Please help the n00b

[HDawg187]

Hi everyone. This is my first post on these forums but hopefully I'll become part of the community as I play more.

I just got the game + Northern Strike and installed it yesterday. I completely suck at the minute and will persevere until I become a better player. I used to play AA so I have a little bit of experience with FPS's but not too much.

The thing I seem to be struggling with at the minute is determining which people are my teammates or not. I have uninentionally TK'd 2 people in about 5 hours of gameplay yesterday (punished twice - fair enough). I died a lot of the time because of this. When someone jumps around a corner I am stalling to see if they have writing above their heads. This stall is killing me as some pro realises within a nanosecond that I'm the enemy. Then he blasts my face off.

Do you guys have any tips for a n00b to improve my reaction times and notice enemy players better? Are there any visible things apart from the name above peoples heads that identify them as friend/foe? Should I constantly be map-watching to make sure I have no friendly forces in the area? The writing above friendly players heads appears to be very small and hard to notice in time. I have a 22" widescreen monitor so it's not as if I am sitting with a 15" monitor and squinting.

Because my monitor was widescreen I had to change the command line slightly to accept my widescreen resolution. However, I don't think this is related to the problem.

Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Dawg :salute:

[Digital-Boy]

The uniform is a tell-tale sign of which faction the player is on. EU soldiers wear white uniforms and PAC soldiers wear black uniforms. Interesting note, if a player picks up a kit off of an enemy, their uniform will change a little.

For example, for a very long time, I was baffled at EU teammates who had distinctive black armor (their sleeves were still white though). I thought maybe it was a special uniform for squad leaders or something, but then I saw the PAC standard on the back.

[Trippet]

I always just look for the orange patches on the shoulders. With orange = EU, no orange = PAC.

[Yraen]

First thing I'd say (and some may argue this) would be to play on FF-off servers for a bit to get a feel for how to recognize the enemy.

Other than that:
1. Yes, watch minimap always.
2. Each team has a different colored uniform. However, if you(or someone else) picks up an enemy kit, the uniform color goes with it.
3. Watch the minimap some more!

Most of it comes with practice and a lot of it is just intuitive.

[Wizrdwarts]

Play on FF off servers maybe? :)

Seriously, that's what I did until I got good at recognizing each team's uniforms.

[Takon]

this video helped me when I was new:
Training for newbs

[SCOLANATOR]

Yeh use the mini-map and look closely at the uniforms you will begin to develop stratagies for these sorts of things trust me!
~scol

[Diamond621]

Get good at rapidly assessing the minimap. Before you start your trek up that hill, glance at the map. If there are no friendlies in the area, then logically any human form that appears is going to want to hurt you, and you should respond in kind. Eventually, analyzing the uniforms becomes a sort of instinct, and coupled with using the mini-map, mistakes of that sort will be extraordinarily rare. Just remember to plan ahead with your movements, and develop situational awareness (asking yourself questions like "Where am I? How many teammates are near me, and where? What is my current objective? Where can I go to find cover quickly?" etc.)

[Quemical]

In the beginning i had trouble recognizing enemies. So what i started to do was always see my teamates at the beggining of the round. If i was in the PAC i would keep in mind to shoot anyone with white in their uniforms.After a while you don't even hessitate or think who the enemy is. Some servers make you switch teams after every round, so it's something you have to keep in mind more on those type of servers.

2 TKS in 5 hrs isn't bad. There are still ocassions where i get TKed like 5 times in 1 round, happens alot when i am trying to cap a flag, then a teamate comes and thinks i am an enemy and kills, that really cheeses me off. But i forgive.

Recognizing the enemy in Northern strike is a bit more trickier because both teams have white uniforms. The thing that helps me with this is looking at ny mini map, i check where my teamates are standing, and if someone pops up, i know that person is an enemy because there were no blue dots near me in the mini map, or sometimes u can just see teamates names thru walls and stuff, so if that person comes around a corner, u are seeing his blue fridnly name and know not to shoot

[SCOLANATOR]

Also don't look at the above bast**ds video it's 'Rick Roll'
~scol

[Sanjurjo]

Yes, trying there is a good place to get started on '2142.
Personally i don't have too many problems "friend/foe"... and yes, their uniforms are quite similar. Take a look at the orange patches, or pitch black PACs... but now that you people says that when you get a kit from an enemy you change a little... i'm gonna redouble my watch to not tk anyone! :)

[Takon]

Also don't look at the above bast**ds video it's 'Rick Roll'
~scol

you're just mad cause you fell for it. :P

[Trippet]

However, if you(or someone else) picks up an enemy kit, the uniform color goes with it.

To clarify, only the helmet & backpack go with it, the torso/sleeves/shoulders/legs/arms will stay the same.

Get good at rapidly assessing the minimap. Before you start your trek up that hill, glance at the map. If there are no friendlies in the area, then logically any human form that appears is going to want to hurt you, and you should respond in kind. Eventually, analyzing the uniforms becomes a sort of instinct, and coupled with using the mini-map, mistakes of that sort will be extraordinarily rare. Just remember to plan ahead with your movements, and develop situational awareness (asking yourself questions like "Where am I? How many teammates are near me, and where? What is my current objective? Where can I go to find cover quickly?" etc.)

QFT and well said. :salute:

[HDawg187]

Thanks a lot guys. I'll try to look at the differences in uniforms when I get online tonight. Thanks for pointing out the Rickroll too because I would have blatantly fell for it. :laugh:

[DrM]

As almost everyone has said so far, the uniforms are the key.
I always think that the easiest distinction is the orange that the EU troops have.
Another thing is that all friendly soldiers should have blue or green names above their heads, and you should be able to see these though walls [as long as you are not a long way off] etc so you not ever be suprised to see a friend walk round a corner.
There is a huge note to this point, the 3D map.
The 3D map, is the in game view. You can turn on and off certain things form the 3D map, such as the icons for Flags, Silos, Med Kits, Ammo, Friendly APM's, RDX, EPM and Montion Mines.. You never ever ever EVER want to turn these off.
The default button is the "left-alt" key. This is also used to "alt-tab" between windows in MicroSoft Windows.

You must go into your control and select the "3D map" and press escape to un-bind it.

Hope this info helps.

DocM