Posted: 01-01-07 In: Guides By: Munro2 |


This is the third and final part in the series of basic playing guides. These guides will teach you the basic things you need to know when playing Day of Defeat.

Voice comms

Unless you've actually played with a clan at some stage voice comms are probably a little alien to you. At the moment in DoD they are used mostly for random comments on the public servers. But occasionally it is used properly and then the game really works. Why should you have to type every message when you can just speak it. It's faster and easier to take action if you're surprised whilst speaking than typing. I have been caught typing a number of times and you end up writing a message along the lines of "Enemy ahead tawasda ." You always try to move before you realise that you're typing instead and in that time you're usually dead.

By using voice comms as well you can more easily keep the whole team aware of your location and intentions and issuing orders is far faster, with the others giving real time feedback. There's no need with voice comms to skip any smaller messages because you can't be bothered to type. The only downside is messages can be garbled and you'll need to configure it properly to get the best results.

Also if you start issuing orders they will generally be followed. No-one else is generally willing to take a tactical role in the game so if you start telling the team to all attack the left flank most of them will. DoD players seem to want leadership but on public servers there is very little. All it needs are some motivational rants to "Take the last flag now!", or "Rush them before they reform" and this collection of random players will suddenly become your team, especially if what you say leads to victory.

Signalling and built in voice messages

Remember to make good use of the built in commands in DoD, you can also bind important commands to keys so you can issue them at the stroke of a key. With a little thought and the use of mnemonics and some imagination you will soon be able to hit the correct command every time. I have "Sniper!" bound to X because it reminds me of a Cross-hair on the scope, flank left and right, move out and hold position are bound to the relevant arrow keys, Grenade! is bound to G.

It's very easy to do and you can also do it directly in the config file if you feel more confident, lists of all the available commands are available on the net. The other option which many people use is to just learn all the numbers of the commands so they can issue any command with 2-3 keystrokes. This isn't as user friendly but is far more comprehensive.

Always remember you are cannon fodder!

Don't worry too much about your score, sure it's nice to be top of the board or to get the best Kill to Death ratio but what's more important is your team winning. So remember it is important to get the right kills not the most. Also killing snipers and MGs should always be top priority as they can tear the heart out of an assault or defence, so don't worry if your suicidal Grenade attack earns you a posthumous VC, all suicidal Grenade charges should end with you dying as you pop the grenade through the window or bunker view slit.

Also if you see the enemy about to take a flag rush I throwing grenades every where and stop them. So long as the capture is broken you have succeeded and that's all that matters. Or if you see the enemy about to do the same, to prevent your team taking a flag, stop them no matter what it costs.

In DoD you are nothing but a dead man walking so don't be too protective of yourself. Remember it's always best to die doing something important than quietly in a corner snivelling like a girl because your precious score is suffering. I find the most enjoyable games are often the ones where your score rarely gets much above 1:1 but you are the guy that was always there on the assaults or defences drawing enemy fire away from team mates so they could achieve an objective.

Crouch firing

With the new recoil and aiming systems in DoD the days of running and firing from the hip are gone. To actually hit anything you'll need to stop and aim. Pausing whilst standing will allow the moving part of the cross-hair to come to rest and you'll be able to get off one shot accurately. If you crouch though this happens faster and for weapons like rifles it will allow you to fire faster and more accurately than if standing.

If you are going to shoot I definitely recommend firing from crouched rather than standing as it is pretty rare to get a kill with the first shot so you'll need to fire more than one which means going crouched will let you do this faster, more accurately and make you a smaller target.

The guns this works best with are the Garand, carbine and the automatic weapons (Tommy Gun, BAR, STG44, MP40). The garand and carbine are particularly lethal in this mode. The Kar98 doesn't need it as much as it has a slow rate of fire and by the time the next round is chambered whilst standing the cross-hair is steady again. Also due to it's high accuracy and power you very rarely need a second shot.

Keep an eye on your ammo level

You should try to make sure that you have enough ammo in your gun for most eventualities. This varies from gun to gun, the Garand I'd say it's 2-3 rounds minimum before you deliberately fire them off and reload, with the carbine 5-8, SMGs probably about 10, BAR 5-8, STG 44 10 etc. These are up to you to modify and are purely a rough guide. Just find levels that you feel comfortable with and stick with them.

Also MGs run through ammo very fast especially those that are performing well. So keep them well stocked at all times and if the MG gunner calls for ammo go give it to him, there's no point you hanging on to it. It's often a good idea when you are dead to cycle through your teams players and note the locations of an MGs. Then route your path in the map to go via them so that you can drop them some ammo on the way. There's nothing worse than being an MG running out of/without ammo. They have no other weapon so they rely on charity or have to get themselves killed.