Battlefield 3 Discussion Thread

apparently, B2K is 50% off now in the Origin store, according to this thread at EA UK forums. afaik, it links to the Origin store in Sweden. does anybody in the US can get that discount? it shows up with the old $15 price tag for me.

 

I see BF3 at 30€ and Back to Karkand at 7,49€ from 14,99€.

 

Kinda funny, I found out you can laser designate other soflams.

 

Lol... meanwhile at DICE/EA

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Can someone please summarize the different laser designators? I'm a bit confused.

SOFLAM - I know can target any ground or air vehicles, is there a limited range or just has to be in line of sight? I read somewhere that only one can be active at a time, is this true? And if there's multiple ones, will another automatically activate if the active one is destroyed? How many vehicles can it lase simultaneously?

Tank Laser - Forget what they call it, but third station on tanks with laser designation. Is that only for the guided missile on the tank or can other jav or aircraft with guided missiles see / use it?

Guided missile - Requires laser targeting correct? Guided missile on airplane requires outside laser designation right? SOFLAM or tank laser? What other laser designators are there?

 

Each soflam or citv can only track 1 thing at a time.
Example: 3 soflams will track at least 1 target and at most 3 targets if the player is smart enough not to designate the same target if someone already designate it.

Soflam, I think has a tracking range of 600u but the laser is visible at 400u.

Citv is pretty much a soflam on wheels but isn't visible like the soflam. Range is a tad less than the soflam, barely noticeable.
Citv have also a 1.5x zoom with thermal.

The other one is the laser painter which can be equipped on all helos, shorter range but basically a soflam in the sky and also no visible laser.

Guided missile is pretty much a jav, you just do more damage with laser designate. However, it misses like the pre-buff jav without the laser designate.

Weapons that can take advantage of the laser designate:
Guided Shell, Jav, Guided Missiles

Tanks has guided shell
IFV, jets, and helos has guided missiles

There is a UI bug using a laser painter on helos which bug the crap out of me. (Pilot Hud ammo/ready indicator, both on the hud and right mini-screen doesn't work at all)


Also: All laser designable weapons can lock on mortars, soflams ... maybe the tugs and the spawn beacons (I think I seen it track).

Heatseekers and stingers can track MAVs.

 

Does anyone know how well BF3 runs on a Sager NP8130?
I am hoping at least 40FPS after OCing. All I could find is this.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-560M.48313.0.html

 

Battlefield 3 runs okay with a GTX 560m, so dont worry too much unless you where planning on playing it on Ultra.

 

Nope, just on High with HBAO off.

 

I just wish more people knew exactly how to tag other vehicles, there is no better feeling than taking down a viper with my javelin and get a double kill, this is why I stressed my engineer class the most so I can take care of the vehicles, more SOFLAMS lol I'm stay typing that on every server I'm on, also MAVs! recons need to stop camping in the back of the map, use your MAVs to spot out the enemies, I just unlocked mine and I've been getting surveillance ribbons left and right by just spotting enemies from the MAV that way my team knows exactly where the enemy is at

 

i just unlocked SOFLAM but don't know how to use it, seriously (and i hate those damn Vipers with all my heart). any tips?

 

Put it somewhere and hopefully someone will use the no warning, insta-kill against air vehicles Javelin.

 

Thanks Falco +1!

So regarding SOFLAM, you have to manually designate targets or it will auto designate? I haven't unlocked yet, but I may play recon some more so I can start using the MAV and the SOFLAM just to be a team player. Probably carry a shotgun over a sniper rifle though because I'm no good, nor do I have the patience to wait out a target, lol.

It seems the SOFLAM has a really long range though. On Sharqi, I see SOFLAMS going up by the hotel frequently and still targets me in chopper or tank way over at the chopper platform, and get nailed by javelins. I believe it's somthing like 500u+ distance, so Javelin is definitely seeing the laser.

Also there is a bug still with no tone from a laser designation from a guided missile. Is this by design? I thought you'd at least know when you're being painted. But many times no tone, no nothing, just one shot dead.

 

I still have not been able to get an MAV kill.

And with regards to the SOFLAM, I read somewhere that if you manually laser target, you'll get the +10 spot bonus and another +10 (or 20, I forget) for the kill if someone uses your spot. But if you just leave it on a hill, it'll automatically spot things but you just won't get the spot bonus.

I haven't been able to test this since there are usually already a few SOFLAMS up on the vehicle maps I play, but I'd be interested if someone could confirm/deny this.

 

Soflam can automatically designate on its own, which is what you see , it would designate on its own even when you are no longer viewing through it.

You can only get designate points if you are manually viewing though or you get none at all.

The no tone death, you get getting is either killed by a TV missile, stray stingers or heatseeker caused by someone flaring or ecm causing them to reaquire nearby target which is happen to be you (really bad luck, you're at the wrong place at the wrong time) or already in flight laser designated launch to you but the soflam switched to a new target.

There is really no launch tone for laser designated missile, the launch tone only occurs if they were launched near you. I think it is about the range of the proxy sensor for the helo.
But it was fired far away, you get no launch tone. (Not really confirmed this, but I noticed this trend.)

At least, you can tell someone launched to you by looking for thick white smoke trails. (Easier with Effects set to Ultra as the smoke trails are much thicker)

To increase the range of 3D spotting, Mesh to Ultra.

It is also possible to shoot yourself with own heatseekers or heatseeker flight to target if it accidentally fly into your own chaff.

Seriously, you have a huge advantage with 3+ monitors on both the ground and in the air.

 

But when you are being lased by SOFLAM you get a tone. I take it TV missile is manually guided then? Because I've received no tone deaths from a chopper with only a pilot no co-pilot. He claimed he had TV missiles, but unless he switched seats with the chopper falling like a brick, there's no way possible.

 

Yes, the TV missile is manually controlled by the gunner.

Air vehicle would slowly and safely glide down when there is no pilot mid-air....
I managed to survive a 800au drop crash with no damage to me or the helo. I think it took like 35 secs to hit the ground.

Oh, another tip for TV missile. You don't need to correct the flight pattern much. The pilot has to aim his crosshair on the target which is a basically a straight shot for the gunner.



There are three defensive tones, a tracking tone, lock tone , and a launch tone.

Soflam only does tracking and lock tone to you.

Oh I forgot, another trick with soflam is not to lase the target directly but around them. Make it alot harder to find. (This does not apply to console version cause they got a much easier method to find them).

Another trick is you can delay the tracking lock by flying near to other vehicles which cause them to switch targets around.
You can pretty much make it prevent lock indefinitely with a darn good vehicle team.

 

Whenever I've switched to gunner seat the chopper instantly nose dives and drops like a rock even if I start in a hover.

I've become pretty decent at evading SOFLAM, and in tanks, smoke is invaluable. I can usually hide in the smoke and still deal some extensive damage, and if you stay put Javelins miss, and by the time smoke clears you're recharged for another.

I also wish as pilot and gunner there would be a visual cue for both flares, because as gunner I can't hear when pilot flares, and don't want to waste mine too, we should alternate. Just a couple lights on the instrument panel for indicator would be great. But we'll probably never get that.

 

Ah, you need to slow down into hover mode and level first before switching. Or you end up with too much momentum flying downward to ground.


I try my best to use voice via mumble or look backwards to prep for launch.
I would love a visual cue too. Also, a way to move the minimap, adjust the size of the minimap, and a variable range of scope for the minimap.


It be nice if you could get on once awhile, just warn us or remind us for kids which I'm assuming was the reason not to join most of the time.

 

That's what I said I did. I hover, switch, but it goes nose down right away and drops like a brick. Tried it numerous times but it ends up just going nose down right away.

 

Strange ...

Anyways I ran a quick test just recently. I'm able to glide down like a feather and use my tv missile on stationary targets. Still doable with a ridiculously bad network jitter.

How are you switching seats, switch weapon and fire?

The standard hotkeys are good enough.

I believe using a macro would be significantly faster to execute.

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About using MAVs ... you can't really do 3d spotting very well if the enemy are within range of the motion sensor.
And don't fly too high or you are unable to spot via 3d (Part of the MAV nerf).

On some map, there are some areas that ridiculously easy to use 3d spotting despite alot of building or cover in that area.
And some areas that are oddly difficult even in the wide open and clear.

The ribbon for it are ridiculously easy to get. I remember getting 3 medals in a single 15 min TDM match.

 

I'm useless when it comes to flying unless I'm the gunner on a viper, there is nothing more that pisses me off than getting killed by a heli and having no recons on my team that know how to laser designate targets

 

I'm a decent pilot, but I feel like there's always a billion ways to take down even a good pilot, and very few ways for pilots to manage them. Not nearly to the extent of BF:BC2 with its magical RPG/CG tracer darts coming at you from all classes, but still; it's hard to not feel like it's a little stacked in favor of anti-air.

 

I know what you mean, but I've also seen the opposite end of that. Pilots who are very good and anti-air is powerless to do anything to stop them until the whole team practically gets pissed off and starts firing multiple stingers at them.

So I'd say air vehicles and anti-air is pretty balanced, it just depends on how good your team is at maintaining that balance.

 

I kinda miss the old flak AA in Battlefield 1942. I liked the sound it made, the black clouds, didn't have to wait for a lock on (and no such thing as flares ) and when you were a pilot and your plane was getting torn to bits and you noticed all these black clouds you were like "Holy ^$@$! FLAK!".

Having to wait for a lock, fire a missile, "oh wait, flares, reload", repeat repeat, the whole experience turns me off a bit.

 

I would like do this sometime.

Co-op Glitch Mission! | Battlefield 3 - YouTube
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I'm not even a decent pilot, but at least, I'm getting better at dodging heatseekers and stingers without using flares.

 

Just want dumb bombs on planes again. No more of these rockets, laser guided missiles, just let me do a normal trajectory dumb bomb drop.

 

so I noticed last night on a server for the first time I actually felt that "I'm playing online with other people" feeling when at the beginning of the round this guy stated on the chat "ron paul 2012" and that proceeded to a mess of people saying all sorts of random things, sometimes you forget its a game and people take it too serious, I know i'm one of those people but I'm now trying to be more of a team player and let's play some video games kinda guy

 

Play with Falco152 in mumble, and he'll make the blandest kills look fun.

 

I just got done with a couple rounds of kharg and does it take more than two heat seekers now to down a plane? Multiple times I'd hit them twice in my little bird with two heat seekers but it'd just say "vehicle disabled" then I couldn't get a tone any more, their plane would just float over our base, so they'd die if they bailed. A couple times I gunned the plane to destroy it, and no kill, no person bailing, what gives?

Also, I nailed a viper and a plane dead nuts with a tank shell and it only disabled it? Really? If a tank shell nailed a plane, especially one 20 feet off the ground, it would be dead, gone, demolished. Chopper maybe have a chance, but it seems any time I get nailed by a tank shell my chopper explodes right away.

 

I love it when attack helicopters try to take my tank out or even jets and I end up catching them with a tank shell

I wish I could fly to be honest lol

 

Although we had a pretty decent setup at one point. I told the friendly jet pilot to get the enemy jet on his tail and head towards me in the chopper. I'd get a tone as they're zooming in to me and by the time I shoot he has no time to flare and BAM! Pretty effective for a couple times. Although only got a "vehicle disabled" and nothing more.

 

Must be pretty unlucky to get 2 hit vehicle disable. You must of have some serious lagging issue with the server.

I kinda wish battlelog shows the server performance with os like it did in 1942 and bf2.
They were a good indicator to determine if the server can handle the load and isn't on a shared box, where having a good ping to server isn't enough for a decent battlefield match.

 

It happens all the time. I get two hits and disable, no vehicle destroyed and/or enemy killed. Server ping is great, my ping is usually < 50, jitter is nothing (according to speedtest). In general my hit detection is awful. Prior to this earlier today I actually had great hit detection. I'd shoot people and they'd die. The way it should be, but it was short lived. I've toyed with the latency bar or whatever you call it with no success.

 

Hmm, when you were flying as a pilot in a jet or helo, did you hear a loud thump like turbulence or a sudden and short jerking once in awhile?

If yes, it could be the server at fault then or the path between you and the server has alot of jitter.


For me, my hit detection is pretty decent to me, just a few lucky 0% even though most server I join are < 100 ms.

Even on servers are 200 ms isn't so bad.

 

I have 99% horrible hit detection and just learned to live with it, but occasionally like earlier today, I shoot at people, they die the way they should, and I was racking up kills. It was short lived though because after a couple games of actually getting kills, it went back to the way it was. No short jerking or turbulence ever. Smooth. I don't get it. What's even worse is I get the jump on someone from behind yet they're still able to have the time to turn around, despite even suppression effect and being "stunned" by being shot, they still manage to kill me and walk off with 50-60% health. And just got off a game where I would shoot at someone and I would get a suicide. Not sure if that was a hack, glitch or what, but many times I shot someone from a distance and killed them, I got a suicide too. I bailed that server quickly.

 

Holy crap, I just tried out the "user.cfg" tweak that's been floating around the net. Instant gain of 5-10 fps and that's after I set textures and shadows to medium and cranked post-processing up to high. Everything else still on low. I am now rarely below 40 fps on my 5730, with better visual quality than I had before.

 

Can you explain how to do this tweak? Also, if someone is running in place, does that usually mean that your computer is lagging or that their computers lagging?

 

The best thing to do is just create a user.cfg file (using notepad) in the main battlefield 3 directory, and put this command in there:

WorldRender.DxDeferredCsPathEnable 0

Instant improvement. Shadows, mesh, hbao, bloom will all slow down performance though, so suggest starting those on low and bump them up one at a time until you're satisfied with framerate to detail levels. I end up playing all on low on my laptop and it looks fine. Can play 1080p now at 35+ fps with my 6750m.

 

Yes, that's the tweak I used. The difference was absolutely night and day, with absolutely zero loss of visual quality. This game still looks excellent on low settings, mind you.

Running in place usually means server/connection lag. I'm not aware of any way to check your own ping in-game, but if it's only one person doing it, it's probably them.

 

Press and hold Ctrl-Shift-S in game and it will give you your ping to server. You have to hold it for a few seconds for it to settle because I think it does a live ping while you hold it.

edit: Ctrl-Alt-S not Ctrl-Shift-S

 

Oh nice! Didn't know that
+1 rep

 

DICE is asking for feedback to improve Battlefield 3. please post your ideas and suggestions here.

PS. this is what i asked:
-- add in-squad VoIP with the ability to mute players
-- better hit detection
-- change the UI to something like this: Ideal customization/squad menu (photoshop mock-up)
-- use the newer version of FXAA or SMAA
-- reduce the lens flare for infantry; it's (sort of) understandable for jets and helis due to both the goggles and the windshield.
-- remove (or reduce) the blue tint
-- remove the artificial limit on the number of favorite servers in Battlelog (currently set to 16)
-- add split-screen co-op mode

 

Sorry, it's Ctrl-Alt-S to get ping...

 

Might as well post it here since it's a battlefield thread. How do you play online on Battlefield bad company 2? There's no match showing in the multiplayer mode.

 

Just checked - at this moment, there are about 80 servers that have players playing in the North American region.

You have to click on "Search" first to populate the servers.

Make sure you have the latest patch installed; check your server filter lists as well.

Pro tip: go ahead and update your PB as well.

 

played it and I can't kill a single thing. I don't really play fps a lot but I was really enjoying the online even though I die a lot.

Any tips?

 

Learn to get used to bullet spread, travel time, and gravity. Unlike most other shooters, your bullets are not always 100% accurate to where your sights are aiming. They also do not instantly travel in a straight line from your gun to the target the moment you fire (hitscan); they are actual projectiles with velocity and downward acceleration due to gravity over distance. This is most obvious at longer ranges, where you might actually have to aim slightly above your target to hit them.

Control your bursts, experiment with aiming to compensate for bullet physics, and you'll get the hang of killing people soon enough.

 

Play more, seriously.

Burst fire. Burst fire. Burst fire. Spray and pray doesn't work.

Don't be afraid to hide a bit, and shoot from behind cover if you can.

Stay with a group, you're less likely to get shot.

But most of all, have fun. You don't need a high k/d ratio to help your team or get top of the scoreboard. Heck a lot of times I'll have 1:2 k/d but first place, only because I cap and defend points, repair tanks, throw ammo and med kits, and many times act as a decoy when I see a bunch of guys running one direction to cap a flag, I run the other guns blazing, and funnily enough it draws the enemy's attention long enough to make a difference.

 

Take a chance to join squads and join the local server voip (usually teamspeak or mumble).

Your presence in there helps the team a whole lot in either coordination or reduce their stress.

Or coordinate with your friends which make the game fun even you just blow yourself up repeatedly at the expense of your friends and your team.

Don't listen to the whines, use what equipment and attachments that works out the best for you.
Avoid being a sniper at start so you can learn the map and their little quirks.

By jolly, learn to spot the enemies first via the "Q" button before blasting away.
Even in hardcore mode, they show as 2d spots but you still get the extra points anyways.

Examples:
Before learning how to fly a attack helo is starting is learning how to be a decent gunner first.

If you're just started playing ... learning how to fly a jet is already a lost cause by now.