This class guide is basically the sum of my CA experiences. This might seem a good thing at first, but my experiences are necessarily limited. I am not one for exhaustive testing, and this fact is reflected in the guide. I will only list those classes I am familiar with (and play a lot), and even then I will only list those setups I am familiar with. There are undoubtedly hundreds of other good setups out there, and some may even be superior in some way. This guide, therefore, is not supposed to be the be all, end all, but if you're a newbie trying to brainstorm some possibilities, you might find this useful.
Nevertheless, there are some pretty solid setups listed here, some of them closely guarded secrets which are only now being declassified.
I'll start the guide with an introduction to the most basic CA gameplay, without which you would be unable to utilize these setups to their maximum potential. Next, I'll list my classes, describe some of their weapons, and outline a few setups and their uses. Any contributions by other people are encouraged and are credited below.
BASIC CA GAMEPLAY
Contents:
1) Basic Introduction
2) Keyboard Configuration
3) Intro to the Armors
4) Random tips
1) Basic Introduction
CA is a fast paced zone, both in terms of bullet speeds, running speeds, weapon damages, and energy rates. In some senses, it is quite newbie friendly, as everyone knows how to run around and shoot stuff. With the remarkable array of store products, however, it can also be baffling, especially if you're a first time buyer not knowing what to get. This is one of the reasons I wrote this guide.
Some people say that CA, because of its fast pace, takes no (dodging/aiming) skill, and is more a question of luck and strategy. Does it, really? I currently don't know. However, I have designed this guide assuming that there is no skill in CA, only strategy and tactics. I play CA without considering myself "skillful" and don't find myself at a great handicap, so long as my strategy is sound (this is a result of the fast paced gameplay, where tactics overwhelm the ability to dodge bullets). Thus, it should be as accessible to the newbie who just follows instructions, as the long-time CA vet.
2) Keyboard Configuration
Nevertheless, you have to make sure you have the keys down. (This is the same as in any other Infantry zone, but you cannot afford to have a crappy keyboard config, period, so I'm putting it here.)
On your infantry client (before you enter the zone), go to View --> Keyboard Configuration.
First of all, your "strafe left" and "strafe right" buttons should be one button each, and they should certainly not be linked to the "left" and "right" keys. Doing this allows you to "circle strafe", or sidestep at the same time as turning, giving you a severe advantage. Personally, my strafe left is "ctl" and strafe right is "alt".
Secondly, your weapon buttons should be simple and easy for you to use. They should preferrably only be one key each, to avoid jamming. My buttons are: z, x, c, a, s, d, q, w, e, 1, 2, 3, F5, F6, F7, F8, although other setups are certainly possible.
The zoom in and out buttons are certainly important. Look for "adjust view out" and "adjust view in". I recommend you change it to one button each. Personally, mine are [ and ', respectively. It is sometimes useful to use them in the nick of combat to improve your aim, although you have to be careful since using them slows your rotation down. You should immediately try this out in game just to see what it looks like.
Make a note of the "Portal" button. You'll need to use this to warp to a portal you set up (basically only happens for a beacon or shifter pack).
Be careful of conflicting keys. Reassign any you might need.
If any of your keys are letters of the alphabet, checkmark the option that requires you "Press enter to type message". You don't want to shoot something everytime you type.
Last but not least, make sure your key config is comfortable for you. Your fingers should be able to reach them easily.
3) Intro To The Armors
Now we're ready to talk about our first in-game aspect: armor. There is also a closely related gameplay aspect called "energy", which acts as a shield. In this zone, your energy is "generated" by your armor.
Armor and energy affect how much damage you take from bullets. Your armor (once you buy it) is always there: it blocks a constant amount of the damage from the bullets. Your armor's "energy", on the other hand, is variable. You should think of it this way: your body is always surrounded by a shield that absorbs damage. Your "energy" is the amount of power available to that shield. When your energy is at 100%, all damage is blocked. When it is at 60%, 60% of the damage is blocked, etc. Your energy is brought down by weapons fire, and recharges on its own as time passes. Needless to say, it is a good idea to have your energy as close to 100% as possible.
Once the damage penetrates the energy layer, it goes to the armor, which blocks some more of the damage. Unfortunately, armors are weak compared to the energy shield: most only block a relatively small portion of the damage. Armor is good to have, but don't count on it too much.
To ensure you have 100% (or a reasonably high amount of) energy, you have to dodge so that there is a long period of time between bullets hitting you. For example, if five bullets hit you evenly over 20 seconds, your energy would have had some time to recharge between bullets and you will take minimal damage from each bullet. However, if five bullets hit you instantaneously, your energy would not have had time to recharge and will be beaten down increasingly with each bullet. Each subsequent bullet will do increasing damage to your health, as your energy gets lower and more of it penetrates the shield. Armor might be sufficient to block it at first, but as your energy keeps draining it will get overwhelmed.
This seems easy enough to understand, so let's get on with the application.
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In CA, the total amount of energy you have, and its recharge rate is dependent on the armor you're wearing. If you have no armor, you have no energy tank or recharge (which, incidentally, means you take full damage from bullets... not desirable). CA has weird names for "energy" and "recharge". "Energy" is also referred to as the armor's "Thickness", and "Recharge rate" is called the "Anti-multi hit". Don't let these terms fool you.
Different armors have different "thicknesses" and "anti-multi hits" (which means that their energy tanks are of different sizes, in kilojoules, and their recharge rates are different). Shield armor, for example, has a thickness of 180kj, and recharge of 20kj/sec, while assault armor has a thickness of 60kj and recharge of 60kj/sec. You might be guessing that it is generally desirable to have high thicknesses and recharge rates; you'd be right, and here we see why:
For thickness:
Say you're using an armor with 180kj thickness and you're shot at by a bullet that does 15kj energy drain. You're left with 165kj. The percentage of the damage that is blocked is 165/180=91.7%. You only take 8.3% of the bullet's damage.
On the other hand, say your armor has only 60kj thickness. The bullet hits and leaves you with 45kj. The amount of damage blocked is merely 45/60=75%. You take 25% of the bullet's damage.
For recharge rate:
Five bullets are coming for you at one second intervals. Say they do 10kj energy drain. Your armor has 100kj thickness.
First, say your recharge rate is 10kj/sec. After each bullet hits, you are fully recharged to 100kj before the next one manages to hit. You are protected 90% damage from each bullet, and take only 10% damage. Not bad.
Now say your recharge rate is 0kj/s. After the first bullet hits, you'll have 90kj left, then 80kj, 70, 60 and 50. The first bullet does 10% damage and the second does 20%, 30%, ... 50% damage. Because the bullets are hitting faster than the shield recharges, the shield keeps getting weaker and you keep taking more damage.
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As you can see, high thickness and recharge rates are generally desirable. Also desirable is to have a high ignore protection on your armor. If you view an armor's info in the store and scroll down, you will see the ignore protection of the armor on each type of damage (next to it is the percentage ignore, which is usually 0). Ignore means, when a bullet hits, the armor will block out that much of the bullet's damage (assuming it's the same damage type, of course). The rest of the damage goes to your health.
All this seems pretty clear, maximize the thickness, recharge rate, and ignore, but here's the tricky part: no armor is "good" in all 3 aspects. Shield armor, for example, has the best thickness (180kj), but bad recharge (20kj/s) and no ignore. Drop armor has good recharge (150kj/s) but average thickness (40kj) and ignore (2 kinetic ignore, 2 explosive). Some armors protect better against some damage types than others, some against spammy guns, others against large guns. There is simply no "best" armor. To confound this point, these armors have different weights. Some of them are quite heavy, and will slow your character down more than others. Ultimately, you will have to choose for yourself. To help you choose, I've compiled a few basic facts on this area:
Most "light weapon" shots do 15 energy drain. Moderate and heavy weapon shots do 30+ energy drain.
In terms of thickness, 40-50kj is average
, 50-60 decent, 80+ pretty good. (This depends on the situation though.)
In terms of recharge rate, 40kj/s is ok, 50-60 is average,
80 good, 100+ very good. (Situational.)
Thickness is good for tanking large caliber shots (high damage and/or high energy drain).
Anti-multi hit (recharge rate) is good against multiple hits (doh), which means it does well against spammy weapons, although it does have its limits.
You can see how much energy people have by the pink numbers next to their name. You can also see if your weapons are hitting - if they are, their energy will go down. If someone's energy is low, it means they are more vulnerable. You can also guess what armor they are using based on their max energy and class.
Conscript has innate armor.. I believe it's one of the ceramaxes. That's why it has energy. Energy is good. Don't switch to another class unless you can afford armor.
For additional information, check out Tombstone's Armor Guide at http://www.freewebs.com/tombstone312125/Infantry/CA%20Armor%20Guide.html
4) Random Tips
^ Don't switch from conscript until you are able to afford armor.
To get money, it's not a bad idea to tag along with a rape group.
Lots of people are willing to donate money if you play and ask nicely - Just something I noticed.
Not all weapons damage a tank. Additionally, the general rule is that the gunner of a tank can only be damaged from shooting the back of the tank, even with legitimate AT weapons. Although it's not supposed to be that way anymore, you might want to play it safe.
Bypass damage will damage people in tanks.
Rightclick on most things to find info on its stats, including how much damage it does/ignores.
You can test stuff in private arenas. Type ?go arenaName to create or join an arena of arenaName. Type ?arena to get a listing of the arenas. If you created the arena, you can send the mod commands *cash and *experience as personal messages. To send to yourself, one way is to have your name selected and type /*cash 3224324322 or if your name is Myname type :Myname:*experience 32324233
Although being in a vehicle offers some protection, you need armor to be fully or almost-fully protected from weapons.
What is "linking"? To "link" two weapons together is to fire them one right after the other, with no fire delay in between. This allows for increased damage, as the victim does not get any breathing room to recharge their energy. Linking is used, for example, with the sawed off shotgun followed by a rifled burst, or with the silenced pistol followed by the silenced smg. Some weapons cannot be linked, while others are linked to deadly effect. You can try weapons out in private arenas to see if they can be linked.
CLASS SETUPS
1) Infantry
Armors of note:
-The SI Power Armors, under custom armor - These are currently considered the "best" overall armors in game. They generally have high recharge rates (70-100kj/s), high damage ignores (5-12), and medium thicknesses (50-60kj). They are very good for tanking spammy small arms fire. Its weak link is, of course, the moderate thickness, which implies right away they are vulnerable to weapons of large caliber (high damages and/or energy drains). Snub cannon (45 kin/45 energy drain) and Gauss cannon (50 kin/5 bypass/30 drain) are examples of those that will kill a power armor user in 2, or at most 3 shots. Moderately large weapons such as the Laser Rifle Overload (36 kin/9 electronic/30 drain) will kill in 3, at most 4 shots. Battle rifle 2-4 will eventually beat down the infantry's health, as the bullet does enough damage to pierce his shielding.
Demo weapons also work like high caliber ones, but they have so much hidden damage I am not going to speculate. An RPG kills in usually 1, at most 2 shots. A multi missile kills in usually 2, at most 3 shots.
In practice, however, power armors are also vulnerable to spammy weapons of semi-moderate caliber, as the spam overwhelms its recharge rate. The most prominent examples are the Gauss Minigun (30 kin/3 bypass/15 drain) and the Broiler, under Energy (6 electronic/15 drain).
Power armor infs are especially vulnerable against these weapons, as the weight of their armor hampers their movement.
Weapons of note:
-Laser Rifle/Laser Rifle Overload, under Lasers - improved version of flashlight/a more powerful beam of that.
-Pulse laser, under Lasers - Like a laser rifle, only with reduced delay between shots. Better against armors (assuming they all hit) as its quickness overwhelms the anti-multi hit/recharge rate of armors. Effectively it fires in pulses.
-Battle rifle 2-4, under rifles
Config #1 (Weight: approx 48.5kg/22% over):
Power Armor SI-5 [4 kin ignore/8 explo ignore/10% energy drain reduction, 60 thickness/100 recharge]
Armor Sloping (Heavy) [Reduces energy drain from all weapons by 15%]
Dermal Silk Graft [+20 recharge rate]
Dermal Fiber Graft [+5 thickness]
Pulse Laser
Vibro knife
Heavy Cell
Vector field - Narrow, strong
10 Hedgehog grenades
2 frag grenades
5 Rations
This is the best setup I was able to find. It is the most energy-intensive power armor setup I know of, with 65kj thickness and 120kj/s recharge rate. It does not tank small spammy weapons quite as well as some other setups due to the low ignore, but the high energy rate and 24.5% energy drain reduction on each bullet helps ensure that the inf will always be near full energy. The large energy ignore and relatively high thickness ensure that this setup is the best for tanking high-caliber weapons using power armor (although things like Shield Armor totally outclass it in this area). For example, it takes 3 shots of snub cannon to kill an inf using this setup, while only 2 against any other setup.
When I was choosing my setup, however, what really made the decision for me was the weight. SI-5 weighs 4.5kg less than the next power armor, and the entire setup is extremely light for a power armor setup. This is important as the setup is strongly energy-based; the user must keep his energy high. The high recharge rate will not save the inf if he is unable to dodge. Additionally, the setup is so light that one has a modest chance to out-melee a blackops, which is much better than any other power armor user can say.
Use vector field against nades or small rockets that land near you and, just as importantly, shrapnel. This vector is generally not strong enough to deflect weaponry, unless you are running tail away from it. The hedgehog grenades are a stronger deflector but you can only toss one every second. Use each of these to keep your energy high.
Rations are the key to surviving 10 times longer. Use them at the first sign of emergency (say if you're on 30 hp or less). You will normally lose health at a pretty slow rate, the enemy's guns slowly penetrating your shields. Rations are the perfect counter to this, increasing your hp slowly. Speaking of which, do not be afraid to run, if it reduces your health loss long enough for the rations to take effect. I have turned tail from surprise rape groups with 8 hp to kill several of them and come out with 40 hp a few minutes later, because they could not beat my health down quickly enough for the rations to replenish it. This is partially why pulse laser is my preferred weapon: you can shoot a pulse, run, shoot pulse, etc.
Unfortunately, your weapons are not very good against heavily armored people, most notably other power armor infs. Also, this setup does not have sensors.
2) Heavy Weapons
Armors of note:
Ceramax Specops armor, under special armors - Relatively weak armor, with only 29 thickness and 30 recharge. It is the lightest of the ceramax line, however, at 5.5kg, and its lightness is useful for fast configs. It also gives the user stealth, and provides him with stealth/cloak detection, making it pretty useful if you think you can take the heat.
Weapons of note:
-Snub Cannon, under MG/Cannon [45 kin/45 energy drain and does an additional 38 kin/7 bypass against vehicles] - Equivalent to a sniper cannon in damage but slow moving. Fires once every second. Usually kills people in one or two shots. People with shield armor, however, will tank up to 4 shots before dying. An excellent tank killer, but you have to survive long enough to shoot it and have decent aim. It can also be vectored easily. However, this is one of those weapons that will damage the gunner regardless of which side of the tank is hit. It may also damage mobile infantry, although this is a sometimes thing. Sadly, however, the penetrator does not work against small vehicles such as mechs or bikes - a bike can tank more than 2 shots of snub. It is also not very useful against skimmers because of its slow speed.
-Gauss Minigun, under Gauss - You should not count on making money when you use this. Its rounds are very expensive, and I barely break even, and usually waste a few thousand or more each day. However, this is a fun weapon. It will kill just about any human, although with the better armored ones you may have to hit 5 or more CONSECUTIVE shots to do so (non-consecutive shots will allow their energy to recharge). Its bypass is also decent against tanks (or, rather, the people inside them) though it does not seriously damage the tank itself, and this ability has become less lethal with the introduction of rations. Minigun, however, is probably the best weapon to use against skimmers/bikes. Beause of its high speed, it is difficult to vector and can be used to "snipe" targets at longer ranges than other guns.
-Broiler, under Energy [6 electronic/15 energy drain] - A spamtastic short/medium range gun. Verses people, this is comparable to the gauss minigun, and actually surpasses it when used indoors. Against heavily armored people you will need to hit several consecutive shots to kill. Also, it usually takes 2 rounds to make a kill, so a broiler user should be using heavy, not light armor. Broiler has an insane splash damage radius, and you can actually kill someone near a wall by shooting at the wall. Its splash damage is also able to kill mobile infantry who are standing on green, yellow, or orange physics (although it doesn't damage them on purple or higher). Bullets are moderate speed and can be vectored, so it is preferrable to stand near the target for maximum hitting. Does 1 damage against vehicles. Because of the weapon's light weight (5.7kg) most people carry a secondary weapon along with it.
-Sonic Cannon, under Sonic - The best wall/sandbag/gate killer in the game. Whenever this weapon hits something it causes its initial explosion, which does the damage listed in its stats. Several seconds later, a secondary explosion also forms, which does no damage to people but kills walls in one blow. Rune also discovered the interesting property of this weapon as a sniper rifle, as it goes very fast and its primary explosion kills many people in one shot. Against heavily armored people, however, it may take more. Not good against vehicles.
-Flamethrower, under flamethrowers - I'm not very familar with this gun except to say that the explosive rounds are able to kill people in tanks. However, this weapon is relatively easy to vector.
Config #1 (approx 28kg, 3% over):
Ceramax Specops Armor [29 energy, cloak and stealth detection, stealth for the user, etc]
Actuators (Acceleration) [+15% accel]
Muscle Replacement [+15% top speed]
Skin Sheathe [Rudimentary cloaking]
Snub cannon
Vibro knife
60 Ammo Cannon
10 Hedgehog Grenades
3-5 Rations
This is a quick strike and running setup. Its weight was minimized by the relatively crappy specops armor (which has nifty items that are also useful to you) and the lack of a powercell. It was made as a tank hunter config, but it has other uses. It has the best stealth and cloak heavies can get (which, admittedly, is not very good) so that they may get close to a tank without being noticed and be able to unleash its firepower. It is extremely fast for this same reason; it runs about 15% faster than the average person on 0 weight. 5 hits will kill most tanks, sometimes less.
The snub cannon is both a close and moderate/moderately long-range weapon and is also somewhat useful for sniping, both against stationary mechanical targets (though not moving ones) and people, preferrably those who are headed toward you in angar.
This config will help build up your aim (although the snub sometimes veers to the left or right). Against rape groups, you can run away from them and in doing so exploit any speed differences, taking out your pursuers one at a time. Because of your light armor, however, you have to hit them before they hit you.
Config #2 (approx 22% over):
Ceramax Specops Armor [29 energy, cloak and stealth detection, stealth for the user, etc]
Actuators (Acceleration) [+15% accel]
Muscle Replacement [+15% top speed]
Skin Sheathe [Rudimentary cloaking]
Gauss minigun
Vibro knife
200 Ammo Gauss (can have more, as it is pretty light)
10 Hedgehog Grenades
3-5 Rations
This is basically the same as the previous setup, except you use the dreaded gauss minigun rather than the snub cannon. This was also originally made as a tank killer and pretty much works the same way, and gauss' accuracy and speed helps you in "sniping" far away targets.
Personally, I prefer the snub setup for hunting tanks, as it is lighter and snub is, in some ways, more lethal (it does more damage against the tank itself, although less against the person inside). Gauss is acceptable for this task though, and is the preferred weapon against skimmers or bikes, because of its high velocity and their low hp and kinetic ignore.
As mentioned above, don't expect to make money with this setup. Expect, in fact, to lose some everyday.
Most people use gauss with more powerful armor. As I have never tried that setup, I cannot vouch for it.
Config #3 (approx 10% over):
Assault Armor [60 thickness, 60 recharge, etc]
Actuators (Acceleration) [+15% accel]
Muscle Replacement [+15% top speed]
Dermal Silk Graft [+20 energy recharge]
XP-5 Broiler
Sonic Cannon
Vibro knife
Fission Cell
10 Hedgehog Grenades
3-5 Rations
This is the preferred base assault setup, and can be used other places as well. In base assault, sonic cannon is the wall destroyer and broiler is the people killer. In the tight spaces of bases, broiler's splash damage simply rips people apart. If there are many people in a tight area or small room, you can easily get multikills, preferrably by shooting them directly but sometimes by shooting at the wall. Unfortunately, this setup has just about nothing against mechanicals. If you needed, you could still spare some weight for laws/avms.
This config can be utilized in base defense, though I'm not sure how the sonic cannon would be used in that case. Obviously, you should rip apart any enemy walls, but it seems broiler becomes the prominent weapon in that case.
You can get kills through the wall via broiler's splash damage if they are close enough. You can kill mobile infantry who are standing on anything orange physics height or lower with the splash damage.
Sonic cannon can also be used for "sniping".
Some people replace sonic cannon with another secondary weapon, such as flame throwers. I have never tried those setups.
This setup does not have sensors.
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Note that, with none of the above setups should you seriously fear blackops. As you are faster than the average person, you should often be able to outmelee them with your vibroknife. Config #2 should actually fear them most, as it is fattest, so users of #2 should try to gauss the BO before they get too close to use the minigun.
3) Commando
Config #1:
G-Labs Chaemelion Suit
...
TS-SG 19 Machine Pistol (under pistols)
Kinuochi smg (under smgs)
Vibro knife
...
...
...
At some point in time I used this config. It is quite useful. The Chaemelion suit renders you always invisible, even when firing weapons, unless you get too close to the enemy, at which point they automatically see you, sensors or no. This is very useful since your weapon of choice is a linked pair of short-ranged weapons. If, when you fire, the victim does not see you, he will not attempt to dodge, making your assault much more successful.
To "link" these weapons means to fire them one right after the other, with no fire delay in between. You have to fire the pistol before the smg; otherwise the linking will not work. Also you should probably practice getting the delay as close to zero as possible. I find that if you start shooting the kuniochi before your machine pistol even finishes firing, the link is more likely to be successful.
This linked pair is lethal. If all the shots hit, it will insta-kill the vast majority of people, although I haven't tested it against the inf power armor, which is likely to prove most resistant.
This is a fun combo, but it requires a lot of aim. If too many shots are missed, not enough energy will be drained, and the linked combo will lose its lethality. I used it for some time before realizing I didn't have enough aim for this task..uhm, I mean, that my kill rate was too low for my taste. However, it might just be the one for you.
4) Demo Trooper
Demo has so many possible combos it would be useless to list them all. I'm basically listing the possible weapon combos, as that is what defines the demo anyway.
Weapons of note:
RPG - I basically carry the RPG to use its special rounds, among which are: the RPG tandem, RPG thermobaric, and RPG frag sleeve. The RPG tandem does severe damage against mechanicals. The RPG thermobaric sucks everyone into it, has a primary explosion close to the epicenter that kills just about everyone, then sends out shockwaves in a huge radius that kills or severely damages everyone else, depending on how dispersed they are and their armor (more useful indoors than outdoors). The RPG frag sleeve is short ranged and has a fixed explosion point, at which point it explodes into a lot of shrapnel.
Multi missile (8-10x) - Spams rockets at a fast rate. Usually a one shot kill against each person, although a power armor inf may eat 2 or at most 3. Also very good against mechanicals or tanks (or even headquarters). Its primary disadvantage is its weight. Each upgrade (for number of missiles in each round) adds 5kg to the weight of the unit, and the weight of the rockets is high in itself.
Config #1:
(Pretty strong armor)
...
...
...
RPG
3-5 frag sleeves
2-3 rpg thermobaric (if you know you're outside you can carry less)
1 rpg tandem, possibly more if you know you need to kill mechanicals
Vibro knife
10 hedgehogs
some rations
no energy cell (as if you didn't weigh enough)
Good for base assault or defense, or even tank hunting. Most demos are fat, however, and this one is no exception. Also, you might have trouble fighting solo, depending on how experienced you are.
If there's a big gun pointed at you, you'll probably have to use the hedgehog, as you may be too fat to avoid it. Be afraid, be very very afraid of blackops.
Config #2:
(Pretty strong armor)
...
...
...
Multi missile 8-10x
Vibro knife
10 hedgehogs
around 25-30 rockets
no energy cell (faat)
Again good for base assault or defense, or even tank hunting... if you can get close enough to haul those missiles at the tank. You are, however, fat as hell, so good luck. A lot of the times I wouldn't even make it to the enemy base.. even though I could outspam everyone with those rockets, I was just too slow I'd end up spending all my time trying to get past. Obviously this is better with a team.
Use hedgehogs when you can't dodge. And.. blackops eat fat people for breakfast, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it except hope your rocketspam hits (perhaps even the odds by going to crowded places).