My Tournament Guide(lol) and Other Tips
A classic for me. I won WC with this entry, so it is BFBB friendly. Enjoy:
From CLAW via guest9:
MJK's Tournament Guide. This is what I went off of back in the day on the site.
From perf-9:
Tribal's Guide to 2-Hour Tournaments
Hello, I am known as The Tribal Hunter on the fields, and in this article I plan on giving you the most commonly used(and most effective) way to play a tournament. There are many things to remember when playing a tournament, and I plan on addressing every aspect of the morals involved in playing, the customary and effective to play, and I'll even throw in a few secrets to winning the Gold for you.
INDEX
I. Getting Started
II. How do I begin?
III. Gaining Promotion Points
IV. Stressing Over Kills
V. You Win
VI. Morals
I. Getting Started
First off, make sure the tank you plan on playing the tournament with has existed for 3 or more days. If not, your tank will be ineligible to compete. It is vital to enter a tournament exactly on time. The first few minutes are some of the most important in the whole tournament. In other words, become the Tournament Calendar's best friend, and make sure you know how to convert those times. Are you ready to win? Well, here we go. On to the real stuff.
Also, you can never forget to be physically prepared! Make sure you have gone to the bathroom, and maybe have some water or a drink of your preference. It's gonna be a long couple of hours. Most importantly, be 100% sure that you are going to be able to play the full tournament. I have played many tournaments where I am winning and have to leave about an hour into the tournament.
II. How do I begin?
Make sure you are waiting for the top of the hour when preparing for tournament. You MUST get in exactly on time. As soon as you get in, turn off your Armors, your Homers, and your Missiles.**TIP**ONLY TURN ON YOUR HOMINGS WHEN GOING FOR THE KILL. OTHERWISE KEEP HOMINGS AND MISSILES OFF FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE TOURNY. Turn Auto-scroll off as well. You will be filling before you start ranking up. It's for the best and you'll catch up, I promise. If you are playing a water map tourny, look for a ferry to fill on for a couple minutes, but dont waste too much time.
Now, a recruit's radar extends two spaces in every direction. The most efficient way to radar is to radar the center of the screen, and then proceed to radar along the edge of the screen making sure you stay 2 spaces from the edges. **TIP**TRY RADARING IN SCREENS WHERE THERE ARE NO YELLOW DOTS(FUEL). THIS SHOWS WHERE NO ONE ELSE HAS RADARED YET. An average fill time is around 13-15 minutes, don't stress out if you go a little over though because you still have a chance. The faster the fill the faster you'll be able to start ranking.
**TIP**USE EXTRA RADARS CAREFULLY. THEY ARE THE RAREST EQUIPMENT. FINDING EXTRA RADARS EARLY ON SPEED UP YOUR FILL TIME DRAMATICALLY. Once you are completely full you should have 60 60 60 60 60 as recruit.
III. Gaining Promotion Points
As soon as you finish filling find the nearest computer corporal(Red-1, Orange-1, etc). Fight and kill this computer. Find the next closest corporal or higher rank, and begin fighting. Computers are always preferable at the pre lieutenant stages because they always fight back.
**TIP**RADAR SCREENS AS YOU GO AND PICK UP EQUIPMENT. THIS SAVES TIME SO THAT YOU DONT HAVE TO REFILL YOUR DUALS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE TOURNY. The beginner way to refill is to fight until you run out of duals, and then refill. You should start with the beginner method and work into the constant-fill method. Be sure never to fall under 30 Extra Radars until the last 20 minutes. If you do, then immediately stop fighting and refill everything, but only fill your radars to about 40-50. Equipment management is a vital part of cupping.
Once you reach seargant, kill a corporal and continue fighting to lieutenant. Make sure you're always fighting, and don't waste time looking for a target on the map. Avoid driving across the screen unless picking up equipment. The key to getting a Top 5 Promotion Points Per Hour(PPH) rests in your constant fighting. **TIP** MAKE SURE YOU STAY OUT OF MOBS. ALWAYS FIGHT 1V1 FOR FASTER POINTS.
IV. Stressing Over Kills
Upon reaching lieutenant, kills become a factor. Many players slow down their fighting to hunt for the appropriate kills and this costs them the tournament.
Being a good tournament player means being able to get your kills while maintaining a good PPH. Your seargant kill should be the easiest. Find the players that don't fill at the beginning and get
an easy kill. Once you reach captain, look for any remaining players
that are easily killed and fight them, otherwise keep up your PPH at
all costs. You should have the points for, or be Major by about 1:20
into the tournament. The latest if you plan on making Colonel would be 1:30. If worst comes to worst and you have your points and no kill by 1:30, you may be forced to jump into some mobs.
If this happens, be sure to stay on the dge of the mob, keeping most players except for the one you are trying to kill off the screen. Sniping a kill is all chance. Getting a Captain+ kill is usually extremely hard. Sometimes you will win a cup simply by having the best PPH out of all the other Majors. It depends on how many people get Colonel. Captains are usually killed in mobs. **TIP**IF YOU SEE A CAPTAIN GET KILLED ON THE SCROLL BAR ON YOUR RIGHT, FIND HIM AND SEE IF YOU CAN KILL HIM. HE IS MOST LIKELY OUT OF SHIELDS AND WILL BE AN EASY KILL.
Also, many captains die within the last 10 minutes. **FINAL TIP**TURN ON ALL OF YOUR EQUIPMENT IN THE LAST FIVE MINUTES OF THE TOURNAMENT. YOU WANT TO USE IT ALL BY THE END. FINISHING WITH MORE OR LESS IS BAD EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT.
V. You Win
If you follow the tips I have provided, you should have maintained a
beautiful PPH and, with a little luck, gotten all of your kills. There will always be players that can execute this strategy better than you can at first, don't be disappointed with a few losses. You've gotta keep trying, and be persistent. You will get your cup with enough practice.
VI. Morals
Winning a cup fairly is a phenomenal feeling. Every time I win one I get the same feeling. It never gets old, and it is amazing. Taking rank kills, equipment kills, and using Speed Hack is not the way to go. Doing this will earn you a bad reputation among the Battlefield community, and you will be frowned upon. Who wants to be remembered as a cheater? Also, fighting on the water for points for an extended amount of time is very cheap as well. If you're going to use my strategy, then please play fair.
I have come across and helped many new players win, but when I first speak to them they seem to think that "everyone cheats in tournaments." This is not true. Do not buy into this to justify your own cheating, simply play fair.
Well, thanks for reading my Tournament Guide for 2-Hours. Good Luck!
From CLAW via guest9:
Went something like this, assuming you already know the basics of a tourney, here's some more advanced 'techniques';
The Fill
- When filling, break the screen up into sections, since each recruits radar, only radars 4 by 4, and the screen is 16 by 16... I like radaring the whole screen... though if I don't find anything within the first several spaces, I go to a different screen.
- Equipment is usually in bundles, so if you get a few in a screen, keep looking around that area.
- ER's are everything. If you get some, make sure you have at least 1 equip to 60 before you use them. This will give you a better chance at finding more ER's. If you get some early on, just use them, it will help you fill up.
- Radar in places where people haven't been. You kind of have to watch where the mob has been, and where people have looked for equip. If you get ER's, and you try radaring a place where there isn't no fuel, and you still don't find anything, try a place where there is fuel... a lot of times people don't do a thorough job.
- I like to constantly look at the top ten during the beginning for 2 reasons; One is to see which people didn't fill, usually BFBB nubs, and those will make great serg kills. I also like to compare my fill to other people. Usually people with godly fills end up being first in points, I look for this just out of curiousity .
- Fill up every 15 minutes. Doesn't matter what rank you are, fill up. If you make serg by 15 minutes, then you are doing good. This is perfect. Fill up and start PPH'ing.
PPH'ing and The Kill
- When you are a recruit, shoot anything private and above. The higher rank the better. If you find a solid PPH'er, good, PPH with this person. People like Phil, Sean, PP, Nas and etc... are all good. Depending on what cup you want should tell you who to PPH with. If you are going for gold, then PPH with people behind you in #. If you PPH with people ahead of you they will enforce their lead, and the only way to beat them is to make a higher rank then them. This is lame though, and you won't get props. If you are going for a certain cup, lets say silver, find the #1 guy, and PPH with him.
- Don't look for a serg kill too early, unless you've noticed that there aren't man. PPH with your serg til 30 minute mark, then make lui, and PPH with your lui til about 42 minute mark. This is when you have to find a kill.
Look for a site player, that doesn't have equip. The problem with this is that you probably won't get the kill, people will jump him too once they see you are going after him. That is why I leave 3 minutes before the equip spawns to look for a kill, just in case your kill gets snaked. If you find one, and your cappy any time within the 43-47 minute mark, this is ideal. Fill your cappy up, and get ready to PPH (PPH = Shoot highest rank you see, and grab all equip you see).
- Once you have enough points on your cappy to make major (12k if I remember correctly LOL), then you need to find a kill. There may be a few nub kills, so go and chase them, your best bet is to kill a site player with out equip in like a 3 vs 1. Also look to the mob. IMO This is the only time you should go into the mob, to get your lui kill. Shoot the person everyone is shooting, and hopefully you get the kill. Also, every once in a while you may get depoe'd to, whether if it's because Sylar saw someone cheat (lol), or if a bfbb nub is feeling generous. You will most likely get blamed for an FK though (as I have learned), so kill the guy with that in mind. If you make major you will most likely cup. If you cup at rank cappy, then props to you, you have somewhat 'decent' PPH! lol.
Reading the tourney
- If there is only like 1 cappy by the 45 minute mark, then I can tell you there most likely won't be any , or many majors. This means that you can PPH at lui, and look for a serg kill as you would a lui. =P
Anyways, this is my small tourney bible. I kind of got into the basics, but w/e. If you are new to tournies then this should help you substantially. You won't cup your first tourney, it takes practice. Keep that in mind.
MJK's Tournament Guide. This is what I went off of back in the day on the site.
MJK's Tournament Bible
Before I begin discussing how to win tournaments, I must point out that cheating is NEVER the way to go. Winning a cup by cheating is nothing, compared to the feeling that you get when you win one fairly. I have won over 50 cups fairly, and I still get an awesome feeling when I win a new one.
There are going to be 3 sections in this 'bible', so to speak. Section number 1 will provide some computer preparations that will help you avoid lag during the tournament, section number 2 will provide some information that you must remember before starting any tournament, whether it is a 1-hour or 2-hour tournament, section number 3 will explain how to win 1-hour tournaments, section number 4 will explain how to win 2-hour tournaments, and section number 5 will explain how to beat the very common speed hackers of today.
Avoid Lag!!!:-
Remember that BF is a game largely based on time. By pressing F6, while playing BF, you are given a number which is classified as your ping. Before you play the game, or a tournament, try to get this number as low as you can. People with cable internet and/or DSL will usually ping lower than dialup users. When an individual wins a gold cup in a tournament, he/she has either the best PPH (Points Per Hour) and/or the best rank in the tournament. Your objective should always be to get a higher rank than anyone else in the tournament, in the time given.
MSCONFIG:
Before you play a tournament, make sure you know what 'msconfig' is. 'Msconfig' is a program that allows you to enable and disable certain programs to start up with your computer, when you restart. The less programs that you have start up, the faster you will go in the game. Follow these instructions:
1. Click 'Start' on your System Tray
2. Click 'Run'
3. Type in msconfig
4. Hit 'OK'
5. Click on the 'Startup' tab
6. Now you should see a bunch of items with checkboxes beside them. Technically, the only things that you NEED checked are Systray and Explorer (Explorer might not be visible on some operating systems). Experiment with msconfig until you are happy (this might take some time).
GRAPHICS:
Remember that BF is a game, largely based on graphics. The better your graphics card is, the faster you will go. AND the less sophisticated graphics that you have on your screen, the better things will flow. I have Windows XP and, as many XP users know, the graphics are very blue and large etc. This MAY slow you down. To change your graphics settings, follow these instructions:
1. Right click on 'My Computer'
2. Click on 'Properties'
3. Click on the 'Advanced' tab
4. Under 'Performance', click on 'Settings'
5. Under the 'Visual Effects' tab, make sure that you have the 'Adjust for best performance' option checked.
OTHER:
Make sure that you do any other things that may help you ping better in the game. REMEMBER, high speed in a tournament is very important. This is why speed hackers usually win every tournament, unless skill comes in and beats out the speed factor (which is something that I do quite often, hehehe). REMEMBER TO RESTART YOUR COMPUTER, BEFORE EVERY TOURNAMENT.
Things to Remember:-
Discluding the fact about speed in a tournament, there are a few other things that you have to remember:
1. Remember the exact time that the tournament starts. Make sure that your clock is set at the exact time. Bonus.com's time is exactly aligned with the 'time.windows.com' server. Meaning, for example, if bonus.com says that a tournament will start at 9:00, my time, the tournament will start at the exact time that the clock on my computer strikes 9:00.
2. Remember to turn off your armors by pressing '1' once you enter the tournament.
3. Play off of a DTT (DeskTop Tank). This will help you, especially if you are using dialup.
4. Make sure that you are comfortable. You will be sitting in front of the computer for a full hour or two. Set up some water or something like that and make sure that your parents know not to bug you for the following time period. If you are serious about winning a cup, you have to be serious about the tournament and your environment. You can't leave the computer unless something more important is going down, around you.
5. Try not to die. This will cost you a lot of time.
6. Do not overuse your armors. The more equipments you use, the longer your equipment runs will be.
1-Hour Tournaments:-
When you enter a 1-hour tournament, make sure that you know what the highest rank, possible to achieve, is. What is it? Major, of course. If you get major, in a 1-hour tournament, you are almost gauranteed a cup. Remember, you have only 1 hour to do this. Start the tournament off with getting equipment. Only a fool would ask why. Just in case you are a fool, I will explain why. As a recruit, you only need 60 of every equipment. Remember that your ability to pick up as many equipments in the shortest amount of time is very important. Time is important. You are running out of time. Don't take long to pick up equipment. You need to fight! You need points! Some fags argue that seargants have larger radars than recruits and that is why it is better to pick up equipment as a seargant. Now, you can listen to the faggots or MJK (who owns every tournament that he sets foot in). Choose MJK's strategy and realize that seargants need 84 of everything (or something like that) to fill up. Any experienced player has tried both out. I used to run around as a seargant, until I tried things the other way and actually made the top 25. As crazy as it sounds, yes, there is an art to picking up equipment. Mastering it, will win you lots of tournaments. Here are some things about equipment that you MUST know:
1. It should take you anywhere from 5 minutes-15 minutes to fill up on equipment, in a 1-hour tournament. If it takes more, you will most likely not win, unless you are a miracle worker like MJK. Mind you, 5 minute-7 minute equipment runs are VERY, VERY rare. I have only had 1, 5 minute equipment run in my whole BF career. I average 10 minute equipment runs, nowadays.
2. Extra radars are the most important equipment (why do you think they are so rare?)! You will figure this out yourself, in time.
3. Pick up equipment by finding a place that NO ONE has been to. Don't take much time to do this. Click your map and go to the first decent sized spot that has no yellow dots on it. Once you get there, radar the middle of the screen then do a circular movement across the outer side of your screen... Make sure that you radar all four corners and all four edges of the screen. Once you come across a place with no equipment, teleport to another place where no one has been.
4. When you find extra radars, use them very carefully. Make sure that they find you LOTS of equipment. That is their main purpose. Let those extra radars do their job. Go to a special place and use them or you will kick yourself for the rest of the tournament.
5. I am sure that almost everyone has had their a few of their equipments jacked by some bastard. This is actually a good strategy. If you see someone with extra radars, and you are feeling like an asshole, go jack some of their equipments. It's actually pretty fun. I have jacked many equipments in my day. But, when you do it, make sure you don't do it to MJK or any other players that are almost as good as him or I will hack your tank or something. Do it to the n00bs that probably don't even know what the fuck extra radars are.
6. Fill up whenever you run out of armors or duels. At least once, in a tournament, you will run low on extra radars. If your count on extra radars sets into the high 30s, make sure you fill up and get the count back into the low 60s.
7. When you fill up as a recruit, in the beginning of the tournament, make sure that you have 60 of everything, except for extra radars. Fill up your extra radars into the low 50s. After you fill up, FIGHT! Fight very hard. Shoot the highest ranks that you can see when you click on your map. Gain rank fast. Don't worry about killing anyone until you make seargant. When you make seargant... You should have about 18 duels left. Use the rest of these duels to kill a corporal (go after a computer corporal because you WILL kill it, unless someone jacks the kill). If you can, jack someone elses kill. By now, you SHOULD be in or near the top 10. Go fill up. Do it wisely and quickly. People will be making lieutenant by now. Don't worry about everyone elses rank. Don't get nervous. Once you fill up, go fight. Shoot the highest ranks that you see. Preferably seargants. If you see big group fights, teleport to the outer edges of the fight and shoot bystanders. You will outshoot them 10-1 if you are lucky. Most likely, you will even get a kill. Focus on one thing now... getting 6000 points for lieutenant. Remember to constantly press 'c' and 't' on your keyboard to know where you stand and how much points you have. Once you make lieutenant, you should still have quite a bit of equipment. Use it to kill a seargant. Don't go after a skilled seargant. You will only be wasting your time and duels if you go after someone like MJK. You might even get killed. When you kill a seargant, use the rest of your duels on fighting. When you run out of duels, fill up on equipment. Remember, don't take too long. Your equipment runs, now, should only take around 5-8 minutes (because you have a lot of extra radars). Fill up on everything and make sure that you have around 50-60 extra radars. Then go fight. If you aren't a captain yet, fight until you become one. If you are a captain, go and kill a lieutenant. Once again, remember not to go after a skilled lieutenant, unless he/she is being ganged up on by like 5+ people. When you kill one, use your duels to gain points.. Remember, you are running out of time.. You should have around 15-10 minutes left in the tournament. AND, you should be in the top 5 by now (MJK is usually first). Make sure you are on your way to major. It takes a lieutenant kill and 12,000 points to make major. This means only one thing (if you already killed a liuetenant)... FIGHT! FIGHT YOUR BALLS OFF! Don't you slow down, or I will ram a steel pipe up your ass. You should need an equipment run anytime soon. When you run out of duels, fill up... and be VERY quick about it. If you don't have much time left, don't fill up completely. Fill up just enough so that you will be able to use the rest of your duels, in the remainder of time that there is left. I don't want you ending the tournament with 50 duels because you know what that means? That means you wasted a lot of time, gathering 50 duels too much. Now fight, you should be in the top 3 if you are confident that you will make major. If you don't make major, so what? You still got a cup. Be happy and try again, next time.
2-Hour Tournaments:-
These tournament are pretty straight-forward. The highest rank possible is general. I, MJK, have done it twice. A few other great players, such as myself, have done it. Only about 4 or 5 other players, to be precise. Don't focus on general just yet, lol. Focus on colonel. If you don't make colonel in a 2-hour tournament, you will most likely not win a cup. The hardest part about making colonel, in a 2-hour tournament is getting a captain kill. Most captains quit low or are loaded on equipment. This section will be different. Remember all of the things I said in the previous section up until I say "If you don't have much time left, don't fill up completely...." Instead of doing that, fill up completely. Get 108 of everything and about 80 extra radars. You should have been playing the tournament for about 1 hour by now. Make sure that you are a major, for sure, within 1 hour and 10 minutes. If you aren't, don't worry, you probably have the points just not the kill. If you don't have the points, I suggest you quit the tournament because you will not win. You are over 12,000 points behind the guy in first place. Now, back on subject. MJK owns you. But yeah, you are now a major with full equipment. What do you do? Fight! Go and kill a captain. This takes some time and patience. Pick a n00b captain and say, "meet me" a lot. Some people will show up and help. Get the captain dark and people will show up. There is not much fuel around now, so he/she will lose armors faster than usual. In doing this, watch yourself too. Make sure that you don't run too low on fuel or else YOU will be ganged up on. Have an armor battle with him/her. An armor battle is something where both of you are low as hell, and are only using your armors and duels. If your armors run into the low 40s, teleport away and fill up. Then immediately chase after the captain again. If you are lucky, the captain will still be low as hell, cruising around the field. Plant mines right beside him/her. He/she will crash into them and that will fuck him/her up. Be careful now, because the captain is DEFINITELY very low on armors. If people show up, they might jack the kill from you. Jump in their way if you can. Don't lose this kill that you worked so hard for. Keep up the good work until you kill the captain. If the captain q's on you or if he/she gets killed by some other guy. Fill up on equipment (if you are low on duels) and do this over again. Don't give up, until you finally kill one. If you can, jack a captain kill from someone else. That will save you lots of time. But remember, DON'T look around for people that are low on fuel. You waste a lot of precious time doing this. There are 100 people on the field, for crying out loud. When you finally kill a captain, you are set. Make sure that you fight and make colonel, unless you already are a colonel. When you make colonel, you should be quite low on equipment. Go and fill up. This will be your last or your second last equipment run, depending on how quickly you made colonel. If you make colonel within 1 hour and 20 minutes in the tournament.. You will most likely get the gold cup and maybe make general. I once made colonel in 1 hour and 4 minutes, in a tournament. I was a colonel, and everyone else was a captain. On average, people make colonel in 1 hour and 30 minutes- 1 hour and 40 minutes. When you make colonel, don't stop fighting. Jack captain kills from other majors who are in the top 3 with you and lead raids on them. If you are in 2nd or 3rd place, attack the colonels that are in front of you. Make sure that you outshoot them and they dont outshoot you. Annoy them, fuck up their tournaments. Kill them if you can and make general. If you are 1st place and the guy in 2nd isnt far off.. Attack him/her. Don't let him/her pass you. Make the guy in 2nd sweat. Your goal is to get the gold cup. If you set your goals on that cup, you will most likely win one cup, whether it is gold, silver or bronze. Keep it up, and don't stop until the tournament ends. When there is 1 minute left, turn on your armors.. Teleport to a person that has a high rank and shoot him/her with your duels until the tournament ends. Make sure that you do not die and lose your rank.
Beating the Speed-Hackers:-
There really isn't much you can do about speed hackers. The best idea is to quit on them when they are going to attack you, then enter the game immediately and teleport away. If a speed hacker is in front of you in ranks. Snipe him/her. They can't do much about that. Snipe them... Shoot about 3 or 4 times and teleport to another place. If they start moving, quit out and enter again. Make sure that you outshoot them. If you can't do this. Go after someone else that has either your rank or the speed hackers. Don't chase speed hackers until near the end of the tournament. You have to outplay the cheater and get ahead of him/her. The hardest person to beat is BBC3 because he ALWAYS uses the speed hack and he has some knowledge of how to play tournaments. I almost always beat him, but he goes and fake fights with someone or gets a free kill of some sort. Remember that BBC3 is a gayass bitch and remember not to become a cheating faggot like him. Annoy him as much as you can.
Well, that's it for MJK's tournament bible. This should help you a lot. Almost immediately, you should see some sort of improvement in your performance. It takes time to perfect this strategy and to develop it into your own liking. Good luck in the tournaments and remember, MJK is your daddy (not in a literal way).
From perf-9:
My strategy is too fill fast no matter what. If you come to a screen and theres a box, try and radar that entire screen. No doubt you will get a few more equips. If you find ers, dont use them right away, Use it once you hit a screen with a box or so, that way you know theres atleast a few equips in it (Doesnt always work but usually does if its in the early stages of the tournie)
Next, once you full, find a corp bot. Only fight corps, if a corp player comes to you, shoot him/her till they leave and continue fighting the bot. Fight bots until a few k on your serg, when you hit serg you will be low on duals. Try basing your fills around 15-18 minute intervals. which means fill between 15-18 minutes in, 30-36 mins in, 45-50 mins in.
When you hit serg, fill your duals up and have atleast 40 ers, only use duals, leave homing sheilds and missles off. That way, every box will add to your ers or duals, which is vital in tournies. Now, this is choice, if you feel your only choice of cupping is getting rank, fill at 5.5k on your serg and rank, proceed to fill fight (fighting and filling together, so your never full duals but your never drastically low which could compromise your standings. And try going after the weaker sergs or joining in as many mobs as possible to get kills.
OR- you can stay at serg for awhile, when you make luey it takes a while to regain a good amount of duals, due to you needing to fill everything else a bit also, at serg, you can always be getting points, and more than the lueys are. This will help you come from behind and gain top spots in tournies. Try and get up by atleast 40 minutes in, giving you enough time to make points and grab a kill. Remember, you dont need to cup to own a tournie, and you will get respect for playing well in tournies.
Never cheat, never give up, play every tournie possible to gain different play styles for different tournies. And always have fun.
NOW, i know this is long as hell, and its basically for newer players, so dont read it if you dont need to. No ones forcing you.