I can't stand the OHK knives, personally, for just that reason. You have to have weirdly precise aim at a range where the game physics utterly break down, making aiming incredibly difficult. I much prefer the old-fashioned bolt+knife combo with the crossbow and a standard, non-activatable knife.
i rarely hit enemies with the knife. uncloaking when in the back or side of a enemy and slashing it, but doesnt hit and then i die. Seriously wtf i hit him, but the hitbox is only one line in the center of the character or something. weird. KD ended up 1 today......bah, seems like only heavy assault in this game is for me. everything else just makes me die more.
OHK knives are easy to use against immobile targets, but evasive ones will really give you problems. The reason is because the moment you tap the knife key and begin to swing, your character actually stops moving at sprint speed and will begin to walk. (Knives are now treated just like firing a gun) The developers also reduced the range of our knife strikes.... Imagine having tiny trex arms. For example I used to be able to fall down towards an enemy, land on their heads and fluidly take them out with a bolt + knife strike. Before the knives were changed we could look down at our toes and basically strike the ground at our feet. Now... you MUST crouch and look down to get the same effect. The OHK also have a "delayed swing" as well. They are not instant like the classic knives. You can imagine the lack of reach, paired with the slower movement speed from your character really causes problems when enemies are being evasive. Quick-knife is also a cone/ slashing damage, however the moment you hold the knife in your hands you must use the tiny white dot to be precisely on the enemies body or the swing won't do anything. Imagine when you hold the knife in your hands it becomes a gun and fires a stupidly short range projectile. You can try leaping into the air and knifing while your in mid jump to prevent this loss of speed. However if the target changes course (which they often do) then you will be much farther away. Its better to go after stationary enemies or ones which are deeply distracted. I should also mention when the server is having a bad day .... its also possible to get inside an enemies hitbox....You will literally be sharing the same space as the enemy and any shots/stabs that are fired from inside his body won't count or damage them in any way. This is very common when your sprinting quickly towards someones back and start stabbing (relying on the server to "stop" your character for you.) Try hooking around the player and knifing the shoulder or when stabbing their back, side stepping slightly left or right to prevent going inside the enemy and forcing the server to register your position alongside them instead of inside them.
You know... everything dies more than a HA in that game, except MAX and vehicles. HA is the thoughest infantry class after all, and it's why it is often called the "easy mode" class. HA doesn't requiers you anything more than know to aim. But, if it's the thoughest, and if I had probably reached an higher K/D ratio if I kept training with it, this is a class awfuly boring to my eyes compared to what the infiltrator can do once you know what you do with that class. HA is a one trick poney that always does the same thing, the infiltrator is a rich class that allows a wide variety of gameplays, strategies and activites... only second to my eyes to the engineer on that field. If you live by the K/D, you could live happier playing engineer or LA as your secondary class, because those class, in average, have a better K/D than others. The infiltrator, in fact, is perhaps the very last class in the rankings. But people who play that class doesn't play it for its power, they play it because once mastered it's fun as hell.
Consider changing your keybinding for activating knife. I use E key for it. My original "E" is ctrl, and I use "c" to crouch. With E and F so close together (b is a bit out of the way), i usually get my cloak down and get the kill.
thats a good tip. i have made a gameplay video about my stalker. ended up with a KD below 1. i think i should just play the easy class, or just quit the game. im getting tired of being sucky. Im uploading it now. the commisioner sucks for me....it might be a must because i have to finish enemy quickly, but i miss too many shots and that gets me killed.
Honestly I think it's a question of habit. I can regularly go on 5-10 killstreaks with a bad SMG like the NS7-PDW (though I love it) as an infil. Put me as a VS heavy with the "OP Orion" and I'll struggle to get a kill before dying. It all comes down to playstyle and what you're better at.
Some thoughts from the first part of the video: 1:47-- Frontal assault isn't going to work with stalker cloak. You're charging headlong into the point room with a pistol, you're outnumbered, and you should know it, since you used a dart. So far, you haven't done anything you couldn't have done with hunter cloak, and you'd get to use an SMG if you had. On a side note, EMPs are always good, but the Commissioner doesn't synergize with them very well. A 3-shot kill goes to 2, which is obviously an improvement, but less than you normally get out of an EMP. I'm not necessarily saying to stop using the Commy, but keep in mind that EMP ambushes are weaker with this gun. Why are you running enhanced targeting instead of regen? It's important to run that implant any time you're not running medkits, if you plan on living through more than one encounter. 2:15-- If you had used a dart, you'd know this guy was coming your way. It would have been a great moment to go into deep cloak, then ambush him behind when he ran past you. Keep in mind you're still pretty visible while standing, and the other guy probably saw you while running, so there was zero chance you were going to escape that fight by freezing. Your best chance of survival was to uncloak and shoot while ADADDADing. 3:05-- Pretty good moment to ambush, just work on your aim/reaction time. You had plenty of time to line up a headshot (+bodyshot) kill while he was stationary and aiming down range. 3:48-- Situational awareness. He was in your field of view (and on your minimap) long before he saw you. You almost certainly would have died here as a heavy assault, as well. 4:29-- Those guys in the room definitely heard you shooting at the other guy, and they should have seen you go from sprinting cloak to deep cloak as you jump over that railing. Generally, if you fail to kill your target, or if you know there are other enemies nearby, or both, you want to lay low for a little bit and/or reposition. 5:10-- Good moment to ambush. Just don't panic. You might be better off with a spammier weapon, like the Beamer. 5:29-- Situational awareness again. Stalker cloak gives you the freedom to take your time and look around, so use it! Incidentally, there were minimap dots pinging from that direction, as well. You would have died here as a heavy, too.
I'll emphasize roughly three things, since you already got plenty of great advice here I won't bother going into too much detail. Situational awareness - that one has been repeated plenty of times here, and for a very good reason. As I look through those vids it seems to me that most of the time you have no clue of two crucial things in this department. Where enemies are looking/what's their actual field of view, and where enemies might move next. As it is for perception on how enemies perceive YOUR surroundings, there is a slight trick. Go to your settings, either interface of graphics, check the box with setting "fixed minimap". Why, you might ask. Simple, in fixed minimap mode your character indicator on said map is different, it's a dot with shown lines which represent roughly field of view in which you see - if you get used to that map setting you'll not only become more aware of your own perception according to map, but you'll also be able to discern between edge of field of view of enemy in order to acquire better sneakingz. Guesstimating what will be next moves of your enemies, now that's something you need to observe and learn by yourself. Comes down really to two things, as others mentioned earlier knowing how human mind works, on basic level, and also being able to discern what kind of enemy you do see. And by that I mean seeing their goals through their movements. For instance "objectives player" will move differently and with different priorities than "farmer". So, basically we're moving on to second course. Psychology - Don't get me wrong here, but as I looked through those videos you're making very crucial mistake - you are afraid and nervous. Which is understandable, when circumstances are taken unto consideration. Obviously you'll be nervous since you're trying something new, and that's simply natural. That one is easy to overcome, you simply need to practice. Problem is, that issue at hand lies as I see it in two dimensions in your case. I already described first one, as it is for second however... Tell me, which class of all "infantry" non-MAX classes promotes cowardice the most? I mean from mechanical standpoint. In my opinion it would be heavy assault, since it could be described "I'm so afraid of losing I need nearly 2x hp of my opponent just to be sure". Classes are classes, they have their quirks and roles, but apart of my dislike for overshields from strictly mechanical standpoint, here's what I think is holding you back, some already mentioned it. You play infiltrator but still THINK as heavy assault. What does it mean? You peek slowly through corners, careful to not get shot. You're frequently overly trusting in your ability which for ha is referred to as "F to win". Your movement is sluggish, mostly in the open. Here's the thing. In case of infiltrator, even when you'll get to know everything there is to your array of cloaks, it's still more likely to kill you than help you. You can't press "F" and freeze and have flashy glowing unicorns sprinkle all over your character to save the day, boosting hitreg issues and the like. Heavy assault who is afraid/ambushed, what he's gonna do? Pull overshield on, and that's it. Day saved. Somebody might be behind corner? Overshield. And so on. Now, don't get me wrong over here. I have nothing against people playing this class in general, nor I mean to insult them, aforementioned description is merely my interpretation of said class' ability in mechanical terms. It doesn't really reward thinking, nor is it really punishing in terms of mistakes from my perspective. Infiltrator on the other hand? If infiltrator is slow, they die. If infiltrator is afraid, they die. It seems counter-intuitive but that's how it is. You stop at wrong moment, you're dead. You panic - you're dead. You hesitate - you're dead. And so on and so forth. So if I were to give you advice on this thing, apart of what others wrote in detail earlier... Use the mind of enemy against them, while simultaneously remaining calm. You missed some ambushes with .44 in stalker video since as I see it you shot around in panic after first 2 bullets not killing. Also, be creative people react in very specific way when they're faced with something unusual which might seem absurd at first glance. Third and last thing on advice part. FPS This one is actually uncertain for me. Whether it is only the fact that you compressed video to format with lower framerate, or whether you can't reach sixty. As far as I can see you do play on quite high graphical settings, which looks neat apart of things which I see as screenfreezes. Especially at 1:20-1:40 of the video. If I had to guess I'd say your framerate is around ~40FPS, with short random spikes towards both ends of spectrum higher/lower. Assuming I'm correct about those frames, I can assure you it screws up with your accuracy, situational awareness and reaction time quite significantly. Personally I'd tune down settings for more stable frame rate, since I know how bad it is to play within range of 5-15/20-40FPS. It is possible to succeed as infiltrator with frames at lower values, although to be blunt, you'd be forcefully handicappin' yerself in favour of your enemies. Lastly, I noticed in your videos that you got a NC character on Cobalt. If you'd like I could possibly watch you play live from 3rd person perspective to give some pointers assuming you'd log into that char, since it's server I play on. Same name as on forums. Damn. This stuff above, it was supposed to be more...brief. Oh well, whatever. Hope this stuff helps, also don't worry about lack of initial perfect performance. Every infil had a hard time learning to play the class, it's sort of normal*.
Reading Your Enemies (Quick and Dirty) Enemy is hiding behind a cover object, crouched and not moving = Likely he is injured and without shields. Enemy is running in straight lines = Probably feels safe / doesn't know you are around. Easy to ambush and Predictable. Enemy is running erratically = Highly aware of potential threat, avoid unless you fee like a challenge or prep with an EMP ect. Snuggling Group of Enemies = They feel safe, have lower awareness and are much easier to kill. Enemy pulls out a Darklight = He broadcasts his intent to kill you, and communicates to others your presence. Avoid / Relocate / Kill. Enemy places motion / dart in your location = You sir are being hunted. Lay low, or hunt down and kill your "tail". Enemy just finished firing takes cover = They will Reload and LMG reloads are long. Enemy is ADS firing on your allies = Pull a "clever girl" I wont get into too much more then that for reading. It should come naturally just get inside your enemies heads and figure out what they want to do. Where they are most focused, and how they are feeling. An enemy who is stressed out will be looking around frequently, even if he or she doesn't know you are there. They will be more wiggly. Also a player who NEVER stops moving is probably a highly skilled player so expect them to be able to return fire on you with extreme lethality. The more players are grouped up the safer they feel, which promotes you to operate behind the front lines. The easiest ambushes are located where enemies are not feeling threatened and are focused on your allies.
i figured that out last 2 weeks, that i should always stay behind enemy lines or pick smaller battles, and never ever head on. i made a youtube video that shows the best moments i had i can recommend watching 12:08, 15:35 and 17:56 thanks for the advice everyone! especially you beaver! <3
That base cap was great around 4 minutes. Followed by the motion spotter baiting several kills Its always so much fun when that happens. Reminds me off that "ooo piece of candy" scene from family guy. Props for keeping your cool and letting your cloaks timer tick down. Many SMG users don't take full advantage to crouch cloak mechanics. You are brazen enough to stand in a place they wont inspect and let them pass by. Very nice (also risky but props for that). However you may want to dial that behavior back slightly when you are larger fights where enemies will unexpectedly keep coming along an interrupting. Otherwise I had to comment on using that slower paced ambushing with an SMG as being a nice touch and very unique play-style you have working for you. Its really neat to watch and clearly requires more planning to pull off and strikes me as a cross between stalker and traditional SMG style we are used to seeing. At 12:30 your doing an excellent job keeping two very expensive max units and infantry focus on you instead of other more destructive activities. Also props for playing the objective and hanging around those capture points. Taking advantage of the false sense of security enemies get from seeing the "control point secured" message. I noticed you took that advantage and just came right back when they let their guards down. Honestly its a better strategy then the "last stand" approach I see so many infils try and make. I also have to say your taking good advantage of these new crouched walking movement mechanics with the SMG. I think you should keep this up. Its very different then most SMG play we see and seems to make you more sneaky and more accurate and in control of the situation.
thanks for the kind words beaver! especially from you that says alot, since youre probaly the best! i die alot in this game because something inside of me wants to prevent bases to be capped by enemies. i die trying to prevent a handful of enemies by capping it. even when i care for my KD the most, if i see a chance i have to take it. im really objective based. the bad part about crouch smg play is that you are f*cked when your cloak is running out and approaching a enemy in a larger group. that 2 maxes in the cave was the best thing ever. i laughed out loud when one max was shooting objective to try to find me.
