Tactics Part 1

This part one of my advanced tactics and techniques guide. Part one will cover the advanced techniques in Call Of Duty four that have regular success. These are usually easy to practice in a private match using a second controler signed in as a dummy.

Here is a list of all the techniques i will be going over:

Pre Aiming:
Pre aiming is the technique of aiming down the sites before an enemy appears, where you expect them to show up. I use this consistently in buildings when i am unsure of enemy numbers or location. This saves you that split second it takes to aim down your sites to bring down a target, allowing you that ever precious second to get in the first few shots. The only guns i don't recommend this for are the shotguns and ,when up close, snipers. Never pre aim a shotgun for two reasons. 1: The range is so crappy you shouldn't need the sights at all, they will be close enough for the hip every time. 2: Because the shots scatter, they never go where you aim with the iron sights anyway. When using a shotgun always aim from the hip. A sniper should be pre aimed most of the time at long range, especialy if waiting for a hostile to poke out his head. It should not, however, be pre aimed in close quarters. Just spray and pray no scope, trust me. The main weaknesses to pre aiming down the sights are that in open areas you move so slowly that a rookie sniper will drop you, fast, and that the enemy can circle around the other way and surprise you. More on how to fix these problems in my advanced firing techniques section.

Cover Selection:
Not every wall in Call of Duty 4 will stop a bullet. In fact, half of them won't. Therefore, you need to be careful about cover selection. Since most players online use assault rifles, i am using thier penetration capabilities to provide you with a list of generally safe cover. The most safe cover pieces i've found are the blocks made of concrete bricks. The only thing that might shoot through this is a deep impacted .50 Cal, and i doubt that will. Keep in mind that if a chopper is present, avoid these blocks unless you have a roof over your head. Other generally safe pieces of cover are trees, wrecked cars (the normal ones work two, but they can blow up, and trust me you don't want to be the idiot on your team who died from an exploding car), dumpsters, and double barrels. Normal lone barrels are alright, but a deep impacted AK will tear right through it. The quad barrels are your best bet. The most common places for bullet penetration to be used is near doorways, or anywhere in sight of a fixed heavy mg. If you get shot through a wall randomly, and survive, go prone and pray that they don't keep spraying. Usually when this happens it means there is a LMGer spamming a wall, or a fixed turret spamming a wall. As a rule, i personally try to never use cover that is thinner than i am. This means thin walls, those wierd fences on bog, that sort of thing.

Movement:
Movement appears to be one of the most basic things in Call of Duty 4. It is, in some ways, but isn't in others. When do you crouch? when do you go prone? sprint or normal run? This is how i feel movement should be. I believe the most combat effective way to move in Call of Duty 4 is slow and methodical, but not too slow. Basically, you should sprint to a nearby cover spot, then crouch/go prone (whichever will keep you protected from fire behind that cover spot) Peek above the cover spot, engage enemies seen, then get safe again. Now, search for another good, solid, spot of cover (like the ones i listed in the cover selection technique part of this guide). Take crash, for instance. I usually take cover, prone, behind a pillar, with my AK pre aimed for my first kill or two, then i sprint up to the chopper, take cover there, get a couple kills, cross to the other sie with pillars, take cover there, etc. When advancing on enemies, make quick, short bursts of sprinting to cover, fire off a few rounds, then sprint forward to the nearest piece of cover. When in a building, it is usually a good idea to crouch. This makes you very quiet, and 80% of the time will mess up an opponents pre aim(80% of pre aim will be geared at head level in hope for a head shot). When attacked by a sniper, if you survive, rush the closest piece piece of cover between you and the sniper, go prone, and pray. If you have smoke, use it. While you are behind the cover, start searching for an escape route, out of the snipers field of vision. Once you've found the route, use my stick and move technique from cover to cover until you are out of the snipers vision range. Remember to warn your allies.

Belly Flop:
A highly effective technique that disrupts enemies aim, and half the time confuses them or makes them think you dropped into last stand. This is a technique that requires you to sprint, jump while sprinting, then hold the crouch button so that you land prone. The movement your enemy see's is erratic, nearly impossible to track, and even harder to hit. When entering a fire fight, i always use this technique to land behind some cover (i aim my belly flop for the corner) and begin to fire as soon as my feet leave the ground. Once i land, i aim higher up and copntinue firing, usually getting a kill or two. Once i've entered the engagement like this, i usually get up into a crouch for mobility purposes, but this technique almost ensures that i at least get to my cover spot safely. Also works in open areas if engaged from the same or a lower elevation as a quick fix for lack of cover, it'll make you a small target and the enemy most likely won't be able to kill you until you land. This technique is also great for avoiding grenades, and rushing to a cover spot. DO NOT use this in the open with no cover against enemies with a higher elevation, it actually makes you an even bigger target. The opposite applies, however, when you have the height advantage this is a very good idea. Belly flop to the edge of some elevated surface (upper part of buildings, crest of a hill, etc.) and watch your kill count go up as you are an incredibly small target, and the enemy is bigger do to the height advantage.

Grenade Launcher:
Now i know what most of you thought the second you saw the 'n00b tube' in my guide. You thought i was probably the n00b running around on shipment with overkill, two AR's, both n00b tubed, blowing the crap out of everybody before they have time to aim down the sights. I'm not. I am the person with a grenade launcher mounted on my AK for the purpose of what i like to call, a mini airstrike. Now keep in mind, this technique takes A LOT of practice, and in my opinion is the most difficult thing in Call of Duty 4 to master. Trust me on this, go to a private match (crossfire is best for getting used to grenade arc i believe, but overgrown is pretty good too). Now get out your grenade launcher, and start practicing the arc of the grenades. Get used to hitting long distance targets. Do it from different elevations. Now, picture this, on crossfire there is a persistent sniper hiding in one of the buildings that have a full view of the main street. Your sniper is not skilled enough to take him out. He's shredding your team to pieces. None of you can last long enough to get a Chopper, and an airstrike won't do any good because he has a solid roof over his head. He has two bodyguards, so even your ghost can't seem to touch him. What do you do? Use your finely tuned grenade launcher skills to call a small airstrike inside the building. Try to launch the two round inside the building next to each other (fire one, then adjust to one side a bit and fire again). You just saved the entire game using a weapon that everybody thinks requires no skill, because you knew that from long range and with some skill, it could do anything. Try doing this completely concealed. Have a pretend spotter in a private match give you a direction, now have him give you about where on the map the enemies are. From crouched behind a piece of low cover, attempt to hit your target, using one shot, adjusting slightly, then rapidly firing off the second shot. Like i said this technique is incredibly hard to master, but absolutely deadly in the hands of a pro.

Route Selection:
Choosing what routes to take in Call of Duty 4 seems like it should be common sense, but i constantly see people making the same mistakes over and over again. When choosing routes, remember your class! A sniper should NOT rush up the middle! A ghost should NOT use high traffic routes! A guy with a shotty should ALWAYS avoid the open! If you are a basic every day class (an example would be stopping power, deep impact, fragx3, and an automatic AR) Us high traffic routes, but instead of just rushing up them use my stick and move technique described in the movent section! A sniper should use very low traffic routes, away from the action, to get from spot to spot, and when moving should have his backup out (unless he is steady aimed and can confidently no scope). If an enemy sniper has killed you three times in a row while you are using the same route, CHANGE YOUR ROUTE! Don't keep getting mowed down by the same sniper, find a different way to wherever you are trying to get to. Use your map! On a map you are slightly unfamiliar with, or when desperate for a safe route, get to a safe spot and press start, this will bring up a full version of the map you are on, and will show all possible routes. Remember, use routes that will keep you safe, and get you there fast. Different routes work for different classes, find what works for you.

Retreating:
Retreating is a tactic that, throughout history, has been used repeatedly. They have been used to lure into ambushes, to save lives, to trick opponents, to get to high ground, or simply to get away from the enemy. Remember, A retreat is not running away. A retreat can be luring into a trap. Place a claymore at a door, fire at an opponent, let him spot you, then duck behind said door, he will most likely rush after you, right into the claymore. BOOM! one more kill for you, and you barely used any ammo. Use retreats like this to lure enemy forces into a snipers sights, into a bottleneck so your guy with the RPD can mow them all down, or simply to get to a more defensible position. A good idea when trying to get to a more defensible position is to go into a nearby, enemy free building. Move backwards so you can fire at your enemy, get some high ground, then wait for them. Now, there will be times when you truly do need to escape from enemies up close. This goes double for snipers and ghosts. For this there are several techniques. Number one is stun grenades, they slow down the enemy and have a fast timer. While the enemy is stunned you will have a chance to make a hasty escape. Number two is throwing an uncooked grenade in thier path. Why uncooked, you ask? Because they will almost always assume it is cooked, and therefore will not cross it's path until it has exploded. You now have a six second wall between you and your pursuer. Keep in mind this doesn't always work, because some people will ignore the grenade indicator and pray that they get lucky and make it out of range. Also, this will only work if it is between you and your pursuer, try to place it at least a few meters in front of where he will be in a couple seconds. Also, this rarely works in the open. Smoke grenades are one of your best options in the open, but you have to make sure the screen covers your escape, and its usually a good idea to get cover before popping it. If retreating from a sniper, try popping the smoke on them, they will be completely blind and unable to leave that area easily until the smoke goes down. The last technique for retreating is used when rounding corners. Turn around and fire at the corner of the wall as you keep moving away from the pursuer, usually the wall will be thin at the very tip, and the bullets will deter enemies. Keep in mind that this doesn't usually work with shotguns, pistols, smg's, or snipers (snipers because of the small clip cant keep the fire up long enough to deter enemies for an effective amount of time) Also note that you can fire away from the corner, but the reason i shoot into the corner is because it confuses the hell out of people. Psychology, dear Wattson

Advance Firing Techniques:
Firing and aiming a weapon is very simple, however there are a few special tricks i've picked up that work wonders, some obvious, some not. First is Pop shooting. This is when you hide behind cover, pop up, fire a few rounds, and get back behind cover again. Works AMAZING with snipers, and has helped me bring down a three man team with just an AK47 when i got ambushed. Pre aiming before you pop up can help too. Another technique is leading shots. Most people seem to forget about this very basic principle. At long range, it takes time for your bullets to conect with your target. Therefore if your enemy is moving, you need to aim at where he will be, not at where he is. Think the last few levels of space invaders people. This is very important for snipers to master, it will allow them to hit sprinting opponents regularly. This technique does require some practice, however. Another technique is burst firing. This is when, with an automatic weapon at long ranges, you fire in short bursts to help control recoil and accuracy. This is especially helpful when trying to engage at long range with an AK47, RPD, M60E4, G36C, or any other high recoil automatic gun. Using this technique i have been able to consistently counter sniper with a red dot sighted AK47. The last technique is recoil manipulation. This is when trying to headshot with a high recoil gun, you aim around the chest, just below the neck, and the shots will walk themselves up to the head. Works wonders for me, every time.

That's all in part1 folks, stay tuned for Part two: How to Develop a deadly class

- Baker