32 replies to this topic

[Quadro40k]

DISCLAIMER: This guide is intended to teach new raiders on basic ways around various compound layouts. If you're absolutely new to raiding I highly advise you to read Raiding FAQ first as it provides a lot of basic information about raiding.

 

Most of the stuff I put in is a compilation from various players, so it's not just my great knowledge :)

 

Before we start:

 

If you're really interested in raiding, want to learn your ways around the war and happen to play on AG/FB servers, know that Leg1on family is always looking for devoted raiders. If you want to be a part of the team that dominates the war, get to know some of the best raiders ever and get hands on help with your learning - apply to Vexilatio [V1X] by contacting Akita via chat PM in game.

 

 

I. One side wonders

 

We'll start with definitions. One side wonder is a type of defense where defensive structures and survivors are concentrated on one side of compound.

 

Classic examples of One side wonders can be seen on schematics below:

 

 

As mentioned by many people there are three main ways to beat one side wonder: heads on (or brute force), angling and going through compound.

 

1. Heads on attack

 

We'll start with the video of such raid:

 

Spoiler

 

It's a lvl50 raid using no uni weapons against defender with 4 x uni m107, 1 x uni m60, 1 x uni 416 and 1 x uni m24

 

Now a bit of details about raid:

 

- Loadout:

 

4 weapons taken on the raid are same blue m107s, all normally looted in high level areas. This kind drops a lot so they are easy to find. They are all upgraded to lvl50 which costs a bit of fuel but the price is far from extreme (especially if you're smart enough to wait for War Boost crafting bonus and use Crafting on the Cheap book). Getting 10 of those fully upgraded is far cheaper than 1 crappy uni 107.

 

Melee weapon taken is crafted slicing sword, upgraded to lvl50 but really this is not important, these swords are for my auto-missions, raiding could be done with pretty much any melee.

 

All survivors are equipped in crafted armors granting them 70% projectile resist. They work as good as unis in this case but are far cheaper :)

 

It's also highly recommended to bring your suppression resistance clothing for heads on - you'll need every percent of that.

 

- Strategy:

 

For the sake of demonstration I just went heads on. I do believe this compound can be raided more efficiently and much faster but I wanted to show it as simple as possible.

 

Uni m60 with deadeyes hitting my medic was a bit of surprise which almost costed me the raid. But lucky enough I got the medic ducked fast. You'll see with damage I was taking that medic is crucial to the raid. That's also a reason he's with melee - I don't want him to be targeted when I need him.

 

Once deployed and defenders start shooting, first thing to do was to prioritize targets.

 

Obviously m60 with deadeyes in the tower was the prime - all my survivors were in range for him. But it also means he got no armor, so he's quick to kill.

 

Next targets are recons - they have low health and often carry killer guns with glasses (again no armor) which was the case here.

 

Once they are killed the raid is essentially won - I didn't lose anyone and got enough firepower to deal with the remaining targets. Only issue could be the time. That's why after clearing right side I moved closer to ensure higher hit rate and damage.

 

Again, the first look on compound showed that there are no fortifications around it so I could play it slow and safe - one grenade was sure enough to clear the path. If it wasn't the case I would have to move faster on the last 3-4 survivors which would most probably mean loosing one of mine in exchange for extra 30-40 seconds (enough for medic to rip through layers of barricades).

 

- Extra notes:

 

While this particular raid would be easier with angling technique, some one side wonder layouts won't allow that (mostly those that have survivors packed in the corner and hidden behind towers.

 

 

2. Angling

 

 

Here's an excellent video from dumbjock123 on angling technique:

 

 

Spoiler

 

- Loadout

 

There's nothing special about loadout for angling - take your best LRs, make sure you have medic with you (you may want to equip medic with melee so he's not targeted by enemy, and you can use that melee to take down barricades afterwards).

 

- Strategy

 

Angling strategy is all about getting line of sight (and therefore - line of fire) on single defender at a time and take them out one by one.

 

To help with it the game actually shows you when your survivor has line of sight on enemy - notice in video that as attacker goes in baby steps his survivor suddenly turns towards defenders. That's exactly the sign that he has a shot. All you need to do then is to line your other survivors behind, ensuring they all turn as well.

 

Target selection with angling goes without much choice - you take them in order you can get them in your LOF.

 

It is very important to keep your pace in angling attacks to ensure you take the flag in time, you'll need to practice it as angling is particularly easy to get overcautios and just time out on raid.

 

Make sure you use recon to move around so that unspotted traps don't ruin your raid.

 

Also it's critically important to always count how many survivors you already downed. Quite often someone will be hidden behind the water storage or behind towers so they can't be seen right away and you really don't want to rush to flag in the open just to be taken down by one guy you didn't notice.

 

3. Walk through compound

 

Unfortunately I don't have actual video for that kind of attack yet, hope someone will post it. So I made one myself:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

The idea of walking through compound is to stay (at least for the most part) outside of enemy line of fire and get close to compound doors nearest to them enough to spam them with grenades.

 

Cornered wonders and old style back to walls (from the pictures at the beginning of the section) are most prone to this kind of attack. Reason for that is it's very easy to stay outside of LOF till you're right at the doors from where you can land grenades at the enemy.

 

- Loadout:

 

As in this kind of attack you are less likely to engage in full front shootout but need lots of grenades, the gear of choice here is harness giving you +2 to carry limit (or infamous swiftdraws that grant same bonus).

 

Recons are pretty much obligatory in this kind of raid as there will be a lot of traps on your path, as are medics for same reason (once you have good resist over explosive you won't really want to waste grenades on disabling traps, you'll just mostly run over them).

 

You'll also need one melee to rip through compound doors - they are extremely durable to nade or shoot down.

 

- Strategy:

 

Most often you would start on the side opposite to where defenders are sitting.

 

First thing to check with whether there are any defenders covering approach through compound or sitting in the compound. If any are present, you use angling technique described above to take them down first.

 

Once that's done you need to carefully go through the compound making sure you're not being shot at, approach compound door closest to enemies and then while still staying just outside of their line of fire, grenade them down.

 

Sometimes several last survivors will remain outside of your grenade range. In such cases you may need to return back through compound and finish them off in a classic heads on fashion.

Edited by Quadro40k, 31 October 2014 - 10:11 AM.

[Quadro40k]

II. Pillow Forts

 

Pillow fort defense is the layout where defensive structures, flag and survivors are places within the compound building. 

 

There's a variety of ways to build pillow fort but all of them are essentially the same - some defenders in corners to protect approaches and some possibly placed around the compound to protect those in corners.

 

A lot of players, especially new ones, consider pillow forts very difficult (thus the popularity of build). In reality though, once you grasp the concept of raiding pillow fort they all with very (very) few exceptions become extremely easy.

 

On pictures below you'll see some of the standard builds for pillow forts but despite the differences they are all essentially the same.

 

 

There are two main ways to raid pillow fort - "angle and nade" and "ninja snatch"

 

1. Angle and nade

 

We'll start with watching another video of dumbjock123 performing classic angle and nade attack:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

- Loadout:

 

Pillow forts are quite demanding on grenades and usually would have a lot of traps on your path. So your common team will always include at least one recon, a medic and optionally engineer. Your loadout would probably include at least one harness/swiftdraw for extended grenade supply.

 

- Strategy:

 

The strategy for angle and nade is clearly seen on the video. Main idea here is to angle and take out remote side of pillow fort first. Once this is done you'll need to approach the door near closer side of pillow fort and kill remaining defenders in the corners with grenades.

 

Whole trick here is to stay outside of line of fire of those corner defenders at all times. Due to distance being so small if you step into line of fire you're at immediate risk of getting killed. Lucky for us, grenades have an area effect so you can damage survivors in the corners without ever getting at line of fire.

 

Sometimes you'll have defenders sitting somewhere in the middle so that they are not easily angled from the side you deployed at. It's generally fast to just run around and carry on the attack from the other side than to change it half way.

 

At all times you need to be careful about traps when raiding pillow forts - most often all approaches to doors and flag will be covered with traps that will need to be removed with either grenades or engineer or by triggering them with protected survivor.

 

2. Ninja snatch

 

The concept of ninja snatch is to steal the flag from enemy compound using smoke as a cover without having to kill all defenders (some pillow forts are so poorly designed that you can ninja the flag without killing anyone at all).

 

- Loadout:

 

For ninja snatch you may want to take some extra smoke grenades instead of explosive ones.

 

- Strategy:

 

Ninja snatch raid starts the same way as "angle and nade" - you choose the side to attack and angle remote survivors to clear yourself approach to the door.

 

However once you approached the door, instead of nading remaining defenders you use grenades to clear the path to flag of any barricades and traps on the way.

 

Once the path is clear you create a smoke bridge from the door to the flag and send your survivor to take the flag.

 

The key to this smoke bridge is to first throw smoke grenade to the point further from you, then throw second one closer to you so they form a single smoke path. Please note that most often it won't be a straigt line, more of a kind of zig-zag.

 

Once smoke screen is deployed you need to quickly send your survivor to snatch the flag. Obviously scavengers work best for that though recons do the job just fine as well due to their running speed.

 

Be aware that if smoke wears out while your survivor is still taking the flag, he'll be shot in a second or less, so don't waste your time once smoke is on.

Edited by Quadro40k, 31 October 2014 - 10:12 AM.

[Quadro40k]

III. Parking lot defense

 

Parking lot defense is the layout where defensive structures and survivors are located at or near the parking lot in front of compound. They come in two very distinct forms - crappy ones very easy to crack and proper ones (also known as corner defense) that can be extremely hard.

 

Pictures below outline both types:

 

 

Now, as opposed to previous sections, instead of breaking down various strategies I'll describe both of these layouts in some more details (you'll understand why).

 

 

1. Easy Parking lot

 

- Loadout:

 

Nothing special in terms of loadout, usual stuff really

 

- Strategy:

 

Now, there are several problems with this setup that make it so easy to raid. First and foremost it spreads defenders around so while you kill one, most of others won't even bother shooting at you. Which means you suppress quickly, kill easily, etc. Second, while the layout covers most of bottom spawns it leaves top spawns on the sides completely open, giving attacker a possibility to choose preferred side for an attack. Even worse, it usually allows moving up close by the wall for grenade spam and leaves a lot of space in top area for angling attacks.

 

If you have decent armors and range you can simply spawn by the car at lower right corner. Chances are if you will be in range for enemy, that will be one tower only which you'll kill right away. After that it's just a straightforward shootout, easy and quick.

 

If you want to be more cautios spawn at one of the top locations and angle your way through.

 

Some of these defenses are so easy, that skilled player can do them with single survivor.

 

2. Corner defense

 

If you look carefully at this layout you'll notice that it's essentially one side wonder where instead of wall at the back you have open area fully covered by defenders' fire (and therefore being suicide to spawn at).

 

One big difference from one side wonder though - if corner defense is built right, you can't attack it from within compound building, so you have one less strategy to use.

 

What's more, at higher levels certain players will be able to cover whole frontal area from spawn to spawn using either extra long range guns (e.g. 50% bonus uni 107 with glasses) or towers put forward.

 

In that case attacking corner defense becomes quite difficult as attacker is limited to single strategy with single spawn area which defender knows.

 

- Loadout:

 

On high levels you'll want your best LRs and armors as well as full team to take out good corner defense.

 

- Strategy:

 

Strategy here is not different from attacking one side wonder. You either use angling to carefully take defenders one by one or go heads on, prioritze your targets to fist kill easiest defenders (look for those wearing no armor, especially with LRs and LMGs) by concentrating your fire on them and then going for harder defenders.

 

Remember to keep your attackers slightly spread to avoid getting multiple guys suppressed at the same time, heal as you're being shot at and target tight clusters to suppress two or more defenders at once.

Edited by Quadro40k, 31 October 2014 - 10:08 AM.

[Quadro40k]

IV. Spawn traps

 

Idea of the spawn trap is to catch attackers with overwhelming firepower right where they spawn and kill them (or sufficient number of them) before they can take any action.

 

Spawn traps basically exist in two forms - real ones and fake ones:

 

 

1. Real spawn trap

 

Properly constructed spawn trap is built in such way that no green area is left uncovered so wherever you spawn you immediately get under fire.

 

Spawn traps are mostly used at top levels and defenders would have good selection of high range LRs and LMGs powered by Deadeyes.

 

- Loadout:

 

Armors are absolute must on all survivors for spawn traps, most often attackers without armor don't surive first two seconds. You will also need smoke grenades and it's highly advisable to have your medic equipped with melee to avoid him being killed quickly. For same reason you'll want your smokes on medic as well. And yeah, you'll need medic with you for any decent spawn trap.

 

- Strategy:

 

Standard strategy is to spawn behind high cover (one of the cars at corners of the area). Upon spawning there are two general options - try to heal your survivors faster than they are being killed or deploy smoke as fast as you can.

 

Both options have same goal - survive first few seconds which is the key to beating spawn trap. Deploying smoke is most often less risky and therefore is a recommended way.

 

Once smoke is deployed you need to act fast as there's a lot to do. First of all you heal all of your survivors. Once that's done you need to prioritize your targets - most usually it will be either high damage LR or LMG with Deadeyes - and order all your attackers to shoot at most dangerous enemy.

 

Once that one down you'll need to quickly switch to other enemy while keeping health levels high with your medic.

 

In terms of pure skill this type of attack is probably most demanding as it does require doing lots of things very fast without mistakes.

 

If you manage to kill on side of spawn trap without losing your medic and with at least two shooters, second side should be very easy.

 

Good thing about spawn traps is that they are fast. If you survived one side, you should have more than enough time to take care of another and take the flag without problems.

 

Another good thing is that spawn traps are extremely demanding to defender's weapons and gear. If yours are better it becomes very easy raid.

 

2. Fake spawn trap

 

- Loadout:

 

Loadout is the same as for usual spawn trap unless you know for a fact it's a fake and know on which side to spawn (in which case it becomes fairly easy one side/corner defense and you should have no problems).

 

- Strategy:

 

You either spawn assuming it's a spawn trap or assuming it's a fake. 

 

In both cases if you spawn at full side you act just like you would on a normal spawn trap though your task becomes far more difficult as there's twice as many defenders shooting at you. There's no strategy to make this situation easy, so use your medic, use smoke and pray to raiding god to win it

 

If you spawn on empty side, proceed as normal head's on attack on one side wonder or corner defense. Alternatively you can do angling attack if situation allows. Whatever you choose, it will be one of the strategies you can read above.

Edited by Quadro40k, 31 October 2014 - 10:09 AM.

[Quadro40k]

V. Special thanks

 

Special thanks go to (in no particular order) Bett, vyking, DJfriede, dumbjock123, SOLD, Brother Three and all of Leg1on!

Edited by Quadro40k, 31 October 2014 - 10:09 AM.

[vyking]

awesome!  just awesome, another great post quadro

[mickeyd]

Question: why would you hit multiple people besides just focusing on one, wouldn't focusing on one guy bring them down quicker because you're focusing all of your firepower on one person??
(i'm used to raiding like that. i'm just wondering if shooting at multiple targets makes a difference because if it's effective. )

Edited by mickeyd, 31 October 2014 - 03:19 PM.

[DJfriede]

Question: why would you hit multiple people besides just focusing on one, wouldn't focusing on one guy bring them down quicker because you're focusing all of your firepower on one person??
(i'm used to raiding like that. i'm just wondering if shooting at multiple targets makes a difference because if it's effective. )

 

I'm not sure if you are referring to something particular in this guide. But sometimes you are able to target more than one guy and keep them suppressed at the same time (I'm not talking about adjacent survivors). That way you can reduce the number of people shooting back at you.

 

Other than that, I mostly fire on one guy with all my people, like you said.

 

And Quadro: Awesome post

[NightEagle]

Just wow Quadro, an amazingly detailed post. I got some observations that you might find useful to add, just trying to help.

 

*Part 1*

 

 Melee weapon taken is crafted slicing sword, upgraded to lvl50 but really this is not important, these swords are for my auto-missions, raiding could be done with pretty much any melee.

1) At lvl 50 I almost never take melee on raids (and neither do most players that raid me). The (unique) guns available are powerful enough to shoot down defensive structures or otherwise grenades will do the trick. Not that melee on raids isn't useful, because it's faster, but I feel most raiders prefer an extra gun so defenders are killed faster.

Nevertheless, at lower lvls, melee is required for sure if the flag is surrounded by barricades.

 

3. Walk through compound

...

As in this kind of attack you are less likely to engage in full front shootout but need lots of grenades, the gear of choice here is harness giving you +2 to carry limit (or infamous swiftdraws that grant same bonus).

2) Swiftdraws give +3 instead of +2, so not the same bonus (except for a 0 craft I think). I would recommend everyone to use swiftdraws instead of harnesses. Only the best harnesses can beat a good swiftdraw dps-wise and that extra grenade/smoke can truly make a difference. 

 

3. Walk through compound

...

You'll also need one melee to rip through compound doors - they are extremely durable to nade or shoot down.

3) If you use this tactic, I'd advice using long range melee like crafted longsaws, 'Lucifer's Trident' ... The extra range allows you to safely destroy the doors without getting in the LOF (or LOS) of the defenders. Be careful though, buildings in front or behind doors can make it almost impossible to click on the door to destroy it (with melee).

 

*Part 2*

 

II. Pillow Forts

...

There are two main ways to raid pillow fort - "angle and nade" and "ninja snatch"

4) It's also possible to just angle your way around  :) just don't use heavy weapons on slow survivors (e.g. fighters with M107s/M60s)

 

*Part 3*

 

...

One big difference from one side wonder though - if corner defense is built right, you can't attack it from within compound building, so you have one less strategy to use.

5) Even well-designed corner defenses can be beaten by going through the inside  ;) I won't tell you exactly what I do, just be creative with smokes and grenades.

 

*Extra*

 

6) Balada made a picture with spawn positions of attackers behind certain barricades: http://postimg.org/image/5tp7y4mdr

I always use it when spawning in range since defenders always attack the closest attacker first (if they have all attackers in range) or the attacker that fired first (if the defenders have none of the attackers in range).

 

Question: why would you hit multiple people besides just focusing on one, wouldn't focusing on one guy bring them down quicker because you're focusing all of your firepower on one person??
(i'm used to raiding like that. i'm just wondering if shooting at multiple targets makes a difference because if it's effective. )

7) When using the brute force tactic, I sometimes end up with 3-5 defenders left and only 1-2 minutes left on the timer. Focusing fire on only one defender doesn't go fast enough for me then, since it's always the toughest defenders that are left. So I use the tactic 'Simultaneous suppression'. I firstly focus fire on one defender (that might have 1 or 2 other defenders next to him). They all get suppressed, I keep suppression with one attacker (e.g. equipped with M60+reload gear) and focus fire with remaining 4 attackers on another defender (also with maybe 1 or 2 defenders next to him). Once they're all suppressed I keep 2 attackers to keep those defenders suppressed. I then move to the last defender and I suppress him with the 2 remaining attackers. When all attackers are suppressed, I come closer with one attacker out of one of the two last 'groups' (so at least 1 attacker keeps suppressing every defender) and kill all when they're in effective range.

 

 

Again Quadro, awesome post, these are just some thoughts that came to mind while reading it. Feel free to rephrase anything I said if you'd like to add it.

 

[Quadro40k]

Question: why would you hit multiple people besides just focusing on one, wouldn't focusing on one guy bring them down quicker because you're focusing all of your firepower on one person??
(i'm used to raiding like that. i'm just wondering if shooting at multiple targets makes a difference because if it's effective. )

 

Well, generally you don't, you just focus on one until he's dead and then switch to another.

 

There are some scenarios as pointed by others already when you'll be hitting several targets at once. One of most usual cases of that is when you have two last survivors or two close groups of two. You then will suppress one group and leave one of survivors shooting at them to maintain suppression while rest of your team switches to suppress second group. Once that is done you'd have one of your guys run up close and quickly finish them off.

 

But this is a special case, generally you concentrate fire on single defender.

[Quadro40k]

Just wow Quadro, an amazingly detailed post. I got some observations that you might find useful to add, just trying to help.

 

Thanks NE, I'll put some of this in the text later today or tomorrow.

 

Just a note though - when writing it I had a rule for myself - if I can't (or don't want to) explain in detail on how to do certain things, I won't put them in In the end it's a starter's guide, not advanced tactics manual

[Sky_Fall]

*Gives off a respectful whistle*

 

Could I add this to the UCM post too? I also figure I'll read through with this if I decide to be a raider again. 

[Quadro40k]

Sure

[Sky_Fall]

*Dramatic evil laughter*

 

Mwhahaha... Hahahahhaha! Soon I shall create a race of super raiders! They shall wipe out the banditry of the dead zone through their superior tactical reasoning and their impressive arsenals! Soon they will rise! Soon the Federal Military will take the glory!

 

*More dramatic evil laughter*

[FLoor]

So i have a question.

Of all of these defense layouts, which one would be the best one to use as my defense? I'm level 50 and have a wide variety of uni armor and uni 107s at my disposal, just not a very decent defense.

[Quadro40k]

There's no universal answer to that. One side wonders, corner defense and spawn traps are decent layouts at high levels, each has examples that are very tough to beat.

 

And there are very few examples of unbeatable defenses.

 

Generally good advice is keep adjusting your defense till you yourself can't beat it in practice mode. Then, once you got successfully raided, try to study the report and understand how attacker did it and adjust again.

[FLoor]

Alright, thank you!!!

[kennix18]

very helpful guide!

[mickeyd]

Well, generally you don't, you just focus on one until he's dead and then switch to another.
 
There are some scenarios as pointed by others already when you'll be hitting several targets at once. One of most usual cases of that is when you have two last survivors or two close groups of two. You then will suppress one group and leave one of survivors shooting at them to maintain suppression while rest of your team switches to suppress second group. Once that is done you'd have one of your guys run up close and quickly finish them off.
 
But this is a special case, generally you concentrate fire on single defender.

  

Just wow Quadro, an amazingly detailed post. I got some observations that you might find useful to add, just trying to help.
 
*Part 1*
 

  


7) When using the brute force tactic, I sometimes end up with 3-5 defenders left and only 1-2 minutes left on the timer. Focusing fire on only one defender doesn't go fast enough for me then, since it's always the toughest defenders that are left. So I use the tactic 'Simultaneous suppression'. I firstly focus fire on one defender (that might have 1 or 2 other defenders next to him). They all get suppressed, I keep suppression with one attacker (e.g. equipped with M60+reload gear) and focus fire with remaining 4 attackers on another defender (also with maybe 1 or 2 defenders next to him). Once they're all suppressed I keep 2 attackers to keep those defenders suppressed. I then move to the last defender and I suppress him with the 2 remaining attackers. When all attackers are suppressed, I come closer with one attacker out of one of the two last 'groups' (so at least 1 attacker keeps suppressing every defender) and kill all when they're in effective range.

 
 
Again Quadro, awesome post, these are just some thoughts that came to mind while reading it. Feel free to rephrase anything I said if you'd like to add it.

  

I'm not sure if you are referring to something particular in this guide. But sometimes you are able to target more than one guy and keep them suppressed at the same time (I'm not talking about adjacent survivors). That way you can reduce the number of people shooting back at you.
 
Other than that, I mostly fire on one guy with all my people, like you said.
 
And Quadro: Awesome post

+1
thanks for the advice, I do see a difference.

[Jolietjake]

Very helpful info. How do you know what the defenders are equipped with?