I really enjoy playing Planetside 2

sounds like a very TR thing to do.

I like it!

Not TR at all, cease the insults immediately!

Thanks for the tips

Yes, I suppose that is much the same with anything in life, generally speaking. The only thing that seems to be going against me is my age and not having the twitch reflexes needed for something like this.

Interesting... What is a "recursion stat-tracker?"

Underboss is great. I noticed that I've used the Commissioner more than anything else on my five other characters and even then I rarely used to pop a pistol.

I'll look that up.

Noted.

I watched some of the Commander Cyrious videos where he uses a Decimator to take out ESF's and judging to perfection where to aim to get on target. I honestly can't see me managing that on purpose! Damn awesome...

Well, I tend to use the Phoenix the most, for obvious reasons. It was good for taking engineers out while at there turrets but last time I tried that it wasn't possible and I'm wondering if it had been nerfed.

I find that the lock-on's tend to be more of a deterrent than anything else. Like you say, they are quite easily dodged, especially if there are a load of trees in the area.

I did just that... Thanks for the heads up on that. I have since sub'd to his channel and I've been watching more of his videos. The advanced training videos are a bit too advanced for me but I'm hopefully still picking up some tips along the way.

Thanks

Yes, I will update this topic with my exploits.

Heavy Assault isn't working well for me at the moment. I die far to easily, which can't be good for the team.

Yesterday morning I got invited into a squad and I stuck with it for the length of an alert. The squad leader suggested that I go Stalker Infil which doesn't seem all that helpful, but I was able to spam detector darts and lay a load of mines, which got me quite a few kills as it happens. And every now and then, if I thought I could pull it off, I would de-cloak and kill a load point capper with the Underboss.

That was mainly with small fights. At the larger fights I was a bit overwhelmed and just sat there watching everyone else do their stuff.

I suppose it could be construed as being disappointing that I fall back on my long distance sniper "crutch" when I find that I'm having a bad time battling some excellent enemy players.

And I've put so much time in now with this character that I'm at BR33 already.

I'm also tuning down some of my settings because it seems that I wasn't getting anywhere near 60 frames per second. I have yet to understand how that is going to affect my gameplay...

cheers

andy

It's a community made, developer supported MOD that tracks kills, streaks, stats, and more. I'm sure you've seen youtube videos of people using it, you just didn't realize what it was. Try it, it really adds a layer to the game imo.

Video how to install it:


Website to install it:
https://recursiontracker.com/

This is one of the best voicepacks you'll want to load:
https://fpsmoukass.com/blogs/all/heavy-damage-voice-pack-for-recursion

A long time ago, launchers were nerfed. Anything other than the decimator/kraken, and maybe the masamune won't 1hk infantry.

Also, engineers were given flak armor as default, and have access to implants that boost their health while mounting turrets. If you see a glowy engineer on a turret, treat him like a mini max suit.

It's actually easier than it looks, I promise with practice you'll just instinctively pull out your deci and shoot down that pesky esf without giving it a second thought. I'd say at least 70% of my launcher kills are from esfs.

Just practice, shoot at where the esf will be, and over time you'll be able to use your instincts to land shots on vehicles that are really far away. Just main with the deci, and don't switch launchers a lot, because otherwise you won't get used to it.

yeah I would avoid the infil class at all costs, it's not a very nice playstyle, and it's a class that won't help you build fps skills.

trust me, you're just getting started

in terms of settings, you want to turn everything that can be turned off off, and the rest on low, except textures, which you will keep on ultra. Set your render distance to around 1000 or less for infantry, and you can keep it at 4k for vehicles. Then you'll want to turn down render quality to 99%, there's a bug I don't know if they fixed where 100% render quality greatly reduced your performance.

I'm sure there's tutorials on youtube, but you'll definitely want to do everything to squeeze over 60 fps whenever possible, it's really going to help improve your gameplay, and allow you to do certain jumps/movements. Then maybe tweak your mouse sensitivities if you haven't already.

oh one last thing, let us know what server you play, maybe I can help you join a good outfit that can help nurture your skills.

Great post. An upbeat one for a change.

The games fantastic. An absolute gem.
I'm 67 years and play it every day for a couple of hours.
Started games using a ZX81 so very long ago.

I belong to a clan that plays Titanfall 2 at the weekend.
However I'm forever banging on about Planetside 2.
Trying to get my clan members to get it and play.
https://thenitwitts.enjin.com/forum

Sometimes my son joins me but he kind of goes crazy and won't follow my orders.
My orders are, stick together, two guns in this game are better than one.
Does he do it........NO!

I joined the 1UPZ only because they have a Bastion in the air at the weekends.
However eventually got the idea it does pay to have chums on your side in PS2.

I play on Miller UK. Not sure what server your on Synkrotron?
Excuse my wittering away.
My main point was to thank you for the post.
Happy Christmas.

It's not as big of a deal as you might think, experience and guile can make up for skill deficiency. Shooting first and shooting accurately will trump twitch more often than not. Try and secure as many advantages as possible before you pull the trigger.

Since I'm assuming this char is NC as well, they also have the Desperado which is also solid as well as more spammable if that is your fancy. I wouldn't worry too much about pistols though since realistically if you're pulling one you've either been caught with your pants down (and probably dead anyways) or you need to finish an injured target (in which case any weapon that can be drawn quickly will do).

Sometimes deterrence is all you need. Make it uncomfortable enough for them and the mud movers will buzz off and become someone else's problem.

Don't worry too much about that, no class in this game is an iwin button. It takes time to learn especially if you're used to other playstyles. As for dying, sometimes points get taken because someone remembered this is a video game and pushed into certain death to create an opening for the team.

If you're an Infil the most important thing to do is use motion darts, hands down. The force multiplier created by knowing where your opponents are cannot be overstated. If you're in comms with a squad sitting quietly in an overwatch position being an invisible little AWACS is also helpful, just remember not to Q-Spot anyone since enemies will hear your shouting and know to come looking for you.

If you're looking for other ways to help, an Engineer dropping ammo is always welcome at a large fight. Chances are there are MAXes around that would love a pocket-repper as well.
Medics are useful as long as you don't get yourself killed trying to revive everyone. A good strat is to stay a little back from the main furball reviving the ones you know you can get without exposing yourself and healing the ones that are already in cover. Revive Grenades+Bandolier are a good investment for this playstyle.

This is a game, we play it for fun. If it's your personal goal not to play a certain way, that's one thing, but don't feel ashamed playing the game however you want out of some twisted obligation to 'do' or 'not do' certain things.

Playing at a good framerate will make things appear smoother and crisper. It makes a big difference, but one you can't appreciate fully until you've seen it for yourself. Kind of like the difference between HD and SD television.

How come?

I mean, I know it is a much hated class, but I have never understood why to be honest.

Yes, I understand that. But you have to believe me when I say that, in general, I plateau my skills quite quickly and I don't think I am going to improve much more.

That said, I found a video on YT yesterday that mentioned a free thing on Steam called Aim Lab and I am going to give that a try. Most of the reviews suggest that the application will help to improve your aim in different situations.

One thing it won't help with, though, is my ADAD and crouch moving skills. I was watching another CMDR Cyrious videos which shows that when you go up against a player that knows what they are doing, you are dead in less than half a second because they are landing headshots consistently. So by the time I think I am reacting to taking hits, it's too late anyway. The only time I am likely to get at least one kill before I die is to surprise someone and get that first headshot in. But, even then, I usually come off second best.

80 hours of game play on this character and I am now at BR44. And the total score is 1,183,265

I can't understand how I have managed that, to be honest.

Has the way that BR is calculated changed recently?

I have four other characters at BR42 and the play times for them range from around 160 hours to 174 hours. And the total scores average at around 1,500,000

Thanks for the tips. I have done more research and changed some settings and I appear to be getting around 100 FPS when there is nothing going on. I keep forgetting to check what the FPS is in larger fights cos I'm a bit dumb. I should remember to turn on FPS display as soon as I start playing and then keep my eye on it when stuff gets busy.

I have reduced my mouse sensitivity, as suggested. I also found other reverences to this in a number of YT videos on aiming.

I have also rearranged my desk a little bit. Some time ago one of my lads gave me what I thought was a massive mouse mat and I have never fully utilised it. I was even considering cutting it down a bit but I am now glad that I didn't. So I am moving my keyboard over to the left (I am right handed) so that I can use all of my large mouse matt. And I am trying to aim with my arm, now, whereas before I was always aiming with my wrist.

I play on Cobalt.

But, to be honest, I am far too casual a play to become involved in an outfit again. I know I have played a lot of hours since creating my new character, but I can stop playing at the drop of a hat and turn back to my main hobby, which is creating boring ambient music.


cheers, and thanks for all of your help so far, and I hope you will not be too disappointed in me for playing Infiltrator class.

andy

Thank you

Yes, I totally agree

I mean, it has its problems here and there but they are usually fixed quite quickly.

Ha! I'm not so old after all, then

C64 for me, though I don't recall much of what I played back then.

And before that I bought an Atari 2600 from Argos almost as soon as it was released. Cost me nearly a month's wages at the time! I was still single back then so I probably thought I could afford it...

I read your main Planetside 2 Post there... You appear to be being largely ignored... Their loss

Both of my sons had a quick bash when I first mentioned it to them back in 2013. Neither stuck at it, and think I'm a bit daft to be still playing it after all this time.

Yes, I agree that it is great to play with like minded chums. Unfortunately, like you, I couldn't persuade my Gran Turismo chums of some four years to give Planetside 2 a go. They were all BF3 and then BF4, which I really struggled with, especially with playing it on the Playstation. I am, without a doubt, a keyboard and mouse person.

I made new friends on Planetside 2 and joined an outfit, but within a year or so some of the guys stopped playing so regular and eventually not at all. I have since left that outfit, and I don't fancy getting involved in another only because I go through phases where I don't touch the game myself for two or three months.

I play on the other European server, Cobalt. Only NC... Six characters in total, one at nearly BR101, four at BR42, and my latest, more "aggressive" character is at BR44.

I don't know why I never joined Miller, to be honest. In fact, I can't remember which server I joined first. There was a merge not long after I started playing and I can't remember if I had started off on another server, which became Cobalt after the merge, or if I actually started off on Cobalt.

I simply accepted the default recommended when I created my first character back in September 2013. And most of the people in my outfit back then were from the UK.

So, is Miller considered to be the UK server?

I have an NC character on Emerald, which I created out of curiosity, but I haven't played with that one for a while now because the connection was always a bit dodgy, as you can imagine. Perhaps I should try deleting that one and adding a new character on Miller...

Witter away! More the better

And thank you for reading and chipping in here

Same to you

Yes, indeed, and is something I am now learning.

For the first time with my new character I went Stalker cloak behind enemy lines at one of the open bases on Amerish.

There were a few infiltrators sniping from the tops of the small hillocks around the area. I managed to get five kills before deciding that I had overstayed my welcome there. In fact, the VS won the point and pressed on to the next base so there was no point in hanging around anyway. Not a lot of kills, I know, but a lot for me.

I'll have a look at the Desperado. Thanks for the heads up.

I have come to realise that, if I am caught out as a sniper, then the side arm is the only weapon that can possibly get you out of a fix. I don't recall ever being able to shoot anyone from the hip with my BASR. And, like you say, I am more than likely dead anyway at that point.

From a point of view of other classes, I am being told that the side arm can still do a lot of damage and if a battle rifle needs to reload, then the pistol is the only option at times.

Yes, this is what I am finding

The problem is, however, there are many time when I am dying before even getting to the action. And that fact alone is what is making me explore the Infiltrator "crutch" class even more.

Yes, I do spam the darts a lot, but then run out. I need to look at options for creating more ammo for myself, and I believe there is an implant called "ammo printer." I need to have a look at that.

Indeed... As much as a help it may be to spot targets, I only do that if I am not alone on the battlefield, or if I am well away from the main fight.

Yes, I need to start certing up some of the Engy and Medic abilities at some point.

As it happens, any squad I have been involved with so far have been happy for me to carry on either as a sniper or a stalker. But I try to make it clear upon accepting the invite that if they want me to do anything specific then they should say so.

I agree, but can't help feeling a little bit out of sorts playing a class that is so hated by some, if not by the majority.

Yes, I think I know what you mean now. Although I did experience some glitching/flashing in the sky at one point, after I first changed some settings. I've not seen the same in the last couple of days, though.

cheers, and thanks for your input here

andy

This is true, but in most of those cases you will be engaging someone you have already injured, and so is on low HP. In these instances it's more important to simply get the weapon out and put lead down range as quickly as possible.

While the sidearms can absolutely be effective, the 'pocket primaries' like the revolvers and the Pilot are only competitive with true primaries if you are:

1. at point blank range
2. have near-perfect accuracy
3. get the first shot

Fail to tick even one of these boxes and a primary is better. Against a full-health target a sidearm is only going to work if there is a skill gap between you and your opponent. Or if you get lucky.

In what circumstances does this happen to you? Are you getting caught out in the open? Are you running solo finding multiple enemies? In a lot of instances you can minimize the risk of dying on the way to a fight by how you approach it.

You don't need to spam them, at max rank the radius is a lot larger than the circle on the minimap indicates. Try to have one or two out at a time only unless you have an ammo pouch or a resupply point handy.
If you're defending a point with a squad try and place them in such a way that your buddies have the maximum possible warning when someone's coming. There's no vertical limit to the detection range so you can use towers and ceilings to get coverage exactly where you want.

That's good to hear, being willing to work with a team is important. You'll find that outside the forums most people don't care what class you play.

Both Medic and Engy are well worth the investment, and you don't need to be a good FPS player to be a good one of either.

It will absolutely be beneficial to you to learn other classes and take a break from sniping so I highly recommend it, but you don't owe it to anyone to play the game "their way". People will find a way to hate no matter what you do, don't pander to them.

There is a vocal minority that like to pretend that playing that class turns everyone into Elusive1, but the reality is if you die once in ten deaths to a sniper it's a lot. There's a reason most skilled players use other classes.

perhaps a discussion for another time, but in should, people who can't aim properly or achieve anything with regular playstyles turn to cheese to do so. It's much easier to land 1 shot having perfect accuracy, than the 3-4 you need to kill stuff with other weapons, that have bloom, recoil, etc. What's more, in a game like planetside, being tanky usually means you'll attract concentrated fire, and in turn die faster. Being stealthy is what keeps you alive, and allows you to dictate your engagements. To add to this, there's the issue with the DX11 update and clientside, where infils can bolt while still appearing cloaked on the victim's screen. AND the 1hk potential for the rifles only the infiltrator has access to is unmatched, with the damage dropping off past any regular weapon. Also we can add the extreme damage they deal, which makes most a 2hk landing body shots, which isn't very hard to do.

In short, it's a class that most abuses clientside, is low-risk, high-reward, and is the go-to for players who suck at the game, and wish to easily farm a decent kdr. The same guys who scream "heavy is OP", yet aren't able to get a single kill playing the class. It's typically a class for selfish people, because it doesn't really contribute anything to the faction, and attracts typically "toxic" players/behavior.

Nope, you level up based on xp, each time you level up you require more xp to reach the next BR. It just means you're getting better, earning xp faster than before!

You can track it from the character screen on the far left tab in game, or if you type you player into the website I'll link, check statistics, and it'll display your current battlerank and how much xp you need to level up.

https://ps2.fisu.pw/player/?name=trspy007&show=statistics

Yup a comfortable, ergonomic setup is the first step to improving your gaming sessions!

There's an outfit for everyone, you just have to find it! If not, you can always make you own solo outfit!

to each their own I guess, but I'm still pretty disappointed

I understand it's an easy class to scrape together a few kills, but I play for fun, and there's so much more cool stuff you can do with the other classes! Anyways, experiment, try to push yourself to become better. One thing I like to do is find that one super player who's wiping out half my team each time he spawns, and I do my best to catch him in a 1v1. Sometimes I lose, sometimes I win, but it's fun to measure your skill and maybe meet some interesting players. Also maybe take a look at directives, and see which ones you think you'd be capable of doing. Despite most the rewards being meh, its still an accomplishment to finish one, and show it off!

True, and as a "stalker" you are pretty much able to tick all of those boxes. That said, I still make some bad decisions, taking on someone who is far better than me and is currently playing as Heavy Assault, and I die, despite getting in that first shot on target.

I think my favourite target is a fellow Infiltrator who think they are settled in a nice safe spot and don't bother moving much having re-cloaked.

If someone is constantly WASD then I don't bother.

Caught out in the open, moving to the control point, either from the spawn room or a Sundy or other external spawn point. Normally I wouldn't bother running to the point in such situations but I am trying to play the game how others expect me to, by making a dash for the control point.

I think that being in an organised and experienced squad would help because I'm sure the conclusion would be, the direct and obvious route to the control point is totally covered by the enemy and the only option would be to bring in a Sundy from an outlying base and set up behind or to the side of the enemy.

An interesting thought occurred to me while I was typing that in such situations, having a certain number players camped inside the spawn room does help to keep the enemy occupied while other faction members attack the flank. But I'm sure that the more experienced players would be expecting that too...

Well, that's me, then...

I'm glad to say that I have never said that anything is OP in this game. I may think to myself, "I hate those orbital strikes" or, "geez, caught out by those mozzies/scythes again," but at the end of the day I totally understand that it is up to me to counter those "issues."

So XP has nothing to do with Total Score?

It does seem to be helping to keep unwanted aches and pains at bay

I can sometimes be sat at my computer for three hours or more at a time...

I don't want to commit to an outfit, so I created one for myself which has all of my six NC Cobalt characters. It at least allows me to gain "loyalty" points which I can then spend in Sanctuary on deployables.

Well, I play for fun, too, of course.

Difficult... did I say I am sixty now?

One thing I have always been bad at is knifing people. So the other day I set out to get some knife kills. After a dozen failed attempts I gave up.

I get that, and it must be really exciting.

I have to be content with sitting in the middle of a load of enemy watching them do their stuff. That, in itself is quite exciting and very interesting. Educational, even.

I'm finding that directives is something I only complete by accident. When they were first implemented I had a look and it didn't take long for me to decide that the are not for me. Just to difficult.



Bottom line is, I'm crap, always will be and if it wasn't for the fact that I really enjoy diving into Planetside 2 every so often, I would uninstall the game and free up 10GB of space on my SSD.


cheers

andy

Since last writing in this topic I have unlocked the NS-44L Blackhand pistol because someone was talking about it in game chat and I thought I'd give it a try.

Using it with the Stalker Cloak is amazing. I have been using this combination across all six of my NC characters, but here I am talking about my latest character mentioned above.

Up close, around 10 metres, it can one shot kill fellow Infiltrators. Any further than that, I think, it takes a head shot and a body shot. You can take on Heavy Assault, at a push, and if they are not particularly savvy it is possible to land two head shots and take them down. Duelling with other stalkers around the hills and rocks around some of the bases is really exciting.

But the Blackhand is also great at longer distances too, requiring two headshots for non Heavy Assault classes. I have taken on enemy at distances of up to 160 metres and come out on top.

A lot of people are aware of what is going on, though, and can often turn on you in a flash and take you out instead. So it is a bit of a gamble and I am getting a little bit better at choosing my targets.

Considering I had become a bit of a Spawn Room Warrior the Stalker Cloak + Blackhand has enabled me to get out and about a lot more. It has been like playing a new game as I get to know more and more about the different bases.

My top weapon, though, at the moment, is the Bouncing Betty. It's always leaving a couple lying around here and there to catch out the unwary player. Biolabs have been the most productive for me, I think. So many players just running into the battle.

Eventually, the Blackhand will become my top weapon. I would like to Auraxium it at some point, so I will carry on using it for now.

In fact, the Blackhand has since overtaken the Longshot, which I hardly use anymore.

What the Blackhand is not that good at, in my hands, is close quarters stuff. The good players move around that quickly that I rarely get a shot on target.

I tried to bring the knife into play instead, in the CQC stuff, and failed miserably.

I know my place, I think.

Another thing I am doing now is jumping in a Valkyrie to try to get to my next hunting ground. I say "try" because I sometimes end up walking instead... Dodging ESF's and Libs as well as all other sorts of weaponry is sometimes a bit too challenging. But I al least go for it and hope I get to my destination in one piece.

Driving is still a nightmare. I just get lost. I look at the map, think I know where I'm going, then as I hit the road I get a bit mixed up. Some continents are worse than others. Hossin being the worse of all, in my opinion. So jumping in an aircraft is a lot easier. That said, Hossin can be a nightmare with aircraft, too, with all those trees haha!

Flying over a base and landing on top of a building gives you a great vantage point, until a Light Assault decides to come and take you out. I spent nearly an hour during one alert today on top of a Biolab. Every now and then I would have to redeploy to a base with aircraft spawns and then fly back in. Or I dropped back into the Biolab first to leave another couple of Bouncing Betties in a doorway.

Great fun

I know most of that sounds quite selfish, and I would have to agree, but I often find myself in spots where an enemy Light Assault, or someone who has been dropped off and deployed a spawn beacon, so I take that beacon out. Or, if I am in a squad, I have sometimes been the guy placing the spawn beacon on a high vantage point. Or, I will beat the ground based infantry to the next base and I'll start the capture before the enemy can start the re-capture of the base they just lost. So I am not always totally useless

Okay, that's the latest from me... Currently up to BR68 but it's taking longer between each ranks, now. My main character is at BR102 and I would be surprised if I ever catch up to it, as I still play that character from time to time.


cheers

andy

I remember when I was running around as a blackhand heavy killing everything with 2 shots. I even got a guy to unlock the blackhand with DBC because he thought it was an OP weapon as I kept killing him and his squad. Really brings back funny memories. Took me over 21 hours to fully aurax that thing but it honestly didn't feel like it.

Well it's nice to see you found your playstyle, although I don't really agree with it lol. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the game.

Keep it up, and let us know when you get your first auraxium. I know it's definitely something to remember.

That is a funny tale

It is a really powerful pistol but I am still struggling to get the better of people at close quarters simply because the 4x scope is fixed and I need to remember that, at times, I need to shoot from the hip and not aim down sights.

I Auraxiumed it a couple of weeks ago... I forgot to stop by and mention it. And I am now at over 1500 kills with it. Because of how I use it, creeping up and taking a pop, or engaging at longer distances while cloaked, I am at 62% accuracy and quite a high percentage of headshots.

I really am addicted to it and have also been using it on all my other characters, including my one VS character, which I find a bit ironic in a way.

cheers for now.

andy

Great Thanks.
Never knew about this.
Checked it out and seems just fine with DB.
https://recursiontracker.com/
Voices alone are worth the ticket.