If you are able to ambush a group of enemy gamers, especially at close range, you need to take into account that the sensors only take hits once every few seconds, depending on their setting.

If they are set on "easy" mode then they can only be hit once every 2 seconds. If they are set of "standard" mode then you can get 'em once every second. Or if they are set to "hard" mode then you can hit them once every half a second.

To do maximum damage you need to rotate the targets so gamers getting ambushed

that you hit each gamer every few seconds so that each one of them has there gun disabled and cannot return fire.

What I do is start shooting on the left most gamer and work my way across over the course of a couple of seconds so that every target takes and hit.

I then swing my rifle from right to left over the next couple of seconds to catch anyone that I missed the first time.

Then the process starts again as I swing from left to right…

Of course the enemy should be hitting cover, once they can effectively return fire you should quickly retreat so you live long enough to setup another ambush position.

The key to an extended line is that gamers are at least 30 feet (10 meters) apart from one another.

So if you have a squad of say 10 gamers, your line should extend 300 feet (100m) or more,” You should not be so far apart than you loose contact with the next friendly to your left and right.

Generally, the force commander should be positioned in the center so you can make sure everyone stays in line,

With very inexperienced gamers, the force commander may have to walk up and down the line making sure everyone else stays in line and keeps advancing despite enemy fire.

A skirmish line is effective due to the following factors:
It’s simple. Remember Battlefield LIVE gamers are typically not trained soldiers, and therefore complex plans are often doomed to failure.
Gamers remain in contact with each other so adding inter-gamer communication.

Each gamer provides cross fire support to every other gamer. By spreading out significantly, the enemy finds it hard to find effective cover against fire from the flanks of the skirmish line.

The formation provides the maximum amount of forward directing fire possible with no risk of making friendly hits.

The skirmish line is not very useful in urban battlefields or indoor arenas. The walls break up the formation very quickly, and it is impossible to see all your gamers as you move around buildings.

Effective use of replacements
In many Live-Plays, replacements or respawns are used so that dead gamers can re-enter the mission representing reserves (also known as replacements).

Only the most veteran leaders consider how the replacements should be handled.
The following mistakes are all too common in a Battlefield LIVE combat zone.

Gamers taking a replacement do not return to the position they were initially assigned by the force commander.

Replacements return to the front in a haphazard fashion.

Replacements fail to counter attack their lost position on a perimeter, leading to perimeter contraction and causing huge loses in the ensuing cross fire.

The leader, especially in missions with significant numbers of replacements, should consider assigning the Second in Charge (2IC) or personally take charge of providing orders to replacements as they re-enter the battle.

During an offensive action, it is often best to attack in waves; therefore the force commander should keep the replacements together until adequate numbers are available to form another wave.

Clearly when defending, maintaining an adequate diameter of the perimeter is of vital importance. Once the enemy can shoot across the perimeter to hit defenders on the other side, most cover becomes worthless, and therefore casualties quickly mount.

If required, replacements should form a group to counter-attack the lost perimeter. The earlier the counter-attack can be mounted, the higher the chance of success.

Quite often in Battlefield LIVE a patrol formation is the most appropriate yet under utilized option available to a squad. A patrol formation, works well when the ‘gamer to space’ ratio is low, and location of some, or the entire enemy is unknown or when you have to ‘sneak’ past the enemy.

A good space ratio to maintain in a patrol squad is the line of sight. You can see each other and hand signals, hear whistles, low voices, but cannot be hit with one burst of fire from the enemy. A patrol of only six to ten people (for example) can be very successful, as it is small enough to go undetected; large enough to do serious damage to any opposition, and flexible enough that the gamers can swap between roles as their direction or intent changes.

Even when performing a base defence it can make a lot of sense to have small very stealthy patrol working around the enemy. This can really disorient the attackers who are expecting all the defenders to be around the base.
Beginners in particular tend to only look in the direction they are expecting the enemy to be so a small group working around their side or rear can often surprise the attackers.

There is also a general principle that whenever possible, you should never be located where the enemy expects you to be and if you know you have been spotted, you should move as soon as it is reasonably safe to do so.

A patrol formation can also be appropriate when moving into assault position. This is because the enemy may well have placed snipers well forward of their positions and in fact may have laid a forward ambush or even placed their own patrols as a type of forward defence. In all these scenarios, it is quite probable that the enemy will get the first round of fire off and typically from an advantageous position.

The patrol formation is an absolute must when hunting for snipers in the sniper mission. Over a large area, anything else is plain suicide!

So what is a patrol formation and how does it help? Well, there are few different patrol formations that one can choose, but for Battlefield LIVE something very basic is all that is required.

The most important position in the squad is the point person (scout).

The point moves well ahead of the main body of troops anything from 100-130 feet (30-40 meters) to 265 feet (80 meters) depending on the situation. In the heavy bush battle-field we tend to work around 65 feet (20 meters) whereas in more open terrain, more like 265 feet (80 meters).

“The principle is that it is much harder for the enemy to spot one person than a whole squad. The point man has a greater chance of spotting the enemy sniper or ambush first than if the whole squad had moved up,” said Peter.

“The point man can then return to the main group, and report the enemy presence to the squad leader,” he said.

Even so, the point is often spotted first by the enemy, and therefore comes under effective fire. Still this means only one gamer is killed not the whole squad, and the enemy have given their position away to the rest of the squad, who can then engage or retreat as appropriate.

If the point comes under attack, the rest of the squad typically should fan out left and right, and quickly move forward to engage the enemy.

The number two gamer in the patrol is often armed with a long gun, ideally a Morita LMG. As soon as contact is made, the LMG’s job is to immediately lay down suppressive fire in the direction of the suspected enemy position. A good number two gamer can often save the point man from taking more damage, and also pin the enemy long enough for the rest of the patrol to engage the enemy.

A sweeper is also a useful position in a patrol. The sweeper stays behind the main group ensuring that there is no threat from the rear. The sweeper’s job is to warn the squad if there is any enemy following them or have moved behind them. Most encounters happen in the direction the squad is moving, so the sweeper is not quite as vital as the point, but still highly recommended.

The squad leader typically is near the front of the main body of troops. Adequate levels of dispersal should be kept in mind. Way too many gamers bunch up and are slaughtered by a numerically inferior force for this reason. Also, by dispersing somewhat the enemy can be fired at quickly from multiple directions. This is important in Battlefield LIVE because most cover provides protection from only a single direction.

The patrol however also maintains a significant local concentration of force, which means it has the firepower that can be quickly employed to counter enemy forces. This can be particularly useful when you’ve got more than one squad out in the field, and one or the other requires support.

The leader has to be positioned to get the best possible view of his/her own troop positions, and that of the enemy. If enemy troops are reported by the point or another gamer in the squad, the leader may well choose to perform a leader’s recon before committing the squad to an attack.

If the force (including the point man) comes under enemy fire, the squad leader must issue immediate and appropriate orders. To do this they must be positioned within sight and hearing range of the majority of the troops under command.

It is quite possible that the point and/or sweeper have not spotted the enemy before the main squad comes under fire. This is much better than having your squad spread out so much that they can't assist each other (or any other squad) effectively or even be properly led by the squad leader.

The gamers in the main body of troops should be clearly told where they should be looking in relation to themselves. For example, the first player could be looking left, and second looking right and the third looking up (watching out for snipers in the trees).

For those clans looking to be truly successful, we recommend that specific immediate action drills are trained in order to counter threats from different directions and types.

Ambush