Tuesday, February 1, 2011

BC2: Harvest Day

Harvest Day

I like this map for a multitude of reasons.  The vehicles are just plentiful enough to mix up the strategy whenever one appears, but not so plentiful that they're the dominant theme of the map.  I also appreciate that they've implemented both wide open farmland and tight, enclosed villages without letting the whole map be a sniper playground, thanks to irregular terrain.

Rush defense:  As with other tank-laden maps I tend to prefer engineer kits, though this map (like Valparaiso) reduces the vehicles available to the offense as you progress through the match.  Generally I'll stick with engineer, RPG, and 4x UMP for the first three bases, then switch to assault or shotgun recon for the final hilltop battle.  I should note that it's occasionally beneficial to spawn with anti-tank mines and plaster the roads and bridges with them.

Farm 1:  There are two stationary ATs here, one covering nearly the entire enemy deployment area, and the other just the two roads crossing through the base.  They're both also extremely exposed and vulnerable to long-distance tank shelling and snipers on the adjacent hill.  I'll usually stay on the AT on the barn's second floor until that becomes a focus of destruction (the barn almost always gets collapsed first), then linger near the secondary AT and protect the hillside from recon and infantry flankers until a tank comes rolling into town.  I prefer to stay away from the riverside portion of the base here because it's way more exposed to snipers, and lets enemy tanks drive much closer without exposure to ATs.  The second AT station also generally lets you run to M-COM alpha when it's charged while facing enemy defensive positions (the hay bales and the shipping container near the fence) instead of just letting them shoot you in the back.

Farm 2:  The heavy MG here is in a great position to spot and kill flankers running through the treeline and snipers squatting behind the small hills along the river, and it's mostly protected from tank fire until the tank's already in the base.  I like to stay on it to pick off the inevitable engineers who try to sneak to the other side of the field (towards the radio tower) to spawn-kill the defender tank.  Just watch out when your bullet shield gets tracered, because you'll only have 4 or 5 seconds before the RPG arrives.  I believe there's a stationary AT here, but it's completely exposed on the river bank and you'll get sniped if you even think about trying to use it for longer than three seconds.

Village Square:  This is a difficult base to defend because the approach is totally visually shielded, and the M-COMs aren't even within view of one another, so your team will always be blindly split.  And the one heavy MG only faces one M-COM and doesn't cover any of the approach lanes.  If you don't have a recon tossing sensor balls, this is a good time to switch from engineer and test out your shotgun, G3, M14, or VSS skills.  I generally still sit on the MG to cover the one M-COM in the middle of the square, but it's pretty exposed, and often totally away from the main action.

Hilltop Village:  There's one AT here, and it only faces a stretch of road that's 20 meters long, and unless you have some advance notice and excellent timing it's totally useless as an anti-vehicle measure.  The thing to do here is recon, because you can sensor the houses, but also drop down behind the singular enemy tank whenever it comes (via a multitude of shortcuts or cliffs) and C4 while the rest of the infantry is off fighting on the stair approaches.  There's a grenade launcher in the tall building housing the M-COM but it's literally the first thing a tank driver sees on his way up the hill, and you will be killed if you stay up there.

Rush attack:  Despite the prevalence of enemy metal during the first three stages, I actually prefer to assault the majority of the map and play more of a mid-range support role.  You can do more elimintating AT-users and MG-campers with a 4x scope or a 40mm grenade than with an RPG shooting tanks head-on, and once you get into the bases, enemies generally won't be seaching the second floors of their own buildings for you.  You can serve as a spawn point and surprise cover fire in relative safety.

Farm 1:  There are three approaches:  1) The long run around and up the eastern hill with your recon buddy, where the descent is exposed.  2) The middle of the field, which is exposed to tanks, but offers some protection once you reach the base's periphery.  3) The road west across the river, totally in the open but usually less-monitored.  The most successful choice depends on where the bulk of the enemy forces are focusing.

Farm 2:  If you cross the river east, you can almost always run the long way around the base totally unseen, and walk right into the back door unless you catch an unlucky spawn.  I do this every time.  Every time.  In untold dozens of matches, I've only ever been caught out there once.

Village Square:  This is more of a play-by-ear exercise, depending on whether the bulk of enemy forces are focused east or west.  I find that west is generally less guarded, and this is another area where sneaking into a rooftop is more useful for the team effort than racking up a quick two kills in frantic CQC and dying.  I've often reached the M-COM in the square without ever firing a bullet (though if there's someone on the MG, you're toast, but then you can just take it out with a grenade on the second attempt).

Hilltop:  The road is a deathtrap.  Anybody can just leap down and backstab you, at any time, and you'll have no warning, so don't use the tank as a shield.  You can either just brute-force your way up the eastern stairs and establish an upper spawn point, or try to be clever and flank the western hilltop (again with your recons) and hope you're not seen as you approach the tall buildings from behind.

Conquest:  I find the stationary AT at C to be a remarkably safe location.  You're protected from gunfire from D by terrain, from flankers by the shed nearby, from B by distance, leaving only the B flag area itself (from the A direction) as your only exposure.  And if your team owns A you're almost completely free to fire missiles at will directly into B (and the hills above), the central field connecting each area, and along the road to D.  If given a choice, I'll linger at C and "defend" while missiling B.  Usually, attackers from D will take a jeep and circle around the back of the nearby barn, which you'll hear.  This is a good map for any kit:  Medics and recon for long-range slaying, assault for medium range intra-base stuff, engineer for vehicles.

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