    First of all, don’t worry about kill/death ratio, there are kids that are obsessed with it, PS is a game of immersion and there are way to many force multipliers, just be prepared to die alot and laugh about it, throw yourself into fights and have fun until you find a style your comfortable with, playing it safe like so many do, is boring, repetitive and you won’t enjoy it. Really Planetside is campside and the vast majority of players want to camp you by outnumbering you or what they call the zerg. You’ll see this often as what I call the 60/40 rule. They farm you by outnumbering you and the big outfits just throw numbers at you, surround you or crowd your space and shoot you before you can react.

    1. Stay in spawn if outnumbered and just pickoff for kills. Wait for reinforcements or just leave.
    2. Infiltrators are a very powerful class, learn to recon to weigh your odds.
    3. Master the basics of vehicles, going on foot is suicide.
    And lastly
    4. Only engage in infantry fights when you know the numbers are in your favor or even. Don’t get flustered if you get shot in back or camped by vehicles, everyone does it, just change locations and don’t be predictable.
  6. Parsa

    Most effective way to force a win for one faction is to betray the other factions using alts. For blowing the sundies go engineer drop 5 mines under the wheel and shoot it. Router is a construction so you can't shoot that, you have to use deconstruction tool instead. Biolabs/Tech-plants you can grab a pump action and stop friendlies from stopping the SCU from overloading.
  7. Liewec123

    seems like you've got the right ideas with the spawns!

    if people want to make a huge difference in whether their army wins or loses,
    they only need to be the one who brings a sunderer!

    rank 1 Deployment Shield will do for early days (but its amazing at max rank)
    park it somewhere useful but also safe, and suddenly you've been the most useful person at the base!
    i've been solo playing PS2 since 2013 and have turned many tides of battle with a simple sunderer!

    another vital role that is often overlooked is AA duty,
    you won't be getting any glory and you probably won't get many kills,
    but the difference that your deterrence makes will be massive.
    i'd recommend ranger on an Ant, Ants are cheap to pull and fairly hardy!

    also if you plan on playing solo,
    set up a solo outfit so that you can get "merit" from base camps to by cool stuff like the mini sky shields :)
    • Up x 2
  8. JustGotSuspended


    ^^^^^^^^^^^^

    This is so true, although it has been more annoying to maintain a deployed sunderer since the harassers and light assault buffs. Spawns are super important, yet not many people bring them to a fight, even less people think of creative ways to place the spawn. A well placed sunderer will definitely turn the tide of a fight, even with slight overpop If you master the art of placing spawns, it's seriously a blessing to your faction (although very few will show it), and it allows the fun to keep flowing.

    The problem with AA is how ineffective it is. You're really just sacrificing your sanity in the hopes of scaring a few new pilots. I wouldn't recommend being AA main for any player, unless they know what they are getting themselves into. A better way to help your team against air would be to master a2a. If you can learn to fly and shoot down the guys who are trying to ground pound, you will seriously be appreciated and be an incredible asset to your faction, and I guarantee you will get many kills.

    Solo outfits work for some people, but if you have trouble getting resources, coming up with a name/tag/logo, it's also possible to join a small outfit where everyone has crafting privileges.
    • Up x 1
  9. JustGotSuspended


    It's both a complex and simple thing to answer. Battleflow lattices, base design.

    Most bases favor the defenders. It's incredibly hard to capture most bases without an overpop. Someone mentioned 60/40, and that's usually a symptom of this. Despite the overpop, these fights are usually the most fun and "balanced", because the attackers have enough population to make up for their disadvantages, while still allowing defenders to do something.

    Most fights where the population is equal, or near equal stagnate, because the defenders are too heavily favored by the base design, but the attacker's spawn is too well protected to actually die. So the continuous farming begins.

    I'm sure you're had these moments where you look at the map and say "oh please not this base" or been farmed on your way uphill to a base, or on your 30 minute jog from your spawn to the point. Well your faction is likely affected the same. There's some bases that are just so painful or annoying to push, that people prefer to just stay where they are, or go elsewhere. That's why there's some fights where no matter how many times a spawn is killed, the fight will stay there and a new spawn brought in at the same spot.
    • Up x 1
  10. RabidIBM

    Not sure why you would be by yourself in PS2, but the most you can do to change the outcome of a fight by yourself comes down to spawn points. Know the good spots, create them for your team, destroy them for the enemy team.

    If breaking the fights isn't your thing however, something I have occasionally done is pulled engineer and found an empty gun seat.

    Many don't like me when I destroy the spawn points, but usually when I'm doing it, it's during an alert, and I'm scouting a defensive fight the PL might have to move us all to, and I'm seeing if I can save the move.
  11. That_One_Kane_Guy

    Brute Force, Coordination, Luck, or some combination of the three.
    • Up x 1
  12. Metalsheep

    Some of the best ways to help out your faction is to be both knowledgeable of the base and map, flexible in your play style and have some tactical acumen.

    If you know they layout of the base and how the enemy is pushing you can set up a flank. If the enemy is unaware a good flanking position can break enemy ranks and give your faction a good opportunity to push. This can also make you more aware of your own flanks and preventing the enemy from flanking your push.

    Being flexible in your play style will feed into this. Instead of "maining" a class, play what is needed. Is there only one or two medics? Switch classes to medic and support your team. Is there a MAX hiding with no one to repair him? Switch to Engine and keep him in the fight. Is there an abundance of enemy LA? Switch to LA and get up on the rooftop. Don't be afraid to play a MAX and spearhead a push if there's a stalemate. Essentially be willing to do the job no one else seems to be doing.

    As much as people moan and whine about sundie/spawn killers, that's what makes or breaks territory control. Find the sunderer, relay it to your faction or pull a tank and go blow it up. Or pull your own sunderer to bolster a fight if your faction only has one.

    A single player can make a big impact by shoring up your team's weaknesses and leveraging your opponents.
    • Up x 1
  13. Arkanakaz


    Very true - pick what you do so you avoid diminishing returns for your empire
    • Up x 1
  14. TheEmancipator

    There are some great suggestions. One of the simpliest things that you can do is just move up. In a stand still fight, people will shoot behind barriers. If you can find a way to flank to safety, the blueberries will follow. Sometimes, that is all what is needed.
    • Up x 1
  15. JibbaJabba

    I play solo a lot.

    Sometimes just for the farm or to get kills for whatever directive I'm working on.

    Other times I do play "the game" solo. Here's some things I find myself doing:

    #1 thing....

    Be the guy that does the forward cap!! -or- Be the guy who sneaks back just as friendlies are about to get crushed from point and do a back cap!!!

    OMG I cannot overstate how powerful this is. You want to make a difference as a solo player? This is it. You can make zergs bend to your will.


    Make a fight!!

    If there is an uncontested base on the lattice I'll go solo attack it. Even if I fail miserably I have drawn enemy forces to me.
    -Get a good cloaked bus setup.
    -Or just Valk it, and hold off as long as you can solo (don't attempt if you suck I guess). A buddy for a spawn beacon is noice.

    Getting some spawns setup at that base is really what the faction needs. Sometimes reinforcements will arrive via your provided spawn and a full blown battle will organically grow.

    A cloaker + Valkyrie + unwatched enemy vehicle terminal is powerful here.

    If you can pull this off on a base behind the enemy zerg then you'll again bend them to your will by stealing initiative.

    Don't call it a ghost cap. Fight. Nip at them. Make them work for it. Above all - Make it take a while to get you out of there so they send reinforcements from elsewhere.

    Do the thing others aren't doing.

    Everyone is spawning and streaming towards the point to defend it. Don't. Do something else that nobody is doing. Go instead setup on a flank and intercept enemies going towards the point. If successful, great, if not, you'll still distract and slow the enemy and let your allies on the point succeed.

    Dying all the time, not getting a rez? Look at the minimap. How many friendly crosses do you see? It might be time to switch to medic for a base or so. You can be a powerful force multiplier.

    Getting A2G? Be the guy that pulls a burster max for just like 2min and makes all the enemy air F-off for a bit. Don't be afraid to discard the max or switch to AI when the air leaves.

    Go LA, Infil, or just generally flank like mad and go capture that far capture point. Sure, you'll get massacred by a whole squad shortly, but it will provoke a reaction from the enemy. Those 12 guys sent to dispatch you will no longer be covering the point at the main fight where friendlies are pushing.

    Vehicle spawn not hackable but it's still intact? Go destroy it. It will stop the enemy from sweeping friendly sundies.

    Conversely stick some recon darts on that enemy sundy nobody seems to be noticing...

    Just generally be a good teammate.

    Battle buddy with the clueless. That guy that spawned a second before you? F it. Just follow him and keep him alive. Communicate!

    When you spawn at a forward sundy, do so as an engie. Take a moment to put down tank mines then switch back to your regular class. Top off the repairs on the sundy while you're at it.

    Put down those tactal deployables!

    That max that's crying for repairs? Yeah he sucks. But he'll be marginally effective if you go ahead and top him off before switching back to your class.
    • Up x 1
  16. Arkanakaz

    This is a good one for sure. You need someone to let you know when to capture the point for the backcap. Not too early and not too late.
    • Up x 1
  17. Zipr

    Get on youtube and watch some Commander Cyruis videos Since you specifically mentioned spawns Might start w/ this vid >>

    Foot traffic? This might help some...

    You really should watch this one asap (terminology) That should be just enough for you to join and learn about "squading up" I suggest not being to quick to latch on or hook up tho Need to see a real mix of how best to attack (OR Defend) various objectives Don't be fooled some will impress you if your not careful leading to things like long galaxy rides followed by no spawns = no cap kinda deals Equivalent to less time for an experienced player to get a Sunderer deployed w/o near the attention Sure you will sometimes find Gal is the only way (esp. w/ a router) But we're speaking in general here...

    Goal should be to lead at least a squad (ideally folks you know) who can play roles as needed... Chance you may not pull the dub but you and your squad will have fun especially knowing you did what you could I will be honest it is not often or nothing but a squad in sync can really tie up and advance outnumbered period

    P.S. Doing things like dropping a silo w/ an air terminal Joining command channel to know where a router may be needed Really just doing more listening than talking on command channel should lead to good results Scares me some to think this is more the answer your hoping to hear because there is so much more... I mean such things as taking time to learn to pilot an ESF could be priceless more times than not...
    • Up x 2
  18. Booface

    If by "effective" you mean "helping your faction," then Sundie and Router hunting are probably the most important things you can contribute to a big fight as a solo player. Lots of ways to make that happen. The trusty old ejection seats on a crashing ESF is a good delivery mechanism, but with shielded Sunderers sometimes you will hit a ceiling in terms of what you can do by yourself.

    You can also contest ghost caps. You are more important as a solo player in a 6v6 fight in a small base than as another piece of meat for the grinder in a 96+ fight. And it's ok to lose! If you can have an outsized impact on a small fight, and they divert a full squad or two to take a base you're defending with 1-6 people, then you've still been effective. Planetside under the hood is a game of logistics and player attention. 12-24 players idling in a base watching the spawn shields because you gave their smaller group a tough time is 12-24 players that can't participate in a fight somewhere else.

    Otherwise, be flexible. If you want to be effective, that means making sure that the most effective role in any scenario is being filled. Lots of infantry with no AV, farm with anti-infantry vehicles for KD and profit. Lots of vehicles with no infantry support, get a vehicle hunter loadout on a Lightning and make something happen. Stuck indoors and need a push to the point, bring a MAX suit. As soon as your loadout no longer fits the scenario, drop it and look for another role to fill. The big zergs tend to be single-minded and just throw infantry into meatgrinders, so look for what kind of force multiplier is being overlooked by your own faction and provide it, whether that's a Sundie hunter, a specific vehicle loadout, a MAX suit, whatever. I like to start fights as Infiltrator, since cloak gives you enough freedom of movement to move around, get good sightlines on everything, and get a feel for what's missing and how to provide it.

    Just remember to have fun too. It's nice to feel like you're part of a larger effort, but sometimes you also need to pull a stalker, go to a big nighttime fight, and just watch the tracers go across the sky. Try to roadkill an ESF with a turbo Harasser. Try to fit a Galaxy inside a Biolab.
    • Up x 1