War Rock (open beta) Strategy guide Written by: David Shi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Version number and updates -Copyright notice -Contact me -Intro -General Game play Tips -Sniping Tips -Advanced Strategies -Character Classes -General Buying Guide -Maps and their strategies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 25/08/06 ver. 0.5 31/08/06 ver. 0.7(updated tips from Blackwingdragon) - Added many tips from Blackwing Dragon, updated character classes tips and a Map tip. 04/10/06 ver. 1.0* (major update and reformatting, many new tips/strategies and corrected several typing mistakes and probably made another motherload) Note: * indicates it is the version that you're looking at. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright Notice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *This guide may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission from me. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright laws. **All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contact me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My e-mail is [email protected] You can e-mail me for other tips and strategies I have missed or errors in the text. Please enter an alias or name so I can give you full credit. Note: Enclose in e-mail subject the name of this guide or it will be flagged as junk mail. Note 2: my username in War Rock is ionwalker Note 3: my xfire username is ionwalker ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Intro ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ War Rock is, in my opinion, a first-person-shooter that takes the definition of FPS to a whole new level. In this exciting new MMOFPS, (massively, multiplayer, online, first-person-shooter) you can not only use a variety of weapons to engage in intense, fast-paced firefights but also a huge array of different vehicles such as the UH-60 blackhawk and the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank. Turning what would have been a man against man combat into a war complete with all the threats a modern army soldier would face. This game is free to play but when it comes out of beta, you will be able to buy special items and weapons with real money. For those who don't wish to spend, the game will still be completely free. How to get the game? Just go to www.warrock.net, sign up, log in, then click download now. NOTE: There's a complete system requirements page and game guide at the site. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ General Game play Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - As with all FPS games, your stance is very important. The lower your stance is, the lesser chance you have of getting spotted or shot and I have noticed getting prone helps snipers alot in their aim. - Use available cover, this goes without saying but some still walk right in the open and snipers stand in the middle of nowhere to snipe. - If you here a hiss or an sssk kind of sound, it means someone is trying to snipe you! The most effective way to avoid getting hit is to enter a vehicle other than a motorbike. Taking cover isn't a very good idea since you don't know where the sniper is so you might actually be giving him/her a better shot! Running is not an option unless you know the sniper isn't very good. I personally have no trouble killing/headshotting somebody who is running! :) - In this game, you have 5 character classes to choose from so you must adapt. You must get used to each class's strength and weaknesses as well as getting the right weapon for them. (I'll cover procuring the right weapons and the character classes later in the guide) - Energy management; In this game, like some others such as America's Army(r) you have an energy bar situated under you hp bar. This bar will decrease if you sprint (double tap w) or if you perform a tumble (holding w, a, s, or d, and pressing shift). My tip for energy management is as follows: don't use tumble unless you're trying to evade enemy bullets or racing from cover to cover, I come to this conclusion because by using the same amount of energy a tumble requires to sprint, you'll cover a larger distance. Also, if you wish to run quickly from a cover to another make sure to wait until your energy bar is maxed, otherwise, you might find yourself walking into an enemy's crosshairs! - Reloading; War Rock has a rather realistic reloading system, in other games like Call of Duty(tm) or America's Army(r), when you reload, your magazine is conserved or the remaining bullets are added to your total amount of bullets. Which kind of doesn't makes sense 'cause it's kind of hard to imagine that someone the middle of battle would keep a magazine with only 5 bullets left (America's army) or dig the remaining out and fill it in another (Call of Duty) In other words, don't reload your gun when it's magazine still has half the bullets unexpended, but do reload if it is below 3/4 expended. - Grenades; luckily most rooms have team kill turned off, if this is the case, feel free to throw a grenade into a room with enemies even though there's a friendly soldier right beside them! - Easiest way to win is obviously to get all the bases so that the enemy can only spawn at one point, their home base, which means if your entire team is there, killing them all as they spawn is easy. This strategy is quite frustrating for the opposing team, but nevertheless, very fun for you. - APC's (Armored Personnel Carriers) have a healing and replenishing ammo capability, just sit in the back seats (4-6) and it will heal/give ammo as if you were beside an ammo/health rack. - Never wait for a vehicle on any of the maps, even vehicle combat! Chances are, you'll get sniped while waiting(engrene) and not helping your team in any way which means your team will quickly get spawn-killed! - Combatants are an NESSECITY on any team, on any map! Without them, and with the teams being relatively fair, the team without combatants are surely going to lose. Why? It is because they are the backbone of any team! If you think about it, you'll find that the combatants weapon shoots reasonably fast for close- range combat, and is rather accurate, permitting you to engage at medium to long-range without too much difficult, contrary to the SMGs. AND they still have grenades. - The heavy unit's weapon lack a strong close range combat ability but they do have somewhat multi-purpose capability. For example, you can kill vehicles in 2 to 3 shots, kill people in one shot if they have less then 50% health, and blast those snipers into hell. That takes allot of skill 'cause the shell trajectory curves down at a distance. Stingers aren't very good at taking down a-10s but for helicopters, they rock, usually if you don't kill them in a shot or 2 the green pilot will probably crash it while trying to evade your missile anyways. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tips from Blackwing Dragon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE: Slightly corrected spelling mistakes, and re-worded these tips to make them more comprehensive. - Never, EVER get too close to a wall crawling. (this game suffers from poor wall encoding and your feet will most likely poke out of the wall giving the enemy a good shot) - First of all, when you know an enemy's around but not where, move in the crouched position. Moving crouched, *YOU MAKE ABSOLUTELY NO SOUND*. I snuck up on snipers a lot because I was crouching, sprinting/running or even crawling makes a sound. - If you want to spare a few seconds of selecting weapons, simply unequip your FISTS (Right click on it and click ok), so the weapon you spawn with is the one in slot 2. This way if you are getting base-killed you can start blasting right away. - An Engineer is valuable in Vehicle combat, but don't choose one unless it's not vehicle. Why? Medic is better because she can heal, while Engineers cannot. The two are the same otherwise. Engineers can heal 12% of vehicle HP every 2.33 seconds on a vehicle. It's the big bad vehicle version of a medic. Survive a tank dogfight, fix it up and keep truckin :-D. Recommend P90 or an Uzi as a third slot weapon, just like for the Medic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sniping Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - When sniping, make sure you snipe behind a sharp edge of the terrain so you can be easily masked by it. - Leading, usually, this goes without saying but I'll explain it anyways. Leading is when you try to snipe a hit a moving target. Bullets travel fast but from a distance, you are likely to miss if you shoot with the crosshairs on the target. To compensate for the time the bullet takes to travel, you'll need to shoot ahead and therefore getting the target when he gets to the point in space at the same time as the bullet. In War Rock, most sniper rifles are somewhat inaccurate. You'll notice that the bullet goes, most of the time, either slightly to the upper left/right or lower left/right of your crosshair intersection. It takes awhile to get used to but once you've got a feel for it, then, like me, you'll be able to actually HEADSHOT a moving target. - Another thing to remember when sniping is mobility! Always move after you have killed someone who has seen you! Lazyness = death! The person will probably respawn as a scout or get into a vehicle and go to your original location to blast you off the face of the earth! - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Advanced Strategies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here I elaborate on different strategies to be used to take a base or just to have fun and win! Note: OPFOR means opposing forces OPERATION 'NADE 'N STORM (for infantry maps) Pretty self-explanatory, basically a group of combatants and a medic or two advance towards the OPFOR base. All the combatants throw each a grenade at diferrent points of the base, then quickly, the entire group except one combatant will storm the place, getting rid of any remaining opposition ant moving into a defensive position to take the base. The combatant outside is to stop any OPFOR trying to help those inside getting slaughtered so it's a good idea for him to be somewhere where he can cover the entry-ways to the base. (If the base really has many routes in, then it might be wiser to have 2 player standing guard) OPERATION FLANKERS (infantry or vehicle combat) Another one that's fairly straight-forward. General meaning would be to attack from all possible sides and angles. Really devastating for the enemy if used in conjunction with 'nade 'n storm. Best place to use this would certainly be Harbor IDA. OPERATION HEAVY ARMOUR( for Havana and any other map with tanks and/or armored personnel carriers) A few vehicles should be involved such as a tank, at least one humvee whether it is TOW Humvee or 50 cal. and another support vehicle such as an APC. The basic procedure is to establish a heavily defended place within the OPFOR base, such as around a repair and ammo point. So, here goes, your tank and humvees move in quickly, the tank sits either close to the repair point or on it, then it start blasting away at the OPFOR while the humvees cover the blind spots/extremes of tank. You can also bring along some combatants/medics in a truck and bring along an AA tank if there is one. The engineers (you haven't forgotten about them I hope) will of course be in the humvees. They can start repairing the other vehicles when necessary while the driver can act as gunner too while the engineer(s) is gone. After a while, either leave or go down fighting because the OPFOR will respawn will heavy weapons and eventually, you vehicles will blow! However, if this is pulled off correctly, then you can pulverize a huge amount of OPFOR in a short amount of time, which translates into your team win's and personal achievement. Another variation of this tactic is to move, meaning that the motorcade will move through the base without stopping more than a heartbeat. That means you'll need gunners on every vehicle and replacements because you can bet that there's going to be snipers around. OPERATION BLACKHAWK First, get a competent pilot (like me) and 1 or 2 gunners. Fly to the OPFOR home base (to be known as Hbase from now on in this section) or another OPFOR base brimming with enemy activity to have some hardcore fun! Pilot: Remember to never stay in hover but rather gently circle the OPFOR base and let the gunner blast away, when he says his gun is overheating, change direction so the other gun can start shooting. If there is heavy anti- aircraft threats such as the AA tank, the AA guns and stingers all together then do the following: Run a straight line over the OPFOR base cutting it in half, flying as fast as you can, as soon as you're past the base either drop lower if possible or change direction. Gunners: If your pilot executes a circling pattern, one of you shoot while the other gun cools off. When your gun is overheated, tell your pilot, to change direction, and hence, permitting the other gunner to shoot until it smokes! This way, you have a gunship that delivers a huge amount of fire power in an unstopped hail of bullets. Sadly, if your pilot does the direct line of approach, then both gunners will have to spray the base because in a few short moments, you'll either all be dead or pulling away from the base.:-) I have just given you the ingredients now, it's up to you to combine them together to make a full scale assault! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Character Classes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The five classes all have in slot one: fists (beat up that S.O.B.) and a Colt .45 automatic pistol plus their main weapon and grenades. Engineer: Pros: - Fixes vehicles to full hp after a period of time even though it was on the brink of destruction. - Has a good basic weapon-the MP5. - Later on, his weapons will be compatible with the medic's, get the P90 or some other kind of better weapon. Cons: - His basic weapon while good for a start is rather weak compared to enemy assault rifles. - The engineer's weapons have no long-range capability whatsoever. - The grenade slot is taken up by his spanner- the tool that gives him the ability to fix things. Medic: Pros: - She has a first aid injection with 10 shots which each heals around 2 blocks of the hp bar instantly! - She can heal herself too. - Good basic weapon-the MP5. - Later on, her weapons will be compatible with the engineer's, get her the P90 because you will probably be base-taking/clearing with her so the 50 bullet per clip of the P90 is perfect! - Medics are rather good for base infiltration, basic procedure would be to go in guns a blazing and take out everybody as fast as you can, then heal while taking the base or hading in a good spot if it is the enemy's home base. Cons: - Her basic weapon while good for a start is rather weak compared to enemy assault rifles. - The medic's weapons, like the engineer's, have no long-range capability whatsoever. - The grenade slot is taken up by the first aid injection. Scout( a.k.a. sniper): Pros: - Powerful sniper rifle with 2 shot kill potential to the torso and of course 1 shot kill to the head. - Unlike the other two classes, the scout conserves his grenades. - Help your friends by providing cover fire while they move in to secure a crucial base, works well in infantry mode combat. Cons: - Unable to defend himself properly in close-range combat. Combatant: Pros: - Starts with a pretty strong assault rifle. - Has slight long-range capability providing you can see your target. - Retains his grenades. - A good all-around character, great for beginners. Cons: - His basic weapon proves to be quite weak, forcing you to upgrade his weapon later on, and since it is a very common and essential class you'll have to use him at some point in the game. Heavy Unit: Pros: - The name says it all; this dude packs a powerful punch! - Instead of grenades, he has awesome anti-tank mines. - Later on, he will carry the most power weapons in the game. Cons: - No close-range combat ability, his panzer Faust just doesn't kill people in one shot. - Basic rocket launcher is incredibly weak, taking up to five shots to destroy a tank. Eventually people will ask which class is the best. Well it all depends on the map you are on mate! To learn more, read on to the maps and their strategies section. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ General Buying Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here I will cover general buying tips and leave the more in-depth look at each weapons behind for future in-dept FAQ writers. NOTE1: The game does not let you buy the weapons but rather to lease them for a maximum period of 30 days. NOTE2: As you start, save all your dinars (the game currency). For all characters: - Buy a Glock or MP5K so that all your characters especially the Scout and the Heave Unit have a chance to come out alive from a close- quarters combat. Engineer/Medic: - If you play lot in infantry mode, upgrading their weapons (particularly the medic's) to a P90 or better is a must. Scout: - For those snipers out there, getting a better sniper rifle helps, the higher version of your basic weapon, the SSG, doesn't really deliver allot more firepower, but more bullets. Combatant: - When you have a surplus of cash (ex: when you bought everything you wanted) upgrade his weapon. Eventually, you will find the need to upgrade it anyways. Heavy Unit: - Unless you are a freak about RPGs don't ever bother to lease a weapon for him! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maps and Their Strategies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here I will write down the strategies I have used on different maps. Of course I don't play all the maps so I will obviously only write the strategies for the maps I have played on. Vehicule Combat: Engrene: - If you aren't good at piloting leave it to others! I have seen newbies countless times taking an A-10 and crashing it on take-off. - Good A-10 pilots always stay high! The enemy doesn't see you, nor hears you, and bombing is allot easier diving towards the target and leaves the anti-aircraft guns little chance of retaliation because you'll zoom back up in a flash. - If you like sniping, take a helicopter, make sure it isn't the ones with hellfire anti-tank missiles (we need that for anti-tank duties) and fly it on either side of the map, above the mountains. Ditch it around halfway to the enemy base and proceed on foot. A helicopter crash-landing in the mountains just around the enemy main base will just raise doubts of a sniper in the area. - Sniping around other major enemy base is also an option if your team is losing, always camp near the ones that are close to your main base because that's where most of the people will spawn. - If you feel daring, hole up in the control tower or some other part of the base! - When sniping, make sure you snipe behind a sharp edge of the terrain so you can be easily masked by it. - Oh yeah, you can also take a truck or humvee as transport for your sniper transport needs. - Using a tank in Engrene doesn't mean you're invincible; in fact, you're actually quite helpless. Most people take a tank to the enemy main base and wreck everything in sight while hogging the repair and ammo refills. This is a good strategy but don't expect to get out of it alive. Gradually, more and more people will spawn as the heavy unit and the repair power-up won't be able to keep up with your damages. There's always a chance of you getting bombed on the way there but that is easily remedied. Simply take a tank from a base near the enemy main base. No matter which team you're on, there's always a base very close to your enemy's with a tank. Paragona: Note: I don't play this map much so the only things I used to do was: - Get a boat, infiltrate the enemy main base, hide somewhere and as they spawn kill them. This is known as the spawn camping technique. Some consider it "cheap" but I prefer to call it exploiting a weakness. - Get the armored, gray metal boat known as the Mark 5. Drive it to the enemy's base and blast away with the grenade launcher and 2 machineguns. Emblem: Note: This map is present in Infantry Mode and Vehicle Combat without and differences. - Allot of good positions for snipers, total of 4 kills with sharp terrain perfect for concealment. - The 2 vehicles, the humvee, and an anti-personal tank, are quite rare so try to make them last by going on the repair power-ups when necessary. - A good tip for snipers would be to only cover a small area and hide themselves so someone from another angle can't see them because the map offers a wide range of roofs and hills for enemy snipers so covering them all will be quite difficult and getting yourself killed will happen quite frequently. - If you are going to spawn/base camp, make sure you don't take the medic due to the fact health stations are everywhere and you won't have time to heal yourself. Cantumira: Note: This map is also in infantry combat. - A good sniper place is the highest tower THAT IS near the water, sometimes you do get shot but if you read on you'll see why it is a pretty good place. Firstly, you see allot of the map, secondly if a tank sees you can jump off and into the water without harm, and you can do this if enemy snipers are sniping you. Practice this a few times before you actually try it out though, and make sure you're sprinting towards the railing. Infantry Combat: Ravello/Ravello 2nd st. - In the mission TEAMWORK is crucial, so unless you have a Chuck Norris on your team, I wouldn't go "Rambo". Staying in groups of 2 or more and covering each other is the secret to winning. - Taking the church and holding it helps reduce the enemy team's points. It has a 360-degree visibility and you can see, from the church roof, all the bases. At least 2 to 3 people on the roof should be able to hold it OK while covering all the entrances to the church compound. Throw in an extra 2 on the ground to cover the alleys/underground passages. A sniper on the roof should be covering the main routes from the enemy main base to the church. - A 1 or 2 could go in the underground tunnels and stop anyone trying to get to the church by them or wait but the exits of the tunnels into the church and nab anyone popping out. - Eventually, you and your team (especially if you're on N.I.U.) will want to take the other base near the enemy main base. This is unnecessary but if your team needs to reduce the enemy's points down drastically it is a good idea. This takes allot of planning because while you're assaulting that base, the church will be relatively undefended. As result, speed is crucial. Get 3-4 combatants to go by the underground and another 2-3 by the main above ground routes. Quickly, 2 people, usually a medic and a combatant should work on securing the base, while the others sweep the base for enemy forces. As soon as it is secured, leave 2-4 to guard it and the rest to either proceed to the enemy home base, while meeting up reinforcements from the church or going back to the church depending on the situation. Note: Obviously there are many other strategies to take bases but this one seems to work well with Ravello/Ravello 2nd St. Havana: - This map is huge and has many bases so it will be hard to work as a team but try to since it helps allot. The main way to win is to get all the bases, hold them, and bust the enemy as they spawn. Snipers are crucial here; a few on the roofs of certain building with combatants covering their backs can have devastating effects. - APC's are good too seeing that they can heal and resupply you if needed. We know all about spawn camping right? Well you can spawn camp with a tank too! Drive a tank in the enemy main base once all the bases (or almost) are yours, and blast away. Have some infantry support to help you if needed, an engineer won't be bad here either. - Usually, I get 2 tanks to the enemy base, along with an APC and an engineer or 2. Then from there it's total massacre, none makes it past the guns. - There's allot of common sniper spots, especially on the building across from base 1 so obviously, don't snipe there instead, find a more creative spot, I personally like to sniper or shoot from the fire escape of the building across base 1. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Conclusion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it.