I use PS3 system with a Logitech 'Cordless Vantage HS' Bluetooth headset for voice microphone only, combined with noise-cancelling stereo headset + extension cable to listen to things.
Basically, the headset is voice-input only, and the sound is output to my HDTV via the HDMI cable, along with the video. Then I use a headset to listen to the game - both voice talk from other players and footsteps from everyone.
Here is what the PS3 has under settings.
Settings\
Accessory Settings\
Audio Device Settings\
Microphone Level = 5
Input Device = Cordless Vantage HS
Output Device = System Default Device
:)
2012/01/06
2011/11/28
MW3 survival - cashing up
Ok. After some more gaming on Survival mode, some themes emerge.
1. Maximum $value from contracts
2. Minimum expenditure on armouries
Maximum $value from contracts
Just like Zombies, Survival is about cashing up early and using it later.
In zombies, cashing up meant getting the maximum points per zombie in the early rounds, via M1911 bullets and slashes, and in later rounds you just empty all your ammo at the zombies.
In Survival, what counts are streaks within a round, either streaks of kills without being hit yourself, or rampages, knife streaks, headshot streaks, flashbang streaks and quadkills. This is a challenge in two-player co-op, as it would be in the best interests of both players to let one guy get all the kills each round in order to maximize the bonus points available.
Note that players can really co-operate via sharing $500 cash in-game.
Maybe in Co-op, players should take it in turns each round, but that depends on who has what 'contracts' each round. I think that the easiest contract is 'rampage' as all you need to do is round up the enemies like in zombies, then take them all out as fast as possible (e.g. with an MP9 as mentioned previously).
Early rounds
In the early rounds of zombies, you get more points from slashes and the zombies are easier.
In the early rounds of Survival, the enemies are relatively weak, carrying either a Model 1885 shotguns (Tier 1 and 2 maps) or MP5 (Tier 4 maps), and later you get suicide bombers. This makes it easier to score slash kills - as in higher rounds it takes more than one slash to kill - and similar contracts. Having any gun better than an MP5 or AK47 is the way to get points here, as well as having armour to protect your killstreak.
Middle rounds
Before and after the enemies start to carry the ACR weapon, and the chemical warfare guys start to arrive. This is where air support Delta teams and Sentry Guns help you get heaps of points via the 'killstreak' contract - just be sure to have some ARMOUR on you to protect your killstreak.
Later rounds
When the enemies are carrying the FAD gun, this is the later rounds and the enemies are more heavily armoured and take more bullets (and time) to finish.
Minimum expenditure on armouries.
It looks like a good idea to pick up enemy weapons and collect all the ammo that they drop; but instead, if you really want to use these dropped weapons, you should pick up just one weapon as soon as possible then head straight for the Weapons Armoury to buy an ammo refill for $750. This means that you get full ammo without having to buy the gun from the Weapons Armoury, and you'll have spares lying around the place to collect later.
I don't recommend this strategy as I doubt you can get ahead with it. First, it means that your weapons are 'behind' rather than more advanced than the enemies, which slows you down in-game. Second, the Model 1885 and MP5 reload is not a good thing, same the AK47, when trying to get a rampage or killstreak. Better to invest in good stuff early on, or at least cheap stuff for a round or two.
So, I recommend that you save $500 and buy a handgun at the end of Round 1, either as a second gun or to replace your existing pistol.
If you are carrying anything but the Five Seven or P99, I recommend buying and using either for just $250 as soon as the Weapons Armoury is available, which will come with full ammo. And if you are carrying one of these handguns, I recommend buying the other as your second weapon. The Five Seven has 20 rounds per clip and the P99 is just brilliant, both with quick reload time and good impact on the enemies, and remember: switching to your side arm is always faster than reloading. So, basically, I save cash by using two pistols in the first few rounds.
Also, with two pistols, it is cheaper to replace each empty handgun with a new pistol than to buy a refill - but by that point in time you probably have enough cash for something else anyway.
If at all possible, your next gun purchase should be an LMG, then perhaps get the grip and some sights on it. This will put you ahead of the enemies up to the later rounds, where you will probably be on 'equal' footing weapons-wise. The cost is $7k but is worth it: you get 100 ammo per clip with three spare clips, which really helps with the killstreaks and rampages, and full ammo for $750 is always a better bargain for 400 bullets than 200, right?
As mentioned, the MP9 has an awesome effect for rampages; well worth the $1500 but if buying a pistol helps me get an LMG, I prefer that first.
The other good gun seems to be the Type 95 - the last assault rifle unlocked in Survival mode. You can take out one Juggernaut with 1.3 clips from this gun, so get some scope to help you focus all the bullets from a distance. Then again, most assault rifles have a good impact on the juggernaut - somewhere between 1 and 2 clips does the trick, so go with what you prefer I guess.
I had thought that getting a sniper rifle early on is a good investment - and it still is, so long as you have a Killstreak contract and can maintain a long distance from the enemies, and in the early to middle rounds. Then again, a Delta team is about as good for getting the killstreak contracts on most maps.
This should minimise the costs per effective bullet - and by effective I mean effect on the enemies.
Sentry Guns: if you place them in a corner, face them at the 45 degree angle. You should switch to Sentry Guns (rather than Delta teams) at some point and try to place two sentry guns not far from each other - even facing the same general direction. Move your sentry guns out of the way of the AH6 minibird choppers (which shoot through windows to take out your sentry guns) and don't get too far from them if possible - the enemy will shoot at them.
Armour: buying armour protects your Killstreak contract. avoiding damage also protects your killstreak contract, but the armour is your 'insurance' on keeping the killstreak contract.
Self-Revive: not initial equipment in Tier 4 maps, maybe not helpful in the later Tier4map rounds either unless you can find a dog to shoot. Best thing to do with it is to learn how to avoid having to use it, so that you can save yourself and your teammate about $4000 points and the effort of trying to revive you in the later rounds.
1. Maximum $value from contracts
2. Minimum expenditure on armouries
Maximum $value from contracts
Just like Zombies, Survival is about cashing up early and using it later.
In zombies, cashing up meant getting the maximum points per zombie in the early rounds, via M1911 bullets and slashes, and in later rounds you just empty all your ammo at the zombies.
In Survival, what counts are streaks within a round, either streaks of kills without being hit yourself, or rampages, knife streaks, headshot streaks, flashbang streaks and quadkills. This is a challenge in two-player co-op, as it would be in the best interests of both players to let one guy get all the kills each round in order to maximize the bonus points available.
Note that players can really co-operate via sharing $500 cash in-game.
Maybe in Co-op, players should take it in turns each round, but that depends on who has what 'contracts' each round. I think that the easiest contract is 'rampage' as all you need to do is round up the enemies like in zombies, then take them all out as fast as possible (e.g. with an MP9 as mentioned previously).
Early rounds
In the early rounds of zombies, you get more points from slashes and the zombies are easier.
In the early rounds of Survival, the enemies are relatively weak, carrying either a Model 1885 shotguns (Tier 1 and 2 maps) or MP5 (Tier 4 maps), and later you get suicide bombers. This makes it easier to score slash kills - as in higher rounds it takes more than one slash to kill - and similar contracts. Having any gun better than an MP5 or AK47 is the way to get points here, as well as having armour to protect your killstreak.
Middle rounds
Before and after the enemies start to carry the ACR weapon, and the chemical warfare guys start to arrive. This is where air support Delta teams and Sentry Guns help you get heaps of points via the 'killstreak' contract - just be sure to have some ARMOUR on you to protect your killstreak.
Later rounds
When the enemies are carrying the FAD gun, this is the later rounds and the enemies are more heavily armoured and take more bullets (and time) to finish.
Minimum expenditure on armouries.
It looks like a good idea to pick up enemy weapons and collect all the ammo that they drop; but instead, if you really want to use these dropped weapons, you should pick up just one weapon as soon as possible then head straight for the Weapons Armoury to buy an ammo refill for $750. This means that you get full ammo without having to buy the gun from the Weapons Armoury, and you'll have spares lying around the place to collect later.
I don't recommend this strategy as I doubt you can get ahead with it. First, it means that your weapons are 'behind' rather than more advanced than the enemies, which slows you down in-game. Second, the Model 1885 and MP5 reload is not a good thing, same the AK47, when trying to get a rampage or killstreak. Better to invest in good stuff early on, or at least cheap stuff for a round or two.
So, I recommend that you save $500 and buy a handgun at the end of Round 1, either as a second gun or to replace your existing pistol.
If you are carrying anything but the Five Seven or P99, I recommend buying and using either for just $250 as soon as the Weapons Armoury is available, which will come with full ammo. And if you are carrying one of these handguns, I recommend buying the other as your second weapon. The Five Seven has 20 rounds per clip and the P99 is just brilliant, both with quick reload time and good impact on the enemies, and remember: switching to your side arm is always faster than reloading. So, basically, I save cash by using two pistols in the first few rounds.
Also, with two pistols, it is cheaper to replace each empty handgun with a new pistol than to buy a refill - but by that point in time you probably have enough cash for something else anyway.
If at all possible, your next gun purchase should be an LMG, then perhaps get the grip and some sights on it. This will put you ahead of the enemies up to the later rounds, where you will probably be on 'equal' footing weapons-wise. The cost is $7k but is worth it: you get 100 ammo per clip with three spare clips, which really helps with the killstreaks and rampages, and full ammo for $750 is always a better bargain for 400 bullets than 200, right?
As mentioned, the MP9 has an awesome effect for rampages; well worth the $1500 but if buying a pistol helps me get an LMG, I prefer that first.
The other good gun seems to be the Type 95 - the last assault rifle unlocked in Survival mode. You can take out one Juggernaut with 1.3 clips from this gun, so get some scope to help you focus all the bullets from a distance. Then again, most assault rifles have a good impact on the juggernaut - somewhere between 1 and 2 clips does the trick, so go with what you prefer I guess.
I had thought that getting a sniper rifle early on is a good investment - and it still is, so long as you have a Killstreak contract and can maintain a long distance from the enemies, and in the early to middle rounds. Then again, a Delta team is about as good for getting the killstreak contracts on most maps.
This should minimise the costs per effective bullet - and by effective I mean effect on the enemies.
Sentry Guns: if you place them in a corner, face them at the 45 degree angle. You should switch to Sentry Guns (rather than Delta teams) at some point and try to place two sentry guns not far from each other - even facing the same general direction. Move your sentry guns out of the way of the AH6 minibird choppers (which shoot through windows to take out your sentry guns) and don't get too far from them if possible - the enemy will shoot at them.
Armour: buying armour protects your Killstreak contract. avoiding damage also protects your killstreak contract, but the armour is your 'insurance' on keeping the killstreak contract.
Self-Revive: not initial equipment in Tier 4 maps, maybe not helpful in the later Tier4map rounds either unless you can find a dog to shoot. Best thing to do with it is to learn how to avoid having to use it, so that you can save yourself and your teammate about $4000 points and the effort of trying to revive you in the later rounds.
2011/11/21
MW3 Survival mode
About time I write something on MW3 Spec Ops Survival Mode.
It is kinda similar to zombies, as follows:
And then again, it is different altogether:
and most unfortunately, NO Pack-a-Punch machine...
My gameplay so far - reached level 45 in a week or so - shows that you can make round 30 or so in less than an hour, which is better than in zombies that just goes on and on for several hours to make round 30 in, say, KDT. This is much more manageable for gaming time, the number of enemies each round is more moderate and they are also relatively tougher earlier on. The fact that they can hit you at range is also tougher than zombies you could, more or less, easily flee via circuit.
There are four tiers of Survival Mode. The first tier gives you more startup bonuses like a better handgun, Self-revive (shoot an enemy dead then stand back up), body armour and some grenades. In the top tier you don't start out with Self-Revive, body armour or grenades, and you get a six-shooter handgun (with built-in 'slow reloading' feature).
And the AI routines are somewhat smarter but still amounts to the enemies closing in on you wherever you are, just like in zombiez, rather than tougher tactics like having some guys sniping at you from a distance in support of shock-troopers out in front, or teams harrassing you to run into an ambush.
Still, it is enjoyable and here are my first tips on how to get ahead.
1. Know how to get points.
You get more points for killstreaks and other 'contracts' on the lower left of the screen.
Both players and enemies wear body armour, so it takes a few hits to make a kill. In game terms though, this means that a killstreak/contract slows down when the player takes any hits.
And contracts pay better and better if you can extend them.
So rule 1a: don't take hits if you can avoid it.
Rampage is a kinda like a killstreak except you need to score lots of kills in a short amount of time. Even if you take a few hits, that knocks back your Rampage a little (look at the bar while you try this out) but you can still score a Rampage with taking a few hits on you. I like to use the MP9 machine-pistol to score these in the early rounds because it is like a fast SMG and quick to reload, so in a stairwell or similar space, I shoot - take a step back/reload - step in and shoot again. Works wonders.
Quad-kill has two main ways to get it, but you need to run some circles to round up the enemies first. Either use a Predator drone strike or try C4, cooked grenades or destroying a vehicle. It all works but it needs to work simultaneously.
Knife-kills - all I can say is I notice that if I hit an enemy with any bullet, even a pistol shot, the enemy is slowed down and ready for a stab, but in higher rounds the enemies are armoured and require multiple slashes to kill.
Extra points available for finishing a round fast, finishing flawlessly (i.e. no hits on you whatsoever) and some other points. Basically the bestest players get rewarded for a bestest performance.
2. Sentry Guns
In addition to getting more points/cash, one great way to extend the killstreak is to set up Sentry Guns in strategic locations.
Make sure that you do not get in the way of the Sentry Gun: it will not fire if you are in the firing line / arc.
The best locations to place Sentry Guns are open spaces with a long wall on either side of the sentry gun, preferably both sides but I don't find many, and perhaps a barrier of some kind to protect the sentry gun.
And if it helps you finish the round faster, you get a higher end-of-round bonus.
In multiplayer Survival, both players can move any Sentry Guns, not just their own. It looks like there is just one Sentry Gun per player in Multiplayer, but in Solo I can buy one, place it, buy another, place that, at least in some maps.
In DOME, the space between the dome and the bunker - alternatively, between the Weapons Armory and the Equipment Armory, is an excellent space for just this. I place an SG beside the barrier near the far corner, so that the SG faces the other barrier near the door to the Equipment Armory. Similarly, if I can, I put another SG behind that barrier and facing the door to the Weapons Armory /dome. These guns can then protect each other, but a few Claymores help too. So long as I'm not taking hits, my Sentry Gun helps deliver the Killstreak and the Rampage in the middle rounds, and some support for the tougher enemies in the higher rounds.
Note that attack choppers will shoot your sentry guns, and your sentry guns will shoot the attack choppers as well; but don't rely on the Sentry Gun to do the work. In the lower-tiered Survival maps, you could temporarily move the Sentry gun to undercover; however in higher-tiered maps, the attack choppers usually accompany heavy troops like Juggernauts, so it might not make a difference.
3. Handling the Attack Choppers
These start from round 4 or so. You can take them out with an MP5 - typically there are enough of these dropped by enemies in the first 5 rounds or so - but any ammo will do the trick and tougher ammo will work faster. $600 points each chopper.
4. Juggernaut
Around the same time as the choppers arrive. You'll see a transport chopper drop them off. The move slower but they don't stop for much. Stun grenades work on them, any gun works on them (I've finished one off with an MP9) and even stabbing works on them - you get some achievement for it :)
Then again, any Predator strike will take one out, actually it can take out three at once if you bunch them up in the open first, unless....
4b. Riot Shield Juggernaut.
This guy crawls around behind a riot shield, so if you use a Predator strike, make sure you hit behind the riot shield and not in front. After the shield is destroyed, it looks like the regular Juggernaut.
5. Air support.
There is a variety of air support available but by far the most reliably useful is the Predator strike.
You can always use it to scan the area, then cancel out rather than fire. And the damage it does is excellent - takes out Juggernauts in one good hit.
Delta team and Riot Shield team: these drop 3 guys to help you out. Not bad for gaining Killstreaks in the early to middle-rounds, but they only have the M16 gun at best, can't be upgraded, so they become less useful from round 12 or so.
Airstrike: not bad in the early rounds but there is a delay between marking the target and the actual strike. Doesn't take down a Juggernaut so I prefer to rely on Predator Drones and Sentry Guns.
Air support occupies the same 'slot' as Sentry Gun and Sentry Gun (bomb), but once you deploy a sentry gun you can get the other air support. Always remember this order:
First: Buy and call in a squad
Second: Buy and place a sentry gun
Last: Buy and hold onto a Predator strike or Airstrike.
6. C4
I love the C4 in multiplayer and now in Spec Ops Survival. Actually I have used it several times, throwing it over walls when I have no ammo, and it has delivered me the Quad Kill, Rampage and Killstreak contracts several times so that I can buy more ammo.
7. Buying and using weapons, and Refill your ammo
You can do reasonably well by collecting whatever weapons are currently dropped by the latest enemies.
Basically, as the rounds go up, the enemies are tougher and they are using better weapons and more heavily armoured.
Refilling all of you ammo - both loaded and spare ammo (unlike Zombies) - costs just $750. You can also scavenge about 12-15 rounds per same-weapon from the ground, so if you are expecting the attack chopper and want to save cash, pick up an MP5 or AK47 or anything but a shotgun, buy ammo for $750, use it, then scavenge off of the weapons on the ground: if you scavenge first, you will probably have to buy the ammo later. Sometimes just 2 or 3 clips of MP5 ammo do the job per each helicopter.
Now, to get more cash early on, you will need to buy better weapons.
For example, though I haven't unlocked it yet, the Barrett is the last sniper rifle to unlock. In MW2, the Barrett was recommended for taking down Juggernauts (Desert Eagle too, but in MW3 the Desert Eagle is not that good vs Juggernaut). So (presumably) if you had the Barrett early on and at the first opportunity on a Juggernaut, you can take out a Juggernaut at a distance for the $2000 or $3000 cost of the gun, rather than spending $2500 on a Predator strike or using heaps of bullets.
Using a Sniper rifle vs guys with Model 1885 shotties will ensure you get the Killstreak reward since you will shoot them from afar and never get hit yourself. Look out for good 'sniping funnels' in each map.
Using a better Assault Rifle will take down the enemies faster, in early rounds.
But as I said before, get the MP9 for just $1500 and use it in tighter spaces. It is faster than some SMGs, quick to reload and comes with heaps of ammo. Just keep aiming, take cover, reload, then go again. I've done reasonably well with it, even took out a chopper with it too.
I think by the middle rounds, it is good to have an LMG with grip and sight.
8. Armour and Perks
There is a shield at the bottom of the screen: it changes from gold to red, depending on how many hits you have taken. When the shield isn't there, you are out of armour. Replenish the armour costs $2000 for a full 'refill'.
Self-revive is a new perk, available from the start on lower-tiered Survival maps and for $4000 at any time from the Equipment Armory. Basically it is like Final Stand from MW2 or Second Chance from Black Ops, except that the enemy might still aim at you and your killing them gets you back on your feet. All you get is the starting pistol (not sure if you get your own sidearm if you buy and are carrying a pistol at the time), so in the higher rounds it is tougher for you to get back up by shooting some enemy dead. If you don't shoot someone, then you get back up after a number of seconds anyway.
Other Perks are available from the Airsupport Armory. Basically you call in a care package with the nominated perk. Note that if you do not take up the perk, it can be damaged/destroyed and therefore lost, but if you do take the perk, it replaces any that you already have, including Self-revive.
9. End game
The Survival Game ends when any one player dies without being revived. It looks like there is less time available to revive your teammate in the higher rounds, but I'm not sure if that depends (at least partially) on how many times they have been revived by teammates previously.
Unlike zombies, there is no easy way to get enough points to restock ammo and keep on going. It seems like this game mode will be a bit more about using skills to accumulate points, rather than simply herding zombies to milk points.
Anyhow, that's all for now, and probably anything on this topic, but as I find good setups for bunkering down, I'll add more details to this blog.
It is kinda similar to zombies, as follows:
- Survival round after round
- Enemies get tougher each round
- You earn points to buy weapons, equipment, perks and ammo
And then again, it is different altogether:
- The enemies can shoot at you, take cover behind objects, toss grenades, lay claymores and other traps
- You get access to air support and equipment like C4 (YES!)
- You can only have one perk at a time
- You can level up from one game to the next, unlocking new weapons from the Armories.
- No Power Switch
- No Perks-a-Cola
- No Traps
- No 'flinger'
and most unfortunately, NO Pack-a-Punch machine...
My gameplay so far - reached level 45 in a week or so - shows that you can make round 30 or so in less than an hour, which is better than in zombies that just goes on and on for several hours to make round 30 in, say, KDT. This is much more manageable for gaming time, the number of enemies each round is more moderate and they are also relatively tougher earlier on. The fact that they can hit you at range is also tougher than zombies you could, more or less, easily flee via circuit.
There are four tiers of Survival Mode. The first tier gives you more startup bonuses like a better handgun, Self-revive (shoot an enemy dead then stand back up), body armour and some grenades. In the top tier you don't start out with Self-Revive, body armour or grenades, and you get a six-shooter handgun (with built-in 'slow reloading' feature).
And the AI routines are somewhat smarter but still amounts to the enemies closing in on you wherever you are, just like in zombiez, rather than tougher tactics like having some guys sniping at you from a distance in support of shock-troopers out in front, or teams harrassing you to run into an ambush.
Still, it is enjoyable and here are my first tips on how to get ahead.
1. Know how to get points.
You get more points for killstreaks and other 'contracts' on the lower left of the screen.
Both players and enemies wear body armour, so it takes a few hits to make a kill. In game terms though, this means that a killstreak/contract slows down when the player takes any hits.
And contracts pay better and better if you can extend them.
So rule 1a: don't take hits if you can avoid it.
And rule 1b. take notice of the contracts available.
Note that Headshots are worth more points than regular kills, and there are no bullet-hit-points.
Killstreak as a contract means that you get a killstreak of, say, 5 kills in a row without a hit - and you get $500 in-game cash for it. If you extend that to 10 kills you get an EXTRA $1000 in-game cash for it, therefore you scored an extra $1500 as well as whatever you get for each kill. Done carefully in Round 1, you can score more than $3000 in-game cash before Round 2.
Rampage is a kinda like a killstreak except you need to score lots of kills in a short amount of time. Even if you take a few hits, that knocks back your Rampage a little (look at the bar while you try this out) but you can still score a Rampage with taking a few hits on you. I like to use the MP9 machine-pistol to score these in the early rounds because it is like a fast SMG and quick to reload, so in a stairwell or similar space, I shoot - take a step back/reload - step in and shoot again. Works wonders.
Quad-kill has two main ways to get it, but you need to run some circles to round up the enemies first. Either use a Predator drone strike or try C4, cooked grenades or destroying a vehicle. It all works but it needs to work simultaneously.
Knife-kills - all I can say is I notice that if I hit an enemy with any bullet, even a pistol shot, the enemy is slowed down and ready for a stab, but in higher rounds the enemies are armoured and require multiple slashes to kill.
Extra points available for finishing a round fast, finishing flawlessly (i.e. no hits on you whatsoever) and some other points. Basically the bestest players get rewarded for a bestest performance.
2. Sentry Guns
In addition to getting more points/cash, one great way to extend the killstreak is to set up Sentry Guns in strategic locations.
Make sure that you do not get in the way of the Sentry Gun: it will not fire if you are in the firing line / arc.
The best locations to place Sentry Guns are open spaces with a long wall on either side of the sentry gun, preferably both sides but I don't find many, and perhaps a barrier of some kind to protect the sentry gun.
And if it helps you finish the round faster, you get a higher end-of-round bonus.
In multiplayer Survival, both players can move any Sentry Guns, not just their own. It looks like there is just one Sentry Gun per player in Multiplayer, but in Solo I can buy one, place it, buy another, place that, at least in some maps.
In DOME, the space between the dome and the bunker - alternatively, between the Weapons Armory and the Equipment Armory, is an excellent space for just this. I place an SG beside the barrier near the far corner, so that the SG faces the other barrier near the door to the Equipment Armory. Similarly, if I can, I put another SG behind that barrier and facing the door to the Weapons Armory /dome. These guns can then protect each other, but a few Claymores help too. So long as I'm not taking hits, my Sentry Gun helps deliver the Killstreak and the Rampage in the middle rounds, and some support for the tougher enemies in the higher rounds.
Note that attack choppers will shoot your sentry guns, and your sentry guns will shoot the attack choppers as well; but don't rely on the Sentry Gun to do the work. In the lower-tiered Survival maps, you could temporarily move the Sentry gun to undercover; however in higher-tiered maps, the attack choppers usually accompany heavy troops like Juggernauts, so it might not make a difference.
3. Handling the Attack Choppers
These start from round 4 or so. You can take them out with an MP5 - typically there are enough of these dropped by enemies in the first 5 rounds or so - but any ammo will do the trick and tougher ammo will work faster. $600 points each chopper.
4. Juggernaut
Around the same time as the choppers arrive. You'll see a transport chopper drop them off. The move slower but they don't stop for much. Stun grenades work on them, any gun works on them (I've finished one off with an MP9) and even stabbing works on them - you get some achievement for it :)
Then again, any Predator strike will take one out, actually it can take out three at once if you bunch them up in the open first, unless....
4b. Riot Shield Juggernaut.
This guy crawls around behind a riot shield, so if you use a Predator strike, make sure you hit behind the riot shield and not in front. After the shield is destroyed, it looks like the regular Juggernaut.
5. Air support.
There is a variety of air support available but by far the most reliably useful is the Predator strike.
You can always use it to scan the area, then cancel out rather than fire. And the damage it does is excellent - takes out Juggernauts in one good hit.
Delta team and Riot Shield team: these drop 3 guys to help you out. Not bad for gaining Killstreaks in the early to middle-rounds, but they only have the M16 gun at best, can't be upgraded, so they become less useful from round 12 or so.
Airstrike: not bad in the early rounds but there is a delay between marking the target and the actual strike. Doesn't take down a Juggernaut so I prefer to rely on Predator Drones and Sentry Guns.
Air support occupies the same 'slot' as Sentry Gun and Sentry Gun (bomb), but once you deploy a sentry gun you can get the other air support. Always remember this order:
First: Buy and call in a squad
Second: Buy and place a sentry gun
Last: Buy and hold onto a Predator strike or Airstrike.
6. C4
I love the C4 in multiplayer and now in Spec Ops Survival. Actually I have used it several times, throwing it over walls when I have no ammo, and it has delivered me the Quad Kill, Rampage and Killstreak contracts several times so that I can buy more ammo.
7. Buying and using weapons, and Refill your ammo
You can do reasonably well by collecting whatever weapons are currently dropped by the latest enemies.
Basically, as the rounds go up, the enemies are tougher and they are using better weapons and more heavily armoured.
Refilling all of you ammo - both loaded and spare ammo (unlike Zombies) - costs just $750. You can also scavenge about 12-15 rounds per same-weapon from the ground, so if you are expecting the attack chopper and want to save cash, pick up an MP5 or AK47 or anything but a shotgun, buy ammo for $750, use it, then scavenge off of the weapons on the ground: if you scavenge first, you will probably have to buy the ammo later. Sometimes just 2 or 3 clips of MP5 ammo do the job per each helicopter.
Now, to get more cash early on, you will need to buy better weapons.
For example, though I haven't unlocked it yet, the Barrett is the last sniper rifle to unlock. In MW2, the Barrett was recommended for taking down Juggernauts (Desert Eagle too, but in MW3 the Desert Eagle is not that good vs Juggernaut). So (presumably) if you had the Barrett early on and at the first opportunity on a Juggernaut, you can take out a Juggernaut at a distance for the $2000 or $3000 cost of the gun, rather than spending $2500 on a Predator strike or using heaps of bullets.
Using a Sniper rifle vs guys with Model 1885 shotties will ensure you get the Killstreak reward since you will shoot them from afar and never get hit yourself. Look out for good 'sniping funnels' in each map.
Using a better Assault Rifle will take down the enemies faster, in early rounds.
But as I said before, get the MP9 for just $1500 and use it in tighter spaces. It is faster than some SMGs, quick to reload and comes with heaps of ammo. Just keep aiming, take cover, reload, then go again. I've done reasonably well with it, even took out a chopper with it too.
I think by the middle rounds, it is good to have an LMG with grip and sight.
8. Armour and Perks
There is a shield at the bottom of the screen: it changes from gold to red, depending on how many hits you have taken. When the shield isn't there, you are out of armour. Replenish the armour costs $2000 for a full 'refill'.
Self-revive is a new perk, available from the start on lower-tiered Survival maps and for $4000 at any time from the Equipment Armory. Basically it is like Final Stand from MW2 or Second Chance from Black Ops, except that the enemy might still aim at you and your killing them gets you back on your feet. All you get is the starting pistol (not sure if you get your own sidearm if you buy and are carrying a pistol at the time), so in the higher rounds it is tougher for you to get back up by shooting some enemy dead. If you don't shoot someone, then you get back up after a number of seconds anyway.
Other Perks are available from the Airsupport Armory. Basically you call in a care package with the nominated perk. Note that if you do not take up the perk, it can be damaged/destroyed and therefore lost, but if you do take the perk, it replaces any that you already have, including Self-revive.
9. End game
The Survival Game ends when any one player dies without being revived. It looks like there is less time available to revive your teammate in the higher rounds, but I'm not sure if that depends (at least partially) on how many times they have been revived by teammates previously.
Unlike zombies, there is no easy way to get enough points to restock ammo and keep on going. It seems like this game mode will be a bit more about using skills to accumulate points, rather than simply herding zombies to milk points.
Anyhow, that's all for now, and probably anything on this topic, but as I find good setups for bunkering down, I'll add more details to this blog.
2011/09/29
Getting ahead in No Man's Land
The Area 51 starting area of the zombies map 'Moon' is called "No Man's Land", according to the Leaderboard (which says I'm in the top 10000 ranked players).
As mentioned in my previous entry, "No Man's Land" (Area 51) is the key to unlocking heaps of points, so long as you have a good, preferably automatic gun with lots of spare ammo, or a Bowie Knife plus Ballistic Knife combo (if before round 10/14).
In No Man's Land, the zombies don't drop Max Ammo or anything, so you only have what you take in with you.
At the start of the game, you only have 40 bullets in your M1911, and a knife; before the 1st 'nuke' siren, the zombies are a one-hit slash, then afterwards a 5-bullets plus slash to kill, then progressively tougher with each nuke siren. Incidentally, the 1st and 2nd dogs are one-slash kills also, but not so the next one, so two dogs is my cue to get out, or at least keep away from zombies...
Anyhow, here's how to get a good start.
Bear in mind that after you reach the Receiving Hall at the Moon, you need 6,500 points to unlock all the doors, via Tunnel 6, to reach the teleporter and get back to No Man's Land for more points. So you'll also need 950-1200 points for a decent gun and maybe 500 points for Quick Revive (if playing Solo).
I figure it is best to aim for 3,500 points in solo, or 4,000 points total between two players, before starting round 1. This way, you might have enough points to get back to No Man's Land as early as Round 2 (leave a crawler).
Solo: I first slash (slash-only) as many zombies that spawn in the two mud puddles. An unlucky start is less than 9 zombies giving a total less than 1,800 points before the 1st nuke siren. A really good start is 14 zombies for more than 2,000 points on 1st nuke siren. No matter, the next step is to work the horde into a tight bunch - just running around the large central puddle works reasonably well; slash the 1st/2nd dogs if it gets to that.
By the third siren, zombie crawlers and armless runners can be killed with a slash, so making this happen is what you want to do. Here's how: get a medium-lead on the herd and take them up the stairs to the teleporter. [At this location, any kills will be replaced by new spawns in No Man's Land, so you have room to finish off the zombies.] Immediately at the top of the stairs, before the zombies catch up, you hang a left and stand next to the drink machine & pull the pin on a grenade, cook it a second or two and slam it on the ground, straight down-ish but pointing almost towards the adjacent corner on the other side of the stairs, or to the middle of the stairs; then walk sideways in a half-circle around the grenade; this should land the grenade right in the middle of the herd, and your walking should keep them trained on the grenade. The explosion should leave you with dead zombies, a few crawlers and maybe some armless runners. Slash what remains and you should have 3,500+ points and new spawns breaking in.
At this point, you probably still have one grenade and some bullets. Maybe throw another grenade or shoot bullets for more points because you really don't need either once Round 1 starts (they're all one-slash kills again, then 2-slashes in round 2). You could make another herd and finish off your grenades and ammo for extra points - maybe even rack up enough to Pack-a-Punch the M1911 to Mustang and Sally, although you are very vulnerable to the explosive splash (believe me, I did just that). Just be sure to get out of No Man's Land before you die, and don't buy the drink - even if it is Juggernog.
Instead, save the points to get back to No Man's Land as soon as possible. You should have 32 or so zombies to kill in rounds 1, 2 and 3, for an extra 3,000 to 5,000 points, depending how you go with the zombies and the timing of any Max Ammo and/or X2 points; Here's what I suggest you do next, assuming you haven't left the Receiving Area (adjust depending on how many doors/guns you have bought):
6,500 points + a Max Ammo replenishing your M1911 & grenades, if by round 2, just go to NML and work it for a few extra points as safely as possible.
7,000 points + a Max Ammo replenishing your M1911 & grenades, if by round 2, get Quick Revive and go to NML - be safe.
7,500 points - get all the doors but before going to NML, check the two Mystery Box spots on the way too and either have a go, or get a wall gun SMG, M16 or Stakeout on the way, then go to NML
8,000 points - as before, but get Quick Revive before going to NML as well.
10,000 points - you must be in Round 4+ already; so get to NML for points soon, and maybe get Juggs while you're there.
Now, the teleporter has an entrace 'gateway' with four lights that are green or red; after teleporting, they all alight red. I think that the first light (leftmost) doesn't change to green until after you kill some number of zombies, but maybe the last one is on a timer after the 3rd light changes... so it is not unlimited: I can't get 200k points before round 5 by rerunning to NML again and again, but here's what you can get by using...
So, don't worry about about the Bowie Knife or flicking the power so quickly; get back to No Man's Land as soon as possible to get more points, then go for Juggs, Bowie Knife, other drinks or work the box.
Also, No Man's Land changes the dynamics of what guns work best. Gaming in Solo, any shotgun is great to give you some safety while waiting for the teleporter from start to go. Gaming in multiplayer, the zombie-herding thing works best with just one guy running around as the bait in No Man's Land, so all the other players should camp at the Teleporter station - perhaps with Sniper Rifles to take down zombies from the herd just one at a time, and shotguns in case the herd goes to the Teleporter instead of the bait. This would be a very interesting strategy with four players, 3 on the sniping and myself with the Ballistic+Bowie combo.
And, the Biodome has the Claymores on some pile of crates. In solo or in multiplayer, these are also good for providing a little safety prior to teleport. I recommend planting them a few steps away from the teleporter, back to back, although some hellhound dog usually spawns on the teleporter platform and may destroy a claymore as it runs past; maybe equip and place them just before leaving?
From what I read about the Quantum Entanglement Device, it can cause a total loss of all points on all players; I guess that NML balances this out by giving an option to get more points without affecting the round number you are in.
No Man's Land really will change the meaning of how many kills and points and to what round you survive; then again, it has it's own leaderboard for Solo.
As mentioned in my previous entry, "No Man's Land" (Area 51) is the key to unlocking heaps of points, so long as you have a good, preferably automatic gun with lots of spare ammo, or a Bowie Knife plus Ballistic Knife combo (if before round 10/14).
In No Man's Land, the zombies don't drop Max Ammo or anything, so you only have what you take in with you.
At the start of the game, you only have 40 bullets in your M1911, and a knife; before the 1st 'nuke' siren, the zombies are a one-hit slash, then afterwards a 5-bullets plus slash to kill, then progressively tougher with each nuke siren. Incidentally, the 1st and 2nd dogs are one-slash kills also, but not so the next one, so two dogs is my cue to get out, or at least keep away from zombies...
Anyhow, here's how to get a good start.
Bear in mind that after you reach the Receiving Hall at the Moon, you need 6,500 points to unlock all the doors, via Tunnel 6, to reach the teleporter and get back to No Man's Land for more points. So you'll also need 950-1200 points for a decent gun and maybe 500 points for Quick Revive (if playing Solo).
I figure it is best to aim for 3,500 points in solo, or 4,000 points total between two players, before starting round 1. This way, you might have enough points to get back to No Man's Land as early as Round 2 (leave a crawler).
Solo: I first slash (slash-only) as many zombies that spawn in the two mud puddles. An unlucky start is less than 9 zombies giving a total less than 1,800 points before the 1st nuke siren. A really good start is 14 zombies for more than 2,000 points on 1st nuke siren. No matter, the next step is to work the horde into a tight bunch - just running around the large central puddle works reasonably well; slash the 1st/2nd dogs if it gets to that.
By the third siren, zombie crawlers and armless runners can be killed with a slash, so making this happen is what you want to do. Here's how: get a medium-lead on the herd and take them up the stairs to the teleporter. [At this location, any kills will be replaced by new spawns in No Man's Land, so you have room to finish off the zombies.] Immediately at the top of the stairs, before the zombies catch up, you hang a left and stand next to the drink machine & pull the pin on a grenade, cook it a second or two and slam it on the ground, straight down-ish but pointing almost towards the adjacent corner on the other side of the stairs, or to the middle of the stairs; then walk sideways in a half-circle around the grenade; this should land the grenade right in the middle of the herd, and your walking should keep them trained on the grenade. The explosion should leave you with dead zombies, a few crawlers and maybe some armless runners. Slash what remains and you should have 3,500+ points and new spawns breaking in.
At this point, you probably still have one grenade and some bullets. Maybe throw another grenade or shoot bullets for more points because you really don't need either once Round 1 starts (they're all one-slash kills again, then 2-slashes in round 2). You could make another herd and finish off your grenades and ammo for extra points - maybe even rack up enough to Pack-a-Punch the M1911 to Mustang and Sally, although you are very vulnerable to the explosive splash (believe me, I did just that). Just be sure to get out of No Man's Land before you die, and don't buy the drink - even if it is Juggernog.
Instead, save the points to get back to No Man's Land as soon as possible. You should have 32 or so zombies to kill in rounds 1, 2 and 3, for an extra 3,000 to 5,000 points, depending how you go with the zombies and the timing of any Max Ammo and/or X2 points; Here's what I suggest you do next, assuming you haven't left the Receiving Area (adjust depending on how many doors/guns you have bought):
6,500 points + a Max Ammo replenishing your M1911 & grenades, if by round 2, just go to NML and work it for a few extra points as safely as possible.
7,000 points + a Max Ammo replenishing your M1911 & grenades, if by round 2, get Quick Revive and go to NML - be safe.
7,500 points - get all the doors but before going to NML, check the two Mystery Box spots on the way too and either have a go, or get a wall gun SMG, M16 or Stakeout on the way, then go to NML
8,000 points - as before, but get Quick Revive before going to NML as well.
10,000 points - you must be in Round 4+ already; so get to NML for points soon, and maybe get Juggs while you're there.
Now, the teleporter has an entrace 'gateway' with four lights that are green or red; after teleporting, they all alight red. I think that the first light (leftmost) doesn't change to green until after you kill some number of zombies, but maybe the last one is on a timer after the 3rd light changes... so it is not unlimited: I can't get 200k points before round 5 by rerunning to NML again and again, but here's what you can get by using...
- M1911 + 2 grenades = 3,000 points
- AUG/Commando/Galil, full ammo = 7,500 points
- AK74u/MP5k/MPL, full ammo = 5,000 points
- RPK/HK21 = you can probably guess.
- Ballistic Knife + Gersch Device = accumulate zombies, throw the Gersch, equip Ballistic knife = 130 points per zombie sucked into the black hole. If also holding the Bowie Knife before Round 10, or it is before Round 14 and already Pack-a-Punched the Ballistic Knife, then slash what you can for 130 points per kill.
So, don't worry about about the Bowie Knife or flicking the power so quickly; get back to No Man's Land as soon as possible to get more points, then go for Juggs, Bowie Knife, other drinks or work the box.
Also, No Man's Land changes the dynamics of what guns work best. Gaming in Solo, any shotgun is great to give you some safety while waiting for the teleporter from start to go. Gaming in multiplayer, the zombie-herding thing works best with just one guy running around as the bait in No Man's Land, so all the other players should camp at the Teleporter station - perhaps with Sniper Rifles to take down zombies from the herd just one at a time, and shotguns in case the herd goes to the Teleporter instead of the bait. This would be a very interesting strategy with four players, 3 on the sniping and myself with the Ballistic+Bowie combo.
And, the Biodome has the Claymores on some pile of crates. In solo or in multiplayer, these are also good for providing a little safety prior to teleport. I recommend planting them a few steps away from the teleporter, back to back, although some hellhound dog usually spawns on the teleporter platform and may destroy a claymore as it runs past; maybe equip and place them just before leaving?
From what I read about the Quantum Entanglement Device, it can cause a total loss of all points on all players; I guess that NML balances this out by giving an option to get more points without affecting the round number you are in.
No Man's Land really will change the meaning of how many kills and points and to what round you survive; then again, it has it's own leaderboard for Solo.
2011/09/25
Moon - getting started
Moon; just out on PS3 since a few days ago and...whoa - big map, different setup from the start and seems to have a lot more variables to consider.
First, you start outside Hangar 18 in Area 51, with Pack-a-Punch and either SpeedCola/Juggernog available, and the power is on! There is a teleporter that works when all players (alive or downed) are waiting on top of it.
Also, there are two shallow pools of water where zombies crawl out of the ground (like Call of the Dead) for quick, 1-slash kills. And other zombies will get to you from the 'platforms' on either side, 4x entry ways , so watch out. I recommend slashing every zombie you can before teleporting to the Moon.
Upon spawning the new game, a siren goes off, and about 20s later another siren is your 'warning'. Then at ~30s you hear a sound from MW2 for 'tactical nuke inbound'; immediately the zombies are now a 4x shots of M1911 pistol + slash to kill, and the zombies 'run' rather than walk; they are not as fast as after the George effect (Call of the Dead). You can possibly lead them in a circle around the big puddle, sort-of, as long as you play solo, and if you empty your ammo at the horde (as per my previous notes), then doing so may net you more than 2500 points so you can get Juggernog just before you teleport out.
Moon: straight away on arrival, it is Round 1 and you need to get the PES equipment (space helmet) and then equip it. There is one right in front of you upon arrival; alternatively, there are heaps of airlocks, one on either side of this room, and throughout the rest of the map, so just look for an identical locker in every airlock.
The map is a bit like a circle with a 'Y' on top, and you start at the bottom of the circle. Either you take Tunnel 6 or Tunnel 11 to get to the top of the circle, where is the power switch and a Pyramid, and stairs to the laboratories (the bottom of the Y) and at the top of the lab are two doors that go to the PaPmachine teleporter (left) and the biodome (right).
Space man - astronaut suit with any red name. A bit like George, you can basically stay away from him. You can't run past him up/down a stairs, nor an airlock; he will get you every time.
Anyhow, my recommendation for a good start is:
1. don't put your team in danger at Area51; just kill what you can and get out. If solo, practice until you can get 2500 points + Juggernog.
2. as soon as you have ~2000 points for doors and 1000 points per player for a wall gun, open two doors and buy the wall gun, either MPL or PM63, depending which doors you open. I recommend MPL because it has a bigger clip. Then camp around in the open space between Tunnel 6 and Tunnel 11, on the surface of the moon until you have about 4000 points for doors and 3000 points each for the Bowie Knife.
3. Play a round until you can 'leave a crawler', then open doors on one side all the way to the Pyramid and DO NOT TURN ON THE POWER YET. Instead, head up to the laboratories and figure out how to buy the Bowie Knife; this requires buying a few more doors, but not the door at the top of a stairwell after walking through the laboratories.
*Basically, from the top of the stairs within the laboratories, look back and high up the wall, there is the Bowie Knife for 3000 points. To reach it you need to use the low-gravity setup to jump sideways rather than up (hence, don't turn on the power just yet) and from close to the top, run/jump towards the inner corner of the stairwell; this should bounce you off the wall and give you a moment that, holding the square button, should get you the Bowie Knife.
4. Now, with the Bowie Knife, do not hang out in the laboratories; it's a tight space that fills with teleporting gas zombies; instead, head back to the open surface to camp for more points, or proceed through the doors to either teleporter or biodome. If you have 2500 points (or nearly as much) and Juggernog is downstairs, then i recommend teleporter, just go stand on it a moment and head to Area 51 again, maybe go one at a time...
5. The biodome looks like an open space suitable for running circles with a horde of zombies behind you. The only weapon here is the Claymore, and the gravity lift things don't exactly throw you to land on the next platform, so you need to watch + adjust where you land very carefully. Apparently there is some sort of perpetual power up available that changes like the monkeys do in Shangri-La, but you need to work out how to get to it via the gravity lifts.
A new POINTS strategy?
You can use the usual Bowie Knife and/or a Bullets-for-points strategy, but on this map the Area 51/Hangar 18 creates a new situation.
In Area 51, the zombies count for points and kills, but they don't count towards zombie spawns for the the round, at least before round 1 they don't. They serve as the time limit for the Pack a punch machine. So, if players left a crawler then go to the Pack a Punch machine, and I think it is necessary that everyone do this at once (not sure yet), it is possible to rack up more kills and points by hitting Area 51 for some bonus zombies. For this I recommend getting an Assault Rifle or LMG, but any SMG or anything else will do.
It looks like this, when you get to Area 51, the zombies are as tough to start as the zombies on the Moon (depends on which Round you are playing), but they get tougher with each sound of the nuke siren. These zombies never seem to drop any bonuses, so you will only be there as long as you survive and have ammo, although I wonder whether you can get an Instakill or DeathMachine just before teleporting, and use it while you are there? Anyhow, when you teleport back, you finish the round where you left it, except that there is a fence around the teleporter that stays up until...I'm not sure: it doesn't seem to fall down at the start of the next round, so maybe it is time limited - in which case you just need to leave the last crawler for long enough to go back to Area 51 again.
In Area 51, you have ample time to PaP a gun and get Juggs or SpeedCola, but you can hang around and shoot zombies in Area 51 and new spawns just keep on coming. If you got good at the zombie concentrator manouvre in KDT or similarly in Ascension, you can keep a horde behind you until you empty all of your ammo and grenades on them, just for extra points. So long as you have ammo, you can get more points in Area 51, but be warned that the teleporter takes a little while between your standing on it to initiate and the actual teleportation, so you need to keep well clear of them as you run to the teleporter, and/or you need to have some way to fight back while the teleporter does its thing: maybe Claymores, RayGun, DG-2 or Wave Gun.
So, my thinking is: put all your points into one set of doors to get the teleporter as a priority; I managed this before the end of Round 3 by scoring ~3000 points before Round 1 and buying only the M14 at first (1 bullet per Round Number to kill a zombie) and a little luck with the Max Ammo and x2 points; then if you have any points to spare, try to get an SMG off the wall, or the M16 or something similar via the Mystery Box, then get 3000+ points back at Area 51 to put towards something like Juggs or save it for later...
Using this, I got ~7000 points from a Galil in Area 51, Round 6; and similarly using RPK - even upgraded it next time. Having a Ray Gun or Wave Gun helped when the ammo was low / Pack-a-Punching...
There are obvious circuits:
A. Open Tunnel 6 and Tunnel 11, walk slowly around them as a circle
B. Open either Tunnel, the Laboratories and teleporter and/or teleporter-via-Biodome, use the teleporter to complete the circuit.
Then again, there are wide spaces in the tunnels, around the biodome, around the pyramid, between the two tunnel entrances, which can be used effectively as mini-circles. Mr Space Man may make it difficult, if present.
First, you start outside Hangar 18 in Area 51, with Pack-a-Punch and either SpeedCola/Juggernog available, and the power is on! There is a teleporter that works when all players (alive or downed) are waiting on top of it.
Also, there are two shallow pools of water where zombies crawl out of the ground (like Call of the Dead) for quick, 1-slash kills. And other zombies will get to you from the 'platforms' on either side, 4x entry ways , so watch out. I recommend slashing every zombie you can before teleporting to the Moon.
Upon spawning the new game, a siren goes off, and about 20s later another siren is your 'warning'. Then at ~30s you hear a sound from MW2 for 'tactical nuke inbound'; immediately the zombies are now a 4x shots of M1911 pistol + slash to kill, and the zombies 'run' rather than walk; they are not as fast as after the George effect (Call of the Dead). You can possibly lead them in a circle around the big puddle, sort-of, as long as you play solo, and if you empty your ammo at the horde (as per my previous notes), then doing so may net you more than 2500 points so you can get Juggernog just before you teleport out.
Moon: straight away on arrival, it is Round 1 and you need to get the PES equipment (space helmet) and then equip it. There is one right in front of you upon arrival; alternatively, there are heaps of airlocks, one on either side of this room, and throughout the rest of the map, so just look for an identical locker in every airlock.
The map is a bit like a circle with a 'Y' on top, and you start at the bottom of the circle. Either you take Tunnel 6 or Tunnel 11 to get to the top of the circle, where is the power switch and a Pyramid, and stairs to the laboratories (the bottom of the Y) and at the top of the lab are two doors that go to the PaPmachine teleporter (left) and the biodome (right).
Space man - astronaut suit with any red name. A bit like George, you can basically stay away from him. You can't run past him up/down a stairs, nor an airlock; he will get you every time.
Anyhow, my recommendation for a good start is:
1. don't put your team in danger at Area51; just kill what you can and get out. If solo, practice until you can get 2500 points + Juggernog.
2. as soon as you have ~2000 points for doors and 1000 points per player for a wall gun, open two doors and buy the wall gun, either MPL or PM63, depending which doors you open. I recommend MPL because it has a bigger clip. Then camp around in the open space between Tunnel 6 and Tunnel 11, on the surface of the moon until you have about 4000 points for doors and 3000 points each for the Bowie Knife.
3. Play a round until you can 'leave a crawler', then open doors on one side all the way to the Pyramid and DO NOT TURN ON THE POWER YET. Instead, head up to the laboratories and figure out how to buy the Bowie Knife; this requires buying a few more doors, but not the door at the top of a stairwell after walking through the laboratories.
*Basically, from the top of the stairs within the laboratories, look back and high up the wall, there is the Bowie Knife for 3000 points. To reach it you need to use the low-gravity setup to jump sideways rather than up (hence, don't turn on the power just yet) and from close to the top, run/jump towards the inner corner of the stairwell; this should bounce you off the wall and give you a moment that, holding the square button, should get you the Bowie Knife.
4. Now, with the Bowie Knife, do not hang out in the laboratories; it's a tight space that fills with teleporting gas zombies; instead, head back to the open surface to camp for more points, or proceed through the doors to either teleporter or biodome. If you have 2500 points (or nearly as much) and Juggernog is downstairs, then i recommend teleporter, just go stand on it a moment and head to Area 51 again, maybe go one at a time...
5. The biodome looks like an open space suitable for running circles with a horde of zombies behind you. The only weapon here is the Claymore, and the gravity lift things don't exactly throw you to land on the next platform, so you need to watch + adjust where you land very carefully. Apparently there is some sort of perpetual power up available that changes like the monkeys do in Shangri-La, but you need to work out how to get to it via the gravity lifts.
A new POINTS strategy?
You can use the usual Bowie Knife and/or a Bullets-for-points strategy, but on this map the Area 51/Hangar 18 creates a new situation.
In Area 51, the zombies count for points and kills, but they don't count towards zombie spawns for the the round, at least before round 1 they don't. They serve as the time limit for the Pack a punch machine. So, if players left a crawler then go to the Pack a Punch machine, and I think it is necessary that everyone do this at once (not sure yet), it is possible to rack up more kills and points by hitting Area 51 for some bonus zombies. For this I recommend getting an Assault Rifle or LMG, but any SMG or anything else will do.
It looks like this, when you get to Area 51, the zombies are as tough to start as the zombies on the Moon (depends on which Round you are playing), but they get tougher with each sound of the nuke siren. These zombies never seem to drop any bonuses, so you will only be there as long as you survive and have ammo, although I wonder whether you can get an Instakill or DeathMachine just before teleporting, and use it while you are there? Anyhow, when you teleport back, you finish the round where you left it, except that there is a fence around the teleporter that stays up until...I'm not sure: it doesn't seem to fall down at the start of the next round, so maybe it is time limited - in which case you just need to leave the last crawler for long enough to go back to Area 51 again.
In Area 51, you have ample time to PaP a gun and get Juggs or SpeedCola, but you can hang around and shoot zombies in Area 51 and new spawns just keep on coming. If you got good at the zombie concentrator manouvre in KDT or similarly in Ascension, you can keep a horde behind you until you empty all of your ammo and grenades on them, just for extra points. So long as you have ammo, you can get more points in Area 51, but be warned that the teleporter takes a little while between your standing on it to initiate and the actual teleportation, so you need to keep well clear of them as you run to the teleporter, and/or you need to have some way to fight back while the teleporter does its thing: maybe Claymores, RayGun, DG-2 or Wave Gun.
So, my thinking is: put all your points into one set of doors to get the teleporter as a priority; I managed this before the end of Round 3 by scoring ~3000 points before Round 1 and buying only the M14 at first (1 bullet per Round Number to kill a zombie) and a little luck with the Max Ammo and x2 points; then if you have any points to spare, try to get an SMG off the wall, or the M16 or something similar via the Mystery Box, then get 3000+ points back at Area 51 to put towards something like Juggs or save it for later...
Using this, I got ~7000 points from a Galil in Area 51, Round 6; and similarly using RPK - even upgraded it next time. Having a Ray Gun or Wave Gun helped when the ammo was low / Pack-a-Punching...
There are obvious circuits:
A. Open Tunnel 6 and Tunnel 11, walk slowly around them as a circle
B. Open either Tunnel, the Laboratories and teleporter and/or teleporter-via-Biodome, use the teleporter to complete the circuit.
Then again, there are wide spaces in the tunnels, around the biodome, around the pyramid, between the two tunnel entrances, which can be used effectively as mini-circles. Mr Space Man may make it difficult, if present.
2011/08/18
Circuit in ShangriLa
Ok, so this is the circuit setup that sort-of works.
1. Do not open the 'door' near the Olympia gun in the starting area, but freely open all other doors.
By doing this, when you camp at the top of the water slide, you force all spawned zombies on the map to walk to you via the downstairs tunnels, then they must pass the waterfall, go through the waterfall-to-bridge tunnel, then either run through bridge/mud-temple, or the 'other way' toward the start of the water slide.
2. From whatever round you can, camp at the top of the water slide after you have all doors but the one mentioned at point 1. Players need to split themselves between shooting zombies at (a) the window near the water slide entrance, (b) the mud temple and (c) the hole and the ledge towards the tunnel.
Setting up any Spikemores around here is a good idea. I recommend pointing the front towards the encampment, so that the spikemore wont' detonate until the zombies are closing in on you, to give you a break and an audible warning to move.
3. When this camp is overrun with zombies, everyone take the water slide; when you get to the bottom, avoid temptation to buy anything run straight to and use the geyser, then pile onto the mine cart. Hold this position by ensuring someone is each pointing a gun at (a) the nearest window, (b) the edge of the deck overlooking the drink machine, (c) the way towards the geyser landing spot, and (d) maybe someone pointing to the farther window or facing the front of the mine cart in order to start the ride when the other players need to reload their weapons.
4. If everyone is on the mine cart when it goes, that's good; if someone is down, there is some kind of glitch at work that they will seem to 'stay' at the start of the ride until everyone lands by the waterfall, then they instantly 'teleport' to the waterfall where they can be revived.
5. After the mine cart ride, go through the tunnel towards the bridge, cross the bridge and walk through the mud to get back to the top of the waterslide; then fix up the camp for another circuit.
By keeping the debris near the Olympia, this ensures that the zombies must take the long way to get to you: from the waterslide to the mine cart, they must go through the lower map (the mines) and in reverse, the long way again.
I guess that the alternative is to not clear the debris between the waterfall and the downstairs room with the Stakeout shotgun, but it is not quite as good.
Addendum 1: I posted earlier about keeping the debris near the M14 might be the way to go, or the debris in the waterfall location. I guess though that it doesn't matter too much, only how soon you might get swamped from either direction. In hindsight, I think the debris at the waterfall or the tunnel at the bridge/waterfall is better to save it closed, although having it open is part of the Eclipse secret. This way, more zombies will funnel through the mud temple and have to slow down as they run through the mud, which is advantageous for a team with LMGs/ARs (to rack up points) or other good guns to mow down zombies from the camping spot.
Addendum 2: I did this circuit with three, relatively-nooby players and we all got to Round 22 before getting stuck down near the Juggernog machine, minecart side. Seems to be effective.
1. Do not open the 'door' near the Olympia gun in the starting area, but freely open all other doors.
By doing this, when you camp at the top of the water slide, you force all spawned zombies on the map to walk to you via the downstairs tunnels, then they must pass the waterfall, go through the waterfall-to-bridge tunnel, then either run through bridge/mud-temple, or the 'other way' toward the start of the water slide.
2. From whatever round you can, camp at the top of the water slide after you have all doors but the one mentioned at point 1. Players need to split themselves between shooting zombies at (a) the window near the water slide entrance, (b) the mud temple and (c) the hole and the ledge towards the tunnel.
Setting up any Spikemores around here is a good idea. I recommend pointing the front towards the encampment, so that the spikemore wont' detonate until the zombies are closing in on you, to give you a break and an audible warning to move.
3. When this camp is overrun with zombies, everyone take the water slide; when you get to the bottom, avoid temptation to buy anything run straight to and use the geyser, then pile onto the mine cart. Hold this position by ensuring someone is each pointing a gun at (a) the nearest window, (b) the edge of the deck overlooking the drink machine, (c) the way towards the geyser landing spot, and (d) maybe someone pointing to the farther window or facing the front of the mine cart in order to start the ride when the other players need to reload their weapons.
4. If everyone is on the mine cart when it goes, that's good; if someone is down, there is some kind of glitch at work that they will seem to 'stay' at the start of the ride until everyone lands by the waterfall, then they instantly 'teleport' to the waterfall where they can be revived.
5. After the mine cart ride, go through the tunnel towards the bridge, cross the bridge and walk through the mud to get back to the top of the waterslide; then fix up the camp for another circuit.
By keeping the debris near the Olympia, this ensures that the zombies must take the long way to get to you: from the waterslide to the mine cart, they must go through the lower map (the mines) and in reverse, the long way again.
I guess that the alternative is to not clear the debris between the waterfall and the downstairs room with the Stakeout shotgun, but it is not quite as good.
Addendum 1: I posted earlier about keeping the debris near the M14 might be the way to go, or the debris in the waterfall location. I guess though that it doesn't matter too much, only how soon you might get swamped from either direction. In hindsight, I think the debris at the waterfall or the tunnel at the bridge/waterfall is better to save it closed, although having it open is part of the Eclipse secret. This way, more zombies will funnel through the mud temple and have to slow down as they run through the mud, which is advantageous for a team with LMGs/ARs (to rack up points) or other good guns to mow down zombies from the camping spot.
Addendum 2: I did this circuit with three, relatively-nooby players and we all got to Round 22 before getting stuck down near the Juggernog machine, minecart side. Seems to be effective.
2011/08/03
Shangri-La Shangri-La .
Shangri-La is a challenging map. I think it works well as a challenge to all players because it adapts the map to best fit the zombie's simple AI routines.
What I mean is this: each zombie will switch targets to the closest player, regardless of vertical direction, and the map makes it easy for a bunch of zombies, after felling a player, to quickly jump up/down a level in order to swarm, surprise and corner the next player.
This makes it advantageous for players to try to hold a single location and travel as a group, but there are a few things that slow the players from travelling as a group, like the mud temple with shifting walls, and the spike traps.
Alternatively, by splitting up it is possible to throw the zombies sort-of off-balance: i.e. divide and conquer, but - as just mentioned - when one player falls the tide can more quickly turn against the remaining players. This is the opposite of KDT where all a player had to do was do a circuit, lead the zombies away from the fallen for a while, then rush over to quick-revive them.
Overall, there are some solid challenges to working a circuit, but a few things that seem to help, like the water slide, the mining cart ride and the waterfall 'trap'.
Not to mention, this map puts a bigger emphasis on teamwork to get to the Pack-a-Punch machine, and for unlocking the Eclipse achievement cannot be done without four players working cooperatively (which seems definitely worthwhile, then redoing it for all players).
A few notes first:
The Mystery Box weapons now include different wonder weapons in addition to the usual guns:
Strategy tips, based on my previous strategies; this now depends on your goals.
If possible, I think I like to stick with the Bowie Knife strategy and aim for a Fire Sale powerup by killing a zombie monkey thief at the right moment, as early on as possible to ensure survival.
What I mean is this: each zombie will switch targets to the closest player, regardless of vertical direction, and the map makes it easy for a bunch of zombies, after felling a player, to quickly jump up/down a level in order to swarm, surprise and corner the next player.
This makes it advantageous for players to try to hold a single location and travel as a group, but there are a few things that slow the players from travelling as a group, like the mud temple with shifting walls, and the spike traps.
Alternatively, by splitting up it is possible to throw the zombies sort-of off-balance: i.e. divide and conquer, but - as just mentioned - when one player falls the tide can more quickly turn against the remaining players. This is the opposite of KDT where all a player had to do was do a circuit, lead the zombies away from the fallen for a while, then rush over to quick-revive them.
Overall, there are some solid challenges to working a circuit, but a few things that seem to help, like the water slide, the mining cart ride and the waterfall 'trap'.
Not to mention, this map puts a bigger emphasis on teamwork to get to the Pack-a-Punch machine, and for unlocking the Eclipse achievement cannot be done without four players working cooperatively (which seems definitely worthwhile, then redoing it for all players).
A few notes first:
- Pack-a-Punch machine: is located at the top of the stairs in front of you when you start. In order to reach it you need to have, for just one moment, the power on and one player standing on each of the 4 floor plates located (a) in front of the Quick Revive machine behind your starting spot, (b) one level below, which is exactly between the two water wheels of the power switches room, (c) near the base of the bridge, and (d) at the middle of the mineshaft bend, on the opposite side of the map from the mud temple & bridge /past the door after the MPL. While standing on a floor plate, from some angle, you can observe a monkey statue spinning in 4 parts; a part stops spinning when a player is on the floor plate (or if they choof off). When the whole statue has stopped spinning, that is it - done - each player can run to the Pack a Punch machine and probably upgrade both weapons (points permitting) before the next player arrives. Eventually some rolling wheels reach the top and it is time to leave the machine, so you just cannot camp at the Pack-a-Punch machine; the stairs become a slide and the floor catapults you to the bottom.
- Perks-a-Cola: apart from Quick Revive, these are not always located in the same place each time you play. Basically the Speed Cola and Juggernog are located past each of the first doors that are available to open, and the other drinks machines are all downstairs. Their location seems random each time you play, but they are not on the move during play.
- Zombie Monkeys - like the space monkeys, they like to steal things. On Shangri-La, they steal unclaimed powerups and run towards the Pack-a-Punch machine ziggurat. While a powerup is stolen, other monkeys are screaming hysterically and the powerup on the monkey thief is cycling through all the other powerups, and making some monkey-hooch-hooch noise (which helps you locate it if you have the right headphones on). This gives you an opportunity to kill the monkey thief when the powerup changes to what you want it to be, but to do that, you need to crouch and slash, or try shooting with a quick explosive weapon like Ray Gun, China Lake or upgraded M16's grenade launcher, or a maybe even a shot gun. You can use this to get a Max Ammo regardless of what is dropped, so long as you are far from the starting area and you follow the monkey and hit it when it flashes to Max Ammo. I recommend aiming for a Fire Sale as early as possible, then later aiming for instakill, nukes or Max Ammo.
- Another point on the zombie monkeys - one of them will try to attack a player that picks up a dropper powerup. They just run, hit the player, then run back to the ziggurat. I think that they are worth 500 points if you kill them before they hit, and that they don't seem to make an attack if (a) the powerup was a Nuke, or (b) the player slashed-to-kill the zombie that dropped the powerup, since in this case the powerup never hit the floor. One zombie monkey hit is not a strong slap, but it might make the difference versus surviving a close encounter with a horde of zombies and falling down.
- Mystery Box: where is it? look to the sky for a blue beam of light, just like in Call of the Dead. Note also that you can get the Fire Sale by carefully timing an attack on a Monkey thief.
- Zombie Screamers: these come out of the ground, run at you very quickly (like in Call of the Dead) and upon reaching you, they stop momentarily and let out a big scream. If caught in the scream, it is a bit like being hit by a concussion grenade or coming out of frozen water. They are basically a little tougher than regular zombies but die the same way as any other.
- Napalm Zombie: these come out of the ground and approach you slowly, like George in Call of the Dead. When they are close and within eye-sight, your HUD goes a bit 'fire-y'; and when they are very close to you, or you run past them, they scream for a moment then self-combust as a napalm bomb, causing zombies running past the napalm to burn/die much like the fire trap in KDT. You can shoot them until they get enrage and run a bit, and/or until they die, but it is possible to run up & retreat, or run past them, in order to cause them to combust. You need one of these guys to be alive at some stage in the Eclipse easter egg.
The Mystery Box weapons now include different wonder weapons in addition to the usual guns:
- Ray Gun as usual
- Monkey Bomb - my favourite and very helpful here.
- 'the Shrink Ray gun' which actually has some other title I can't remember, but it does shrink zombies momentarily. You automatically kick any shrunken zombie that get too close to you. It is also part of the Eclipse secret to hold onto and use this gun at some point. I read somewhere that the Mystery Box contains 2 of these guns, but I've never seen it myself.
Strategy tips, based on my previous strategies; this now depends on your goals.
- Survival and spare points: The Bowie Knife + Ballistic Knife/Krauss Refibrillator is a very good strategy (as per my KDT notes) because it is a very quick kill and ready-to-kill-next-zombie for the first 9 to 13 rounds of play; you might also be able to double-slash to kill in rounds 10 to 18, and it could be faster than shooting. If so, it will cost 750+1000+1000+1250 points to open doors and clear debris, plus 3000 for the Bowie Knife, just like KDT, and the path you choose to get to it won't much matter per se.
- Survival and spare points: Bullets-for-Points strategy is also very good. i.e. Get ANY kind of automatic gun with lots of spare ammo, or any wall-gun SMG (note that the MP40 is not on this map), and use that to rack up the non-fatal bullet hits for points. Be sure to get the Double Tap and Speed Cola drinks. *I suspect that, team permitting, getting the M16 and upgrading it is also a good part of this strategy, because upgraded ammo costs 4500 points and it saves you from scrounging around, plus adds a grenade launcher for killing any thieving monkeys.
- Eclipse Easter Egg strategy, you may want to do this either of two ways: (1) Bowie-Knife method until Round 13 or so, then get a Ray Gun and go for the Eclipse steps. Basically, by Round 14 or so, the Ray-Gun is a sure-fire and easy way to make a few crawlers (just shoot the Ray Gun at the ground in front of a zombie), or (2) Don't buy the Bowie Knife, instead use a Bullets-for-Points strategy and the 3000 points you spared from not buying the Bowie Knife in order to try the Mystery Box for the Shrink Ray gun as soon as possible, then use a grenade or semtex to make a few crawlers, and get on with the Eclipse easter egg.
If possible, I think I like to stick with the Bowie Knife strategy and aim for a Fire Sale powerup by killing a zombie monkey thief at the right moment, as early on as possible to ensure survival.
Lastly, is there a circuit or ideal path to use? I have a few points on this.
(a) if you do not remove the debris between the starting area and the area 'to the right' / with the MPL / with the Mine Cart ride, then this will force zombies to move underground in order to reach players near the bridge and/or mud temple.
(b) similarly, if you do not remove the debris underground on one side of the Power switches room, the debris nearer to the Spikemore I think, then you force the zombies to travel above ground.
Either (a) or (b) can help reduce the intensity of a horde of zombies assuming that the players split up, or it could keep a travelling group of players a more focused horde of zombies.
A possible circuit involves the following:
- Start at the entrance to the Water Slide; hold this position until you feel that the zombies start to crowd.
- Take the water slide; reload guns and/or shoot any zombies or lay Spikemores as you slide down.
- At the bottom of the slide, go straight to the nearest Geyser that will jump you to the base of the Mine Cart ride.
- Everyone pile into the Mine Cart and go when the zombies start to crowd; alternatively, one MVP should run down the hill a little bit, to draw zombies away when the Mine Cart goes with the rest of the crew; either way, do not kill any zombies until completing the next step.
- The mine cart ride ends at the waterfall space; immediately run up the and over the bridge, through the temple and regroup at the entrance to the Water Slide.
Remember always that:
- Spare points is your best way to recover from a fall; Bowie Knife or Bullets - your choice
- The Mystery Box serves as a lure to trap nooby players in one spot; best to use it during the 'zombie end game' of a round.
- If one player sort-of camps or guards the base of the stairs to the Pack-a-Punch machine, they can probably get the Monkey Thief and any powerups that come with it. Personally, I try leaving spikemores pointed to the stairs from the base, but I'm not sure that this gets the monkey thief all that often.
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