Firefight Conduct

[Redfield5]

Imagine, if you will... Your squad has penetrated Medbay, after receiving credible evidence of alien entrenchment. You are and your Marines cut down 3 of the bastards, pushing them back into Virology. There you are, on that long, deadly stretch of walkway, firing your weapon as the combined fire of the Marines keeps the Xenos pinned. In the next airlock tier, your enemy sit entrenched, using the walls as cover from a lead-induced death. There's one lair of reinforced wall holding you back from the alien warrior on the other side, and your focus - as well as the focus of everyone else - is on the doorway, waiting for an alien to make the fatal error of wandering into the killzone. However, before you can even react, fate decides that it would be best wielded in the hands of the incompetent.

With your attention turned to the enemy on the other side, you fail to notice the Marine behind you prepping a grenade. He is more like you than you care to admit; ready to kill, embroiled in the fighting to pay attention to your fellow Marines. Suddenly, he tosses the grenade into the room, the weapon barely making it into the room. In your haste to keep the enemy pinned, you fail to see the flashing lights of the grenade until it is too late. Before you can react, a cloud of smoke appears before you, and your lungs and skin begin to burn uncontrollably as herbicides fill your body. In constant, intense agony, you keel over and begin to dry-heave, before lifting up a load of vomit and dropping it on the floor. You see everyone running out, and you attempt to follow them, only for your vision to fade into darkness as a facehugger tears off your helmet and compresses your face, while an alien drags you away, deeper into the alien hive.
Unfair, isn't it? This is only one example of Marine incompetence contributing to the loss of valuable lives. In essence, combat is chaos, as all of your senses become dedicated to survival. In this situation, the difference between life or death is whether or not you can kill the enemy before they kill you. Some people cannot perform well under combat stresses, and they fire indiscriminately before them as they fire for the enemy's upper body, ignorant to the fellow Marine standing in front of them until that Marine drops to the ground, dead as a cockroach. Another instance could be the introductory example, but with a flashbang grenade incapacitating 4 Marines as the alien Queen shrieks, sending her ilk to charge into the room and drag away the unfortunate warriors. It is a commonly-known fact that friendly fire contributes to most of the Marine defeats. While friendly fire cannot always be avoided during combat, knowing the steps to prevent yourself from contributing to defeat sure helps. Here are some steps to remember when entering into a firefight. 1. KEEP A LEVEL HEAD - You're a Marine. Out of every component in a military, the Marines are recognized as the mighty warfighters of the bunch, for they are the first ones in; the tip of the spear. As such, your rigorous training has kept this in mind, as you were constantly yelled at by your Drill Instructors, forced to climb under barbed wire with live rounds wizzing above your head, and ordered to engage others in intense war games. Many of you have been deployed before in combat scenarios, so you should know how to cut past the more hindering consequences of combat in order to focus on winning the engagement. Do not allow your own desires to kill to get in your way; be aware of everything going on around you. If you know what is going on in front of you, then you are in the right place. 2. MAKE SURE YOUR INTENT IS SET TO HELP, UNLESS YOU ARE IN A POSITION IN WHICH YOU CAN LAND SOME CLOSE-RANGE SHOTS - Most newbie Marines fail to grasp this, and they all keep their intents set to HARM. If you ever get pushed around the station, or if you get shoved into an alien hive and immediately incapacitated, this is why. It's annoying, unprofessional, and can be avoided which the HELP intent remaining on. 3. DON'T MOVE AROUND SO MUCH; FORM FIRING LINES - Everyone gets jumpy during a gunfight, and it is common nature to move around to avoid injury. Don't do this; not only do you make yourself less accurate, but your constant movement can put yourself and others in danger. Form firing lines to cover the entire hallway, with everyone firing ONLY at what's in front of them. Be every vigilant of movement in front and behind you, for someone could move in front of you and put themselves in careless danger. 4. GRENADES ARE MORE DANGEROUS TO YOU THAN THEY ARE TO THE ENEMY - You know those fancy grenades that were in the Briefing Room? They're fucking useless, except for the Weedkiller grenade. It is all too common for some rookie to prep a grenade and toss it into a room, only to hand over victory to the aliens. If and when you need to deploy a weedkiller grenade, make sure you first notify those around you that you are preparing to throw a grenade. Next, prep it and throw it as far out of range as you can in order to avoid blowback. Don't be discouraged; many aliens are startled by weedkiller, and the smoke could actually coerce them into moving forward into your line of fire. 5. GUNFIGHTS AREN'T ALL ABOUT KILLING - It's not about the killing; it's about pushing your enemy back against the wall in order to make them vulnerable, because that is usually how you must wage a gunfight. Don't expect every bullet to hit an enemy, but don't assume that they don't have an effect. A bullet flying through the air signals your intentions; it tells everyone to watch the fuck out, because you're more than willing to draw blood. They'll move and scatter, and if you coordinate your firing with your movement, you can take territory and push them into a corner. Be ready to hold your territory, though. Position yourself in a good firing post; When firing into a doorway, it's best to have two people on opposite sides of the doorway step back a step and fire into the doorway. Behind them in the middle row, position another rifleman or an MG into the center zone. That'll give you three zones of fire all coming together on one spot. When coordinated, this amount of fire can be devastating for even a Ravager. 6. BE READY IN CASE THINGS GET UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL - What people fail to realize about CQC is that it is always split 50/50. While the enemy penetrating your line is a serious problem, it also presents you with an opportunity to counterattack and take out another alien. Be more than ready to switch to HARM intent and ice an alien at point-blank range, and know that your knife is not a tool to be taken lightly. When an alien punctures your line, be ready to fill in the gap and surround the fucker with bloodthirsty Marines. For good measure, a single Marine should fill in the gap and cover the backs of his fellow Marines, keeping the enemy from pressing the attack. If they break through and regroup with the tip of the spear, then you're screwed. 7. MGs ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND - The enemy has nothing that can stand up to a well-crewed MG. When in the right hands, this weapon is the tool to hold off an alien onslaught. Most people only see their defense application, though a competent team can pull the MG into combat and get it operational within a matter of seconds. Stay behind the damn thing, because those bullets hurt. 8. HEADSHOTS DO JACK-SHIT - I see and experience this each day. There's this all-too-common myth that headshots can do tons of damage to the aliens, and everything that I have experience and been told discredits this. The aliens are immune to damage bonuses from headshots, but your fellow Marines are. More often than not, the majority of dead or injured Marines are afflicted by a high frequency of gunshot wounds to the head. 9. WHEN SOMEONE TELLS YOU TO RUN, TRUST THEIR JUDGEMENT - We all want to fight, which makes retreating hard. Everyone wants to stay behind and fight, but we all need to know when to fall back. A tactical retreat is best done in pairs, with one Marine covering the other as they move, firing a few rounds downrange to disrupt alien movement. 10. SQUAD AND CORPS ARE EVERYTHING - From the first days of boot camp to now, a sense of camaraderie between you and your fellow Marines has been forged and maintained for the duration of your career. You must trust the Marine beside you, and they must trust you. Be ever-mindful of your surroundings, and be ready to put your life on the line in order to rescue someone.

[Not_walker]

This reminds me of my marine PSAs, good job.

[razerwing]

I like this. Alot. Very nice, hehe.

I have a Hotkey tip that may help with the INTENT SWITCHING, because let's be honest, Hotkeys will give you that extra second to do some damage.

With Hotkey Toggle on, you can use F and G to switch intents. Pressing F while on the Help intent will switch you directly to the Harm intent. Pressing the G key will switch you from the Harm intent, right back to the Help intent.

REMEMBER! Using Hotkeys can and will streamline the combat process. It allows you to keep your mouse where it needs to be, on the screen, hovering over your enemies, fully prepared to rain hot metal death on all things Xeno.

[Redfield5]

When you forget to check your line of fire.

Also, I forgot to mention: THE RADIO IS YOUR MOST VALUABLE WEAPON.


I can't tell you how many times that my headset has saved my life, whether I be trapped in a hive or if I have engaged multiple contacts by myself. With this device, you have the power to alert everyone to everything. Use it! Stay in contact with everyone, and your odds of survival will be greatly improved.

[Allan1234]

hm, Good job

[Redfield5]

Thank you.

[Redfield5]

Could we by chance get this guide transferred to the sub-forum?

[HyperPwner]

Basically, play as a marine like you would play Arma or [Insert military simulation here]

[Allan1234]

yup, just its slightly more easier then arma

[Davidchan]

I'd say 8/10 marines are pretty blood thirsty. There IS no camaraderie amongst each other (very few marines will remove a hugger and shake their squad mates awake if it happens, even if the aliens retreaded)

Hopefully when we got to the Auto-Assigned to squads detail, we can also impliment the mandatory 10-15 minute warm up on the Sulaco with the marines spawning in their ready rooms and given time to actually interact before everyone falls into the briefing room. Half the time I can never tell who is in my squad, and members of other squads seem more eager to hang around with me at the FoBs or exploring the station rather than my own men.

As far as working together goes. Do NOT scream 'HELP!' over the radio. Yell out YOUR LOCATION to allow marines to immediately start heading in your direction. We don't have field trackers/crew monitors that let us see where everyone is, if someone screams help I am no closer to moving to assist you if I don't know where you are. If someone screams medbay or virology, I'm damn sure gonna beat feat to get to that location and see what the ruckus is. On that note, is squad leaders could get handheld crew monitors (like Paradise Station has) it would be /awesome/

[Kreydis]

We don't have field trackers/crew monitors

WRONG!

Suit sensors to max + crew monitoring computer on Nostramo. You can make one or use a readily available one. (power the station.)

[Davidchan]

WRONG!

Suit sensors to max + crew monitoring computer on Nostramo. You can make one or use a readily available one. (power the station.)

A field tracker is a man portable unit. Building a crew monitor requires a bit more know how than the average marine should be capable of, but some engineers know their way around enough to create a decent set up.

[UnknownMurder]

Could we by chance get this guide transferred to the sub-forum?

No.

[Redfield5]

No.

Ta bom, ta bom. A rather blunt answer, if I may say so myself.