RANDOMNADE: One of the most useful gaming sites ever.

I was looking for map overlays for Battlefield 3 and came across what is possible the most useful site for the multiplayer shooter community that has ever been created. That site is RANDOMNADE.com

You’ll have to create an account with them but that is a very small price for the features you get in return.

Randomnade allows you to create strategy maps on the map overlays of your favorite multiplayer games. The possibilities for clans and generally anyone that wants to share their favorite map strategies with the community are endless.

You can do stuff like this:

An often overlooked campers spot (plus its line of site) near the C flag on Grand Bazaar, it's up a set of stairs that seemingly lead to nowhere but there is a balcony there. The road under the flag is a good spot to place mines that almost always yields me a vehicle kill.

Cool, eh?

And THIS is why I won’t play CoD anymore.

Some 20 something mountebank named BFRESH9, bragging about his 19th world rank, gets owned by Woody and dashboards (quits to the Xbox’s dashboard so his stats don’t get recorded.)

I came across this in Black Ops a lot. A LOT. These vile miscreants would brag and brag and brag about their K/D in one exhaustively long run-on sentence and then openly admit to dashboarding in the next. Disregarding the implications of these individuals intellectual levels some of the parents out there have done really exceptional jobs at raising their offspring. CoD’s a wonderful game. The CoD community? Not so much.

Woody quit his job and Ahoy’s new MW3 vid.

WOODY’S GONE PRO!
Woody, the unexceptional gamer, has quit his well paying day job and is now playing games full time. Fucking twat. It’s not enough this smegger has everything going for him, he has to rub his successes in our faces and throw his lucrative career out the door so he can play games all freaking day.

Honestly, I’m happy for him. Woody’s one of those driven people and not one of those driven asshole types either, Woody’s generally a nice guy. If anyone in this life deserves to play games for a living it’s Woody. This is a great thing for the gaming community. For a while there Woody seemed to be mostly concentrating on “cool story bro” videos. You know, those wearisome exercises of ennui in which gaming commentators discuss the meaning of life, the universe and everything…

Really? Getting life advice and politics from people that game for a living? Good luck with that.

All of Woody’s recent uploads have been very informative game play and strategy videos. Granted, this has something to do with the recent release of MW3 as well, but trust me, this is a good thing for all of us. After all, the only reason I waste any time at all on YouTube is so I can learn something. I’d much rather be playing the game than watching someone else play it while they rant incessantly about things they obviously know nothing about because they play games all day.

The old writing adage is “write about what you know,” if you know enough about gaming to be able to do it for a living… Do I really need to finish that thought for you? If Woody’s not already one of your favorite gaming commentators, he should be, so go check him out (and tell him I sent you.)

XBOX AHOY’S NEW VIDEO
Speaking of informative gaming commentators, you might want to check out Xbox Ahoy’s new video on damage in Modern Warfare 3. He’s started a new series of videos he is aptly calling “Time to Kill.” I love me some Xbox Ahoy. I love Xbox Ahoy more than I love the old Chips Ahoy, you know, the ones from when I was a kid, before they started adding all the extra chips and cocoa.

CAMPING: The FINAL & ONLY Definition

WHAT IS A DIRTY CAMPER?
The only time a player can legitimately be called a dirty, low-life, scum-of-the-earth camper is in a Team Death Match or Free For All game.

Finding your own corner of some room or an enclosed space on a map with your ADS trained on the only entrance to the area in these game modes takes ZERO skill and is just poor sportsmanship (even when there are two entrances.) If everyone one did this in these game modes we’d all be sitting around pulling our peckers for 15 minutes. While some of you may find that fun, I find it just gets the controller all sticky.

THAT WHICH IS NOT CAMPING
Setting up camp near an objective, a flag in Domination, the flag in Capture the Flag, the bomb site in Demolition or Search & destroy, the M-COM station in Battlefield, IS NOT CAMPING. This is defending or guarding your objective.

Patrolling an area (larger than a room, about 1/4 of the map,) going back and forth and eliminating any enemy that tries to piss in your territory IS NOT CAMPING. This is controlling or holding down an area.

MIGHT AS WELL TALK ABOUT SPAWN TRAPPING
It is only spawn trapping if an ENTIRE team is camped in your spawn grounds keeping your team pinned down. Not a very sporting strategy but a viable one in certain circles.

ONE or two guys wreaking havoc and confusion in your spawn grounds are not spawn trapping you. Seriously, how can one or two guys spawn trap an entire team? Unless your team sucks that bad it’s not possible. Those guys are keeping you busy while their teammates attack the objective. Providing a small distraction is sound military strategy.

HOW TO DEAL WITH CAMPERS
If the camper is having a good day (notice that I did not say he is “skilled,”) the little shit probably has host advantage (in Black Ops.) The only thing you can do here is warn the rest of your team where his lair is and avoid him. No sense in you adding to his slow and steady killstreak, of which you can be sure will end in dogs.

In Battlefield the situation is not as cut and dry. The maps are larger with lots of prime sniper real estate. A skilled sniper overlooking–or a lone wolf controling an area near–your objective must be dealt with. And they are probably going to have to be dealt with more than once. Avoidance is not a viable solution here.

Use a camper hunting class. In Black Ops, Ghost Pro, Hardened Pro and Hacker Pro. Equip a Silencer and use Counter Spy Plane. Ghost Pro and the silencer keep you off the mini-map. Hardened lets you shoot through walls, campers will always hide in a corner to reload. Hacker Pro keeps you invisible to Motion Sensors, a favorite tool of professional campers. Hold on to your Counter Spy Planes and throw them up only when there is a Blackbird in play. Professional dirty, scumbag campers are killwhores, they won’t run something as useful to the team as the Blackbird, they’ll be running something like Attack Chopper and Dogs. Equip C4 and use it as an extra grenade. Toss it inside a camped room and set it off right away.

In Battlefield 3 there is absolutely no such thing as camping but there are those jackass snipers who like to hang out in the boondocks and pick your team off one by one. Anything that keeps your team from accomplishing its objectives becomes part of said objectives. On some maps dealing with skilled snipers is as simple as informing your own snipers to look out for him and kill on site. If someone has spotted him and/or you are absolutely sure of where his lair is, you can have someone blanket mortar the area. On some of the larger maps it may be necessary to dispatch a squad to deal with him.

Noob tube the fuck out of him, ’nuff said. In Battlefield 3, hop in a tank or some other ordinance ladened vehicle… You get the picture.

Learn the maps. Once you know the maps better you’ll be more aware of where campers like to take up residence. Go into Combat Training in Back Ops and learn to think like a camper. Those bots in combat training always use the most traveled routes. Finding the best places to hide and pick off a bunch of easy targets running by will show you where the best spots are to camp in any game mode.

Also look for the obscure, out-of-the-way camping spots. The ones that overlook the roads least traveled. These places are haunted by the lowest type of camper there is, politicians and lawyers have more scruples than these campers. I’m talking about the chicken-shit, avoid all confrontation, my-testicles-haven’t-dropped-yet, feckless camper. These guys equip sniper rifles and ghillie suits, hide in bushes on the outskirts of the map killing the odd passerby, and patiently build up a killstreak that will end in dogs. You need to find the alternative routes to these places because he will get you every time you come back at him from the same direction, mostly because that’s the only direction he’s looking in.

Once you’ve eliminated a camper from an area, stick around. Find a place to lay low. Campers are generally idiotic creatures of habit. Rest assured, he’s coming back. That should be another easy kill for you. Alternatively you could leave a claymore in that area if you’re fairly sure of the path he’ll be taking to get back.

In Battlefield 3 there is no safe way to learn the maps. Just relax and keep playing. Enjoy yourself and don’t let the game frustrate you. You’ll be surprised at how much faster you’ll get the hang of things simply by enjoying yourself. It is just a game.

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN ACCUSED OF CAMPING
Just because you get called a camper by some guy frustrated with his inadequate performance or some dumb-ass, clueless teenager does not mean you’re a camper. Stop rushing off to some internet forum to whine about how you got called a camper when ‘you’re not.’ It’s just going to be another useless thread on the same old tired topic of camping and, quite frankly, it makes you look guilty. If you’re questioning whether or not you’re a camper then so are the people reading your post. Brush off his comments and try not camping in the next game.

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH CAMPERS?
I would like to hear how you guys deal with campers, please leave a comment if you have the time. Not only will you be helping the gaming community, you’ll also give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

1/04/12 EDIT: Removed my Treyarch/floating apple gripe because it added nothing to the article and Quo said it made me seem bitchy. I also added some Battlefield specific information.

Black Ops: Tips for Playing New Maps

While looking for information regarding the new Black Ops map pack, Annihilation, I found the following video by Matroix. He offers some good advice on how to play a new map pack. While this video was made for Escalation the advice he gives can easily be applied to any new map.

CoD: Elite, Gunns & Xbox Ahoy

I’m pretty much with Gunns on this one. Especially if the pay service provides an advantage to a player in MW3 over someone who does not subscribe. The ability to buy equipment and make your Be A Pro toon better was the reason I never played NHL 10 online. It unbalances the game. It becomes a rich versus poor thing, or idiots with far too much disposable income versus the rest of us with common sense enough not to be surreptitiously duped into buying virtual items thing.

Xbox Ahoy is doing some video work for the CoD Elite site and he talks about this whole mess in the following video, offering a different perspective. Keep in mind that Ahoy (I say this with all due respect to one of the greatest game commentators alive) is completely biased as he is currently on Activision’s payroll. He offers the old if you don’t like it don’t pay for it clause rather than taking to the airwaves to voice your displeasure. I agree with Ahoy’s don’t buy it clause but not the part about voicing your displeasure with Activision’s decision in other ways. Even if this service is a complete travesty and insult to our intelligence there are just far too many morons out there who would still buy it, making taking to the airwaves our only recourse. It is really cool that Ahoy got this gig though, he’s very talented and sharp, I only hope I get to see the videos he’s producing for Elite.

Will the Elite service allow gay gamers a respite from the hostile environment created by ill-parented 12 year olds and homophobic adults as suggested at the end of this article on Wired? The first thought I had after reading this is ‘way to put back up the walls people have been trying so hard to tear down since the ’50′s‘. Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay men and women (some of the biggest bitches too!) and I’m sure the hate and homophobic bigotry on Xbox Live is the main reason I haven’t had the opportunity to game with any gay men or women on line (that I know of). I wouldn’t wear my mic either in their situation. But I fail to see how this would advance their cause any. I understand why they would want a corner of the internet to call their own but in order to fight the good fight you have to be out there fighting it, not hiding in some virtual closet with like minded people. That’s right, I said VIRTUAL CLOSET.

One thing is for sure, Activision needs to tread lightly here, else they boost the sales of Battlefield 3. The persistent problems with the CoD series are waring thin on me.

Black Ops: Annihilation

Annihilation, a new map pack for Black Ops will be available on June 28th. I’ve tried scouring YouTube looking for some decent analysis on it for you to no avail. Just people reiterating the glaringly obvious. There is this video with a fairly decent analysis of the zombie map at the end. Woody and pals talk a bit about it and a lot of other things in this podcast. But I found nothing with even a semi decent analysis of the multi-player maps. So, after viewing the footage I shall offer my own brief, semi-decent analysis:

Hanger 18: “Has a lot of Easter eggs.” Will these Easter Eggs be purely cosmetic or will they impact game play? Dominate the map by controlling the hanger and the “four main flow points.” Visually the map looks cool but I feel there is nothing ground breaking here, just another map.

Silo: A big wide open map. Reminds me of Array. “You need to stay on the move.” OK, making statements like that is only going to encourage camping. Find a nice little spot with your flank covered and wait for all those poor saps to pass by “on the move.” Spend some time in combat training on this one folks, you want to make sure you know all those nooks and crannies your friendly neighborhood camper will be hiding in. I foresee snipers doing fairly well on this map and everyone wearing their ghillie suits.

Drive-In: Inspired by Nuketown, but will it just be another frag fest that is voted to be replayed again, and again, and again, and again, and again? I’m curious about how the game play on this map develops. The middle of the map is wide open compared to Nuketown.

Hazard: “Focuses almost exclusively on long distance engagement.” A snipers, one overpowered shot-one kill, haven? We shall see.

Shangi-La: Zombies in paradise? I don’t really play zombies but I did notice the same thing Woody noticed about this map. It’s not so depressing, dark and dismal.

I’m kind of up in the air about getting this map pack. I have not been playing a whole lot of Black Ops lately. I don’t feel I’ve played enough to get my money’s worth out of Escalation. I’ll see.

Black Ops: Domination Tactics on Grid

One of my favorite YouTube gaming commentators did a pretty decent video covering tactics for domination on the map Grid. A lot of times Woody blabbers nonsense while he plays, this time he stays focused. I’m not a big fan of reinventing the wheel so here’s the video.

And here’s the corresponding callout map, created by INFINITE at HupitGaming, to help you out;

Black Ops: Domination Tactics on Radiation

CALLOUT MAP
I found this map at HupitGaming forums, I believe it was created by a forum member named INFINITE.  If she sees this I would like to thank her for creating it.  It saved me a lot of work.

STRATEGY MAP
STAGING GROUNDS:  These three spots on the map are the safest places to call in your Killstreak packages. You run the risk of trapping your care package on the roof in the factory.

A,B & C: Approximate locations of the DOM flags.
S1-9: Likely sniper nesting spots & their site lines.
A1, A2, C1, C2: Attack paths.
C1, C2: The best 2 places to plant a claymore.

GENERAL NOTES
The key to winning any DOM game is holding down 2 flags, most importantly the B flag, usually located in the middle of the map.  The B Flag on Radiation is one major choke point. With the doors closed there are two ways directly in and out of the tunnel, plus the two ladders that come down from inside the shacks at the S5 and S3 sniper spots. Once you have control of the B flag get those doors closed. Having them open makes it easier to gain control of the flag as your team has high ground advantage and can clear the tunnel fairly easy with a few well placed grenades and a couple of heavy machine gunners. Most people like the direct confrontation approach on this map and will spend a lot of match time attacking B from inside the tunnel, leaving them highly susceptible to rear attack. I have found that most of the games I’ve won on this map are the ones in which my team controls C and B. This map is also good to run Hardened on, the walls are thin and it will make it easy to take out campers and snipers.

GENERAL STRATEGY
This is not an all inclusive strategy guide for this map in domination. Just my observations on how people tend to play this map with a couple of overlooked (or understated) strategic maneuvers thrown in. Always remember to adapt to the SitRep of the match.

If you spawn at C plant a claymore immediately in the nook between the barrels (C1) right next to the C flag, this is pretty much a guaranteed kill. There is always a rusher on the other team whose going to go for the C flag on this map. If you spawn at A plant a claymore on the small set of stairs (C2) that leads into the factory. This will take care of the rushers coming from C. I got the same two rushers 5 times in one match using this strategy. Why they didn’t learn not to bunch up while running after the same claymore got them both twice within 2 minutes I’ll never know. Just one of those universal mysteries I guess.

The attack paths are simple and similar no matter what direction you are coming from (A or C). There’s the basic straight forward direct attacks right into the tunnel but while your team is doing that try running through the factory and coming up behind the enemy near the A flag. The enemy will be preoccupied with the fight in the tunnel. When you get to the stairs at C2 (claymore spot 2) pause, don’t rush around that corner. Wait a second and give the other team a chance to respawn. When you see 2 or three of them run down into the tunnel zip on in after them (it’s probably best to be running a Lightweight/Marathon class for this strategy). If you time it right you can easily kill the entire squad defending/attacking the B flag.  Be watchful of any enemy in the ladder nook or the dark corner of the tunnel near it. As long as the doors above are closed your team should easily capture B (if they haven’t already). I tend to run back the way I came and catch the enemy off guard as they try to recapture the ground they just lost and give my team those extra few seconds to capture and take up defensive positions.

Attacking from the A flag is a bit trickier. Most guys try to run in and cap that C flag first. It’s best to avoid it all together. And run into the tunnel (without setting off the C flag warning by going down through the C2 path) and come up on the enemy’s 6 and wipe them out. Taking the elevated catwalk to get to C from A will give you more cover, though a sneaky git hovering on the descending stairs will cause you a problem so keep an eye out for him. Also make sure to check the switch alcove as you run by.

Once you have B make a push for C and let A fall to the enemy. Keep a couple of guys in the tunnel to guard B and have the rest of the squad push for C. With the doors closed, your guys assaulting C, and A still under your control the enemy can only come down the ladders. If timed correctly this can throw the other team off guard. Their first reaction is to try and get B back but now they are losing C too. Once they’ve lost C, panic may set in and they’ll scramble to get any flag they can. Let them have A. It’s easier to win on Radiation controlling C and B IMHO.

SNIPER SPOTS
Most of the action takes place underground and this map is usually too hectic for snipers to set up house anywhere but there’s always that one git! The sniper in the elevated shack at S1 one is the biggest pain in the ass, he does not have too many lines of sight but the two he has are more than enough. He’ll usually hide in the corners to reload and protect himself with a claymore at the ladder. If you have Hardened on he’s as good as dead. Just shoot him through the wall when he’s cowering in the corner. The guy at S2 is another annoying git, only one real good line of site line along the lower switch catwalk but he has good cover. Run the elevated catwalk (or avoid the catwalks and run up the middle under the catwalks) to get by him and try and take him out in the shack, he will have a claymore guarding the stairs and be hiding to the left in the back of the room when he hears you coming. Alternatively, a few well placed grenades through that widow should take care of him or keep him busy enough for you to get around him. After all is said and done, if you are attacking A, the route through the factory makes more sense.

A lot of guys like to fight for the elevated room in the factory (S6.1) and take up positions at S6 and S7. Not really snipers per se, these lads are trying to control the factory path and usually only stop at the sniper spots to pop off a couple of rounds at anyone bold enough to traverse the center of the map before jumping back down into the factory. A talented player can slow the other teams progress greatly by controlling the factory in this manner.

The guy taking up position at the top of the conveyor (S8) is the dangerous one. He’s the dirty camper. He’s hanging out in the factory picking off people as they run through, taking advantage of the fact that your team is probably not communicating and trying to build up that slow and steady killstreak award to Dogs or a Blackbird. It’s imperative you warn your team about him.

These are some of the strategies I use on Radiation.  They are not the only strategies for this map.  I’m sure many of you have your own tactics for this map and I would love to hear about them in the comments section.