Anti Armor Rocket Guide v1.0
Anti Armor Rocket Guide: 1.22
============================
Authored by [CLC] IDontDoWeddings
Applies to BF2 patch 1.3 onward
I. Introduction
Everyone knows how valuable AT kits are to successfully capturing and defending CP’s. However, I've noticed that few soldiers know how to properly use the anti armor portion of AT without becoming cannon fodder for enemy armor. Given the difficulties associated with properly utilizing AT rocket, I can understand why the kit might have a bad reputation among players. Within this guide, I'll share some gameplay tactics to fully unlock the potential of the AT kit by properly using the anti armor rocket.
II. Using the AT Rocket
Here is where most people encounter difficulties with the AT kit. You have to understand something about using anti armor rockets against armor: NEVER be standing still once you let the RPG fly. The tanker will almost always see the smoke trail and will zero in on your position. If you're new or relatively unfamiliar with this kit, you may probably be all too familiar with firing one shot and then almost immediately watching a respawn counter.
Fire and Relocate
Immediately upon firing at enemy armor, relocate to a new firing position. Your rocket leaves incredible evidence in the form of smoke trails pinpointing your last firing location. If you give enemy armor enough time to face your direction after firing, you’ll usually wind up dead. Don’t give armor an opportunity to spot where you fired from. When they do follow the smoke, you’ll be gone and well on your way to a new firing position.
Rocket Guidance
Rocket guidance can be a very frustrating experience in BF2. The AT rocket can barely outrun a Vodnick and don’t even get me started on how handicapped your movement becomes when you zoom in. The key to surviving after firing your rocket is unhindered movement. You must be able to move without any zoom mode handicap before, during, and after firing when facing enemy armor in close to medium distances.
Now you may wonder, "how in the world am I supposed to move, relocate, and all that good stuff all while having to guide this brick to its target!!??" The key is in knowing how to guide your rocket without the aid of the zoom mode. There will be other opportunities to use the zoom, but not when engaging armor in close to medium quarters. Zooming to fire using RMB (right mouse button) can be a quick death for you in many instances where Armor is aware of your presence. Ever notice how you move like nanna while zoomed in? Notice when you're rolling in armor and you come across AT, they usually just stand there for an easy 2pts? Never zoom in when you need mobility against armor.
Leading Your Target
The slow speed of AT rockets also plays a huge factor in accurate rocket guidance. Leading targets is something that takes much practice to learn as it becomes more of a feel for proper target leading. Cars require considerably more lead than tanks, but less than helicopters for example.
Hit detection is a little fishy when shooting the AT rocket online. Hits almost always seem to register on the back end of vehicles while shots can pass right through in the front or in the middle. I don't clearly understand why, but lag seems to be a bigger part of this picture. When leading targets crossing the path in front of you, try and aim for the rear to increase your chances of registering a hit.
Rocket Guidance While Moving
"Well if I'm not zooming in, how am I supposed to know where to aim?" Practice in single player and learn to guide the rocket without the aid of the zoom. Use the center of your screen as a "virtual crosshair" and you’ll find the rocket propels slow enough, giving you time to correct mid flight. When firing without the aid of the zoom, you can now sprint, strafe, dolphin dive, etc. without any hindered movement, all while having the ability to correct the rocket's path. By presenting your foe with a highly mobile target, you increase your chances of survival and gain a significant tactical advantage by always being on the move to line up your next shot.
TIP: I’ve heard of people pin pointing the center of the screen with a laser pointer, using stickers, tape, or even dry erase markers to make the virtual crosshairs less… virtual. I personally don’t like these guides as I’ve found them to be distractions when I need to play other kits (e.g. sniper rifle aiming can be compromised due to thin crosshairs blocked by tape, etc). Experiment and see what works best for you.
Quick Reloading
By not using the zoom to guide your rocket, you also gain the benefit of significantly reduced reload times as well. How? You no longer have to hold down the LMB after releasing your rocket. Your rocket’s guidance will still remain intact with one click and release of the LMB as long as you maintain line of sight visuals with your target. By clicking and then releasing LMB for your shot, you will start the reload animation for the next round soon after the first rocket is let loose. In the past, you would hold down the LMB to fire and guide in zoom mode, starting the reload animation only after releasing the LMB after hitting the target.
NOTE: When using the Eryx as MEC or PLA, you'll run into a problem with the reload animation where the launcher will block the center of your screen causing inaccuracies with aim. In this case, it can make sense to hold down the LMB until your rocket strikes so you don't start reloading and lose visual sight with your target.
Dumbfiring Your Rocket
"Is there ever a time to use the RMB zoom mode?" Of course! I use the zoom mode for really one purpose: Dumbfiring the rocket like an unguided RPG. When you have line of sight and there is considerable distance requiring precise aim, practice the following: Arm the rocket and zoom in. After aiming, upon immediate release of the rocket, switch to your primary/secondary weapon and make for cover or a secondary firing position. By switching weapons, you release guidance on the rocket and it essentially becomes a dumbfire projectile, flying until it strikes a surface. I believe this to be a better alternative than guiding a rocket to its ultimate destination without unnecessarily leaving yourself open to fire.
Another way to dumbfire your rocket is to take cover immediately behind an object breaking your line of sight with after releasing your rocket. When your invisible, virtual “crosshair” on the screen becomes obstructed, the guidance breaks on your AT rocket and it proceeds to fly in a straight path. This works to your advantage when you need to quickly fire from behind a wall down an alley at enemy armor. Beware however. The splash damage from rounds hitting objects/walls behind you is deadly. Pay particular attention to your surroundings when firing from behind walls and in alleys.
NOTE: I'll need to confirm this, but I was recently told that alarm indicators cease on opposing armor when the rocket loses guidance using the dumbfire technique. Apparantly, when the virtual crosshair in the center of the screen no longer paints the target, the alarms turn off in the enemy tank's cockpit. This is incredibly significant if true! I've also noticed smoke trails cease when rocket guidance is lost. Could be a bug/feature with 1.3? This is the first time I've noticed this...
NOTE: I forgot to mention this before, but when you dumbfire, there is a noticealbe form of "bullet drop" as you might call it. The projectile arcs downward almost like a tank shell when it is not actively guided. Practice in single player to get a feel for how this affects your shot. Keep this in mind when there is considerable distance between you and your target.
III. Where to Hit Enemy Armor
Your first shot at enemy armor should almost always be at the supply crate he's bleeding to repair himself. Don't bother shooting at armor next to a crate unless you've seen him take a few rounds and is smoking.
There is a wealth of information available on the web regarding hitpoints and target areas for various vehicles. One awesome source I refer to is www.secretsofbattlefield.com. I've placed links below for your reference.
Without repeating any of the information they provide, this crew gives you the skinny on how much damage your various weapons do to different areas of vehicles. They also have a great guide on using AT as well found in the links sections below. Learn this information well. It will make all the difference during your encounters and will allow you to maximize every rocket to exploit maximum damage.
The quick and dirty secret to main battle tanks (MBT) is the tracks. You can down a MBT in 2 hits to the tracks. The rear and top turret and tank rear are also vulnerable but not nearly as accessable as the tracks from the front. If you hit the MBT in well armored areas, it's going to take around 4 hits to down a MBT at full health. You usually don't get this many opportunities so make it count by aiming for the tracks or other vulnerable areas (refer to the hitpoint link below).
APCs take the same amount of damage no matter where they get hit. Don't be critical with placement of your shot, just make sure you connect and 2 hits should put it down.
NOTE: A patch persistent bug exists that allows rockets fired to pass through the mid section of vehicles. I've only experienced this happening when firing at directly at the front (the sides or rear don't seem to exhibit this bug or at least not nearly as bad), only to have rockets pass right through the center of the vehicle. Be aware of this when facing quickly moving vehicles coming right at you. I've found this to happen mostly with cars as opposed to the occassional tank or APC.
Check out the rest of the site while you're at it, specifically the maps section. It'll make you a smarter player and your squad a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield
IV. Other Tips for AT Rockets
Anti-Infantry
In a pinch, AT rockets can effectively be used to attack infantry. There are a few caveats, however. The splash damage is not more than a few feet (but fatal) and rocket speed makes it nearly useless against moving targets. I've found it most effective to fire on infantry from a high angle or slope. The trick is to aim at the feet to take advantage of what little splash damage there is. Wait until your target stops to fire on friendly forces before releasing the rocket. Yet another good opportunity to dumbfire so you're not needlessly exposed.
One nice thing about rocket kills is that the enemy is un-revivable upon death with AT rockets. I like to stick around after a rocket kill for an easy followup rocket kill on an enemy medic unsuccessfully trying to revive the dead soldier.
You'll be pleasantly surprised at how accurate you can snipe the rocket at medium to long distances. Your targeting errors usually come from the fact that the zoom doesn't extend far enough like a sniper's scope. I wouldn't be surprised if it was nearly as accurate if the rocket had a better scope. Given the limitations, your success at longer ranges will vary.
Lock Indicator for Enemy Armor
A useful tip for firing on enemy armor at a distance is to delay their lock on indicator. You can accomplish this by firing well above or beside the target and painting your crosshairs on armor with only seconds left before impact. This allows your rocket to close the distance while preventing him from actively scanning for you until it's too late.
Another useful tip involving the AT lock indicator is to delay firing until the tank is looking away as they wildly scan for you. When the lock indicators go off in their cockpit, it's easy for them to overlook you hiding in the bushes or next to rubble while they're frantically looking for the smoke trails revealing your position. Let their turret eyes pass over you and when they look the other way, let 'er rip.
Double Up With Friendly Armor
By doubling up with friendly armor, you can easily dispatch enemy tanks at will. Have your driver become squad leader as Engineer in an APC, and cruise around in a tank busting squad with several AT kits riding along. With this configuration, you can easily down enemy armor with 1 or 2 coordinated barrages. Strangely, enemy armor will often ignore the AT soldiers who hop out when faced with opposing armor.
Beyond Line of Sight
Your line of sight is farther in the corners of your screen than it is dead center. By looking through the edges of your monitor, you can see incoming armor that would normally be hidden by the fog of war. Use this to your advantage to fire on armor that is still beyond your line of sight. Another way around line of sight is to fire upon the origins of tracer rounds coming from .50 cal guns. This is an easy although somewhat inaccurate way of firing on vehicles well beyond your line of sight.
V. Appendix and Useful Links
Vehicle hit points:
Another great AT guide I put to use when first learning AT:
VI. Conclusions
I am by no means an expert at using the AT. In fact, my methodology may serve only to frustrate you further with using the AT rocket! I for one love playing this kit because of the challenge and skill it requires to face enemy armor and come out on top. As AT specialist for my clan and squad, I usually wind up with the fewest points but take pride knowing my contribution was critical in each vehicle engagement and CP capture.
I hope you’ve been able to glean some tips and tricks from this write up! My only request is that you provide some sort of feedback so I can improve it further with either positive or negative feedback. This is still very much a work in progress!
Happy fragging and I’ll see you out on the field.
[CLC] IDontDoWeddings
VII. Change Log
v1.0 - 6/16/06
v1.1 - 6/17/06
Added "Where to Hit Enemy Armor"
Added "Appendix and Useful Links"
Updated "Disabled Alarm Indicators for Enemy Armor"
v1.11 - 6/19/06
Added "Change Log"
Added "Other Tips for AT Rockets"
v1.2 - 6/26/06
Added "Lock on Indicators for Enemy Armor"
Added "Beyond Line of Sight"
v1.21 - 6/30/06
Added Dumbfiring NOTE: "Bullet drop"
v1.22 - 7/8/06
Added "Leading Your Target"
Updated "Quick Reloading"
============================
Authored by [CLC] IDontDoWeddings
Applies to BF2 patch 1.3 onward
I. Introduction
Everyone knows how valuable AT kits are to successfully capturing and defending CP’s. However, I've noticed that few soldiers know how to properly use the anti armor portion of AT without becoming cannon fodder for enemy armor. Given the difficulties associated with properly utilizing AT rocket, I can understand why the kit might have a bad reputation among players. Within this guide, I'll share some gameplay tactics to fully unlock the potential of the AT kit by properly using the anti armor rocket.
II. Using the AT Rocket
Here is where most people encounter difficulties with the AT kit. You have to understand something about using anti armor rockets against armor: NEVER be standing still once you let the RPG fly. The tanker will almost always see the smoke trail and will zero in on your position. If you're new or relatively unfamiliar with this kit, you may probably be all too familiar with firing one shot and then almost immediately watching a respawn counter.
Fire and Relocate
Immediately upon firing at enemy armor, relocate to a new firing position. Your rocket leaves incredible evidence in the form of smoke trails pinpointing your last firing location. If you give enemy armor enough time to face your direction after firing, you’ll usually wind up dead. Don’t give armor an opportunity to spot where you fired from. When they do follow the smoke, you’ll be gone and well on your way to a new firing position.
Rocket Guidance
Rocket guidance can be a very frustrating experience in BF2. The AT rocket can barely outrun a Vodnick and don’t even get me started on how handicapped your movement becomes when you zoom in. The key to surviving after firing your rocket is unhindered movement. You must be able to move without any zoom mode handicap before, during, and after firing when facing enemy armor in close to medium distances.
Now you may wonder, "how in the world am I supposed to move, relocate, and all that good stuff all while having to guide this brick to its target!!??" The key is in knowing how to guide your rocket without the aid of the zoom mode. There will be other opportunities to use the zoom, but not when engaging armor in close to medium quarters. Zooming to fire using RMB (right mouse button) can be a quick death for you in many instances where Armor is aware of your presence. Ever notice how you move like nanna while zoomed in? Notice when you're rolling in armor and you come across AT, they usually just stand there for an easy 2pts? Never zoom in when you need mobility against armor.
Leading Your Target
The slow speed of AT rockets also plays a huge factor in accurate rocket guidance. Leading targets is something that takes much practice to learn as it becomes more of a feel for proper target leading. Cars require considerably more lead than tanks, but less than helicopters for example.
Originally posted by disfigured
Rocket Guidance While Moving
"Well if I'm not zooming in, how am I supposed to know where to aim?" Practice in single player and learn to guide the rocket without the aid of the zoom. Use the center of your screen as a "virtual crosshair" and you’ll find the rocket propels slow enough, giving you time to correct mid flight. When firing without the aid of the zoom, you can now sprint, strafe, dolphin dive, etc. without any hindered movement, all while having the ability to correct the rocket's path. By presenting your foe with a highly mobile target, you increase your chances of survival and gain a significant tactical advantage by always being on the move to line up your next shot.
TIP: I’ve heard of people pin pointing the center of the screen with a laser pointer, using stickers, tape, or even dry erase markers to make the virtual crosshairs less… virtual. I personally don’t like these guides as I’ve found them to be distractions when I need to play other kits (e.g. sniper rifle aiming can be compromised due to thin crosshairs blocked by tape, etc). Experiment and see what works best for you.
Quick Reloading
By not using the zoom to guide your rocket, you also gain the benefit of significantly reduced reload times as well. How? You no longer have to hold down the LMB after releasing your rocket. Your rocket’s guidance will still remain intact with one click and release of the LMB as long as you maintain line of sight visuals with your target. By clicking and then releasing LMB for your shot, you will start the reload animation for the next round soon after the first rocket is let loose. In the past, you would hold down the LMB to fire and guide in zoom mode, starting the reload animation only after releasing the LMB after hitting the target.
NOTE: When using the Eryx as MEC or PLA, you'll run into a problem with the reload animation where the launcher will block the center of your screen causing inaccuracies with aim. In this case, it can make sense to hold down the LMB until your rocket strikes so you don't start reloading and lose visual sight with your target.
Originally posted by disfigured
"Is there ever a time to use the RMB zoom mode?" Of course! I use the zoom mode for really one purpose: Dumbfiring the rocket like an unguided RPG. When you have line of sight and there is considerable distance requiring precise aim, practice the following: Arm the rocket and zoom in. After aiming, upon immediate release of the rocket, switch to your primary/secondary weapon and make for cover or a secondary firing position. By switching weapons, you release guidance on the rocket and it essentially becomes a dumbfire projectile, flying until it strikes a surface. I believe this to be a better alternative than guiding a rocket to its ultimate destination without unnecessarily leaving yourself open to fire.
Another way to dumbfire your rocket is to take cover immediately behind an object breaking your line of sight with after releasing your rocket. When your invisible, virtual “crosshair” on the screen becomes obstructed, the guidance breaks on your AT rocket and it proceeds to fly in a straight path. This works to your advantage when you need to quickly fire from behind a wall down an alley at enemy armor. Beware however. The splash damage from rounds hitting objects/walls behind you is deadly. Pay particular attention to your surroundings when firing from behind walls and in alleys.
NOTE: I'll need to confirm this, but I was recently told that alarm indicators cease on opposing armor when the rocket loses guidance using the dumbfire technique. Apparantly, when the virtual crosshair in the center of the screen no longer paints the target, the alarms turn off in the enemy tank's cockpit. This is incredibly significant if true! I've also noticed smoke trails cease when rocket guidance is lost. Could be a bug/feature with 1.3? This is the first time I've noticed this...
NOTE: I forgot to mention this before, but when you dumbfire, there is a noticealbe form of "bullet drop" as you might call it. The projectile arcs downward almost like a tank shell when it is not actively guided. Practice in single player to get a feel for how this affects your shot. Keep this in mind when there is considerable distance between you and your target.
III. Where to Hit Enemy Armor
Your first shot at enemy armor should almost always be at the supply crate he's bleeding to repair himself. Don't bother shooting at armor next to a crate unless you've seen him take a few rounds and is smoking.
There is a wealth of information available on the web regarding hitpoints and target areas for various vehicles. One awesome source I refer to is www.secretsofbattlefield.com. I've placed links below for your reference.
Without repeating any of the information they provide, this crew gives you the skinny on how much damage your various weapons do to different areas of vehicles. They also have a great guide on using AT as well found in the links sections below. Learn this information well. It will make all the difference during your encounters and will allow you to maximize every rocket to exploit maximum damage.
The quick and dirty secret to main battle tanks (MBT) is the tracks. You can down a MBT in 2 hits to the tracks. The rear and top turret and tank rear are also vulnerable but not nearly as accessable as the tracks from the front. If you hit the MBT in well armored areas, it's going to take around 4 hits to down a MBT at full health. You usually don't get this many opportunities so make it count by aiming for the tracks or other vulnerable areas (refer to the hitpoint link below).
APCs take the same amount of damage no matter where they get hit. Don't be critical with placement of your shot, just make sure you connect and 2 hits should put it down.
NOTE: A patch persistent bug exists that allows rockets fired to pass through the mid section of vehicles. I've only experienced this happening when firing at directly at the front (the sides or rear don't seem to exhibit this bug or at least not nearly as bad), only to have rockets pass right through the center of the vehicle. Be aware of this when facing quickly moving vehicles coming right at you. I've found this to happen mostly with cars as opposed to the occassional tank or APC.
Check out the rest of the site while you're at it, specifically the maps section. It'll make you a smarter player and your squad a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield
IV. Other Tips for AT Rockets
Anti-Infantry
In a pinch, AT rockets can effectively be used to attack infantry. There are a few caveats, however. The splash damage is not more than a few feet (but fatal) and rocket speed makes it nearly useless against moving targets. I've found it most effective to fire on infantry from a high angle or slope. The trick is to aim at the feet to take advantage of what little splash damage there is. Wait until your target stops to fire on friendly forces before releasing the rocket. Yet another good opportunity to dumbfire so you're not needlessly exposed.
One nice thing about rocket kills is that the enemy is un-revivable upon death with AT rockets. I like to stick around after a rocket kill for an easy followup rocket kill on an enemy medic unsuccessfully trying to revive the dead soldier.
You'll be pleasantly surprised at how accurate you can snipe the rocket at medium to long distances. Your targeting errors usually come from the fact that the zoom doesn't extend far enough like a sniper's scope. I wouldn't be surprised if it was nearly as accurate if the rocket had a better scope. Given the limitations, your success at longer ranges will vary.
Lock Indicator for Enemy Armor
A useful tip for firing on enemy armor at a distance is to delay their lock on indicator. You can accomplish this by firing well above or beside the target and painting your crosshairs on armor with only seconds left before impact. This allows your rocket to close the distance while preventing him from actively scanning for you until it's too late.
Another useful tip involving the AT lock indicator is to delay firing until the tank is looking away as they wildly scan for you. When the lock indicators go off in their cockpit, it's easy for them to overlook you hiding in the bushes or next to rubble while they're frantically looking for the smoke trails revealing your position. Let their turret eyes pass over you and when they look the other way, let 'er rip.
Double Up With Friendly Armor
By doubling up with friendly armor, you can easily dispatch enemy tanks at will. Have your driver become squad leader as Engineer in an APC, and cruise around in a tank busting squad with several AT kits riding along. With this configuration, you can easily down enemy armor with 1 or 2 coordinated barrages. Strangely, enemy armor will often ignore the AT soldiers who hop out when faced with opposing armor.
Beyond Line of Sight
Your line of sight is farther in the corners of your screen than it is dead center. By looking through the edges of your monitor, you can see incoming armor that would normally be hidden by the fog of war. Use this to your advantage to fire on armor that is still beyond your line of sight. Another way around line of sight is to fire upon the origins of tracer rounds coming from .50 cal guns. This is an easy although somewhat inaccurate way of firing on vehicles well beyond your line of sight.
V. Appendix and Useful Links
Vehicle hit points:
Another great AT guide I put to use when first learning AT:
VI. Conclusions
I am by no means an expert at using the AT. In fact, my methodology may serve only to frustrate you further with using the AT rocket! I for one love playing this kit because of the challenge and skill it requires to face enemy armor and come out on top. As AT specialist for my clan and squad, I usually wind up with the fewest points but take pride knowing my contribution was critical in each vehicle engagement and CP capture.
I hope you’ve been able to glean some tips and tricks from this write up! My only request is that you provide some sort of feedback so I can improve it further with either positive or negative feedback. This is still very much a work in progress!
Happy fragging and I’ll see you out on the field.
[CLC] IDontDoWeddings
VII. Change Log
v1.0 - 6/16/06
v1.1 - 6/17/06
Added "Where to Hit Enemy Armor"
Added "Appendix and Useful Links"
Updated "Disabled Alarm Indicators for Enemy Armor"
v1.11 - 6/19/06
Added "Change Log"
Added "Other Tips for AT Rockets"
v1.2 - 6/26/06
Added "Lock on Indicators for Enemy Armor"
Added "Beyond Line of Sight"
v1.21 - 6/30/06
Added Dumbfiring NOTE: "Bullet drop"
v1.22 - 7/8/06
Added "Leading Your Target"
Updated "Quick Reloading"
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