A Guide to Riviera
By Atzy
Riviera – flowing vineyards, quaint seaside, a perfect vacation spot. That is, until World in Conflict turned it into one of the deadliest hot spots for domination brawls. This map is fairly flexible in terms of moves and countermoves by well-coordinated teams, which is why I thought it a good idea to share an excellent strategy to make sure your team always comes out on top!
For now, this guide will feature playing Riviera as if you were on the NATO team. It is the team I’ve played the most and therefore the most experienced at. This guide will be set up in a play-by-play style, and I will assume that everyone on your team is communicating and working as a team like they should be (see notes on communicating towards the bottom). The premise of this battle plan is to have a good idea of what you want to do and how to do but to always remember to be fast, flexible, and fair – the three rules of World in Conflict.
Starting Out
When starting out on Riviera, you will be able to spawn in the area pictured below. The area outlined in red is the NATO spawn zone. For the remainder of this guide, yellow will be the color of NATO infantry, green will be the color for armor units, cyan will be the color for air units, and support units will be a regular blue color. If the units need specification, I will state such. Note that infantry units will be represented as a whole, not as individual soldiers.
Picking your role: armor and air will – as usual – probably be featured the most in this map. Infantry have a tendency to get chewed up and gain very little. It’s a fast paced map, there won’t be any situations where your infantry get holed up in a building and hold off fifty tanks. They will die in open ground. There are trees around, but not anywhere close to strategic positions, as you would like. So, your team should hopefully have three armor, two air, two support, and only one infantry player. That would be ideal for this guide.
The spawn area has been outlined in red, and now you need to select your starting units. Support players should probably use their “money” on a combination of medium AA and repair vehicles. The Air player will need hvy choppers to pin down enemy tank rushes. Infantry players should use mainly anti-tank units as this map will feature far more armor then opposing infantry. Armor players should go for 2 hvy and 2 medium tanks to start out with.
Please note that from the spawn points indicated, there is a right flank and a left flank. Both flanks should coordinate certainly, but have exclusive goals.
The First Surge
As you can see from the above diagram, I’ve outlined what your team’s first surge should look like. (Note: use the Q Tool or mics to communicate with your team as to where you are going)
Ignore the Mansion! Sooo many new players rush the mansion first thing with their almighty tanks. Forget it. First off, tanks aren’t that almighty, they’ll get wiped out fairly quickly if you attempt to take the mansion. Secondly, The Wind Mill is tactically superior. Same amount of points, and MUCH easier to defend. The slope of the hill makes it impossible for infantry to attack and once you have fortifications set up, your defense becomes iron tight. That said, it’s as strategic for the enemy as it is for you, so your first job is to take it.
The Pincer
You’ll notice the tank players are moving in to take The Church (left flank) and the Wind Mill (right flank). These will be your principle command points. These are the ones – especially the Church – that you will have to hold for the majority of the game. Have your team’s tanks stay at the command points to build fortifications and get a head start on earning TA points.
On the Left Flank, The Church should be taken fairly easily if your left flank armor player spawned at the indicated dot on my diagram. Give him a few minutes to fortify that position. The left flank air player should move out towards west town to hopefully beat off early enemy surges towards that position. If you’re armor, take the command point and hold it. If you’re air, patrol for enemy tanks moving up the hill and STAY CLEAR OF AA. There is NO use in wasting your choppers on AA if you can at all help it. The AA are only a threat to you, don’t feel pressured to take them down. You may also want to consider searching behind enemy lines for Artillery. If you’re support, have your repair vehicles & AA units idle behind your allied tanks in case the enemy throws a major attack at your position. If you built artillery, have them fire around the hot spots indicated by the big red circles on the diagram.
Maintaining the Push
The above diagram represents what the map should look something like. Command points in green are ones you should have fortified. Command points in red are ones the enemy has fortified. Neutral command points are white circles. Now, it’s at this point when both forces have established their command points that the real fighting begins. If you followed the first part of the guide correctly, you should be in a good position to beat off early enemy attacks and in turn, make some of your own.
The first thing you have to realize is that the USSR, despite how close it is, very seldom manages to hold The Mansion command point. No one does. It’s very easy to move in with a couple tanks and take it over since it’s right in the thick of battle and usually not fortified. So my advice is not to focus on taking it permanently for the time being.
Your focus should be more on the left flank. As you can see from the latest diagram, your armor player that took the Church should now move on to West Town. The Air Player on the left flank should support him. Note that I have the infantry player moving towards West Town make sure your units make use of the trees as cover! This is vital for avoiding air patrols! You should also, between the lot of you, have enough TA points to drop a pair of light tanks at Fire Base. In my experience, a good 75% of the time this is done, you manage to take it. This usually doesn’t last very long, as the enemy will notice and send a counterattack. But if you have your air players keep a watch on that position, you might be able to hold it. If you do, great! If you don’t, we’ll come back to it later.
Now, with your left flank armor and air player focusing ONLY on taking West Town, the rest of your forces will probably be fighting a lot around the Mansion and The Windmill. Just remember to coordinate with your allies, make sure they know you need support – be it armor, air, or repair units.
By this time your initial units at the Wind Mill will probably be dead. Use your reinforcements to attack the Mansion, make sure the enemy doesn’t get it. If you’re armor, follow the arrow to take the command point. If you’re air, follow the arrows blowing up everything around the command point. Once again, STAY CLEAR of AA. If you need to, back off to the Wind Mill and help out over there. The right flank’s main job on this map is to PRESSURE PRESSURE PRESSURE the Mansion while holding the Wind Mill. If you can do that, you should be able to divert most of the enemies forces while the left flank does the real damage.
Using TA
It’s at this point where you’ve probably started earning some real TA and are wondering what to do with it. (if you’re not experienced with TA, I suggest checking the strategy section for more information on it’s usage) But getting map specific, let’s look at our options.
Dropping Units
Cheap, basic, and a good way to take Fire Base. I’d recommend dropping mostly infantry on Fire Base, as they’re far less vulnerable to chopper attacks then light tanks. Drop a few squads on Fire Base to take it early on. Other then that, this category of TA is largely useless on a fast paced, kind of crunched in map like Riviera. More useful on Xmas and Seaside really.
Tank Busters & Napalm
Cheap, packs a punch, and with all the tank clots you’ll find, definitely a good idea to invest in. Napalm is also useful for wiping out any infantry hiding in the forests.
Artillery and Air Strikes
As usual, don’t bother with Light artillery. Only effective against infantry, and if you have any problems with those pesky fellows, a good dose of napalm will do the trick. Heavy artillery is best used for pounding the Mansion where there are a lot of clogged up tanks. Precision artillery and Air Strikes are nice for retaking The Mill if you want to dump one on each command point. Wipes out the resistance very nicely. Use Precision if there are more than 5 or so units on each point; Air Strikes if less.
The Nuke
You probably won’t get this till later. When you do, just fire it. It’s supposedly called a “Tactical” nuke, but the only thing tactical about it is making sure you don’t drop it on your allies. As long as you don’t do that, you should be good. Because nuking the enemy is a heck of a lot of fun.
Units
Air:
By this point in the game, you should try to go for more of a mix between medium and heavy choppers. Medium to take out enemy choppers and heavy to wipe out tanks and trucks.
Armor:
All heavy. Don’t even bother with light or medium. They’ll get chewed up too fast and the map is small enough anyway you won’t have to worry about speed being an issue.
Support:
I strongly recommend fielding mostly heavy AA and a few repair vehicles. Make sure you’re sticking with the armor players!
Infantry:
Yeah, anti-tank still. No change.
Capturing Firebase
Let’s assume your airdropped units failed and the enemy holds this position. Taking it back is the clinching move here, the one that should hopefully give you dominance over the map. If you’ve got West Town, you’ll want to move up the hill to the position and take it. But before you do that, I’d recommend dropping some precision artillery (maybe Air Strikes) on the command points to wipe out any fortifications. They can be nasty and bog down your attack. Ask an air player to send in a chopper so you know where to shoot at. DON’T use laser-guided bombs. They’re more expensive, and don’t do as much damage. Artillery will work fine.
After you’ve bombarded the position, move in with tanks to take it over. If you don’t have any spare tanks, just airdrop some infantry in. Beware the enemy counterattack though! At this point, the USSR will get desperate and start throwing everything they have at you. And you’ll be stretched out thin. Try to get as many units into the command point as possible so your fortifications will build up faster.
Multiple Maneuvers
If you’ve been following along this guide, doing the outlined maneuvers, chances are pretty good you’ll have Church, West Town, and Wind Mill all secured. Hopefully you’ll have taken Fire Base as well. At this point, there’s not much to do but hold your positions and keep up pressure on Mansion point.
Air:
Focus your efforts around West Town – this will probably be the most difficult to hold. If you spot AA, just fall back to a different command point. Remember to focus your fire on heavy tanks, as they’re the ones who will be doing damage. Use your anti-tank missiles to weaken them and cut loose with a barrage of hellfire missiles. If you have a spare moment, cut around the back and take out artillery. Make sure to communicate with the tank players since they’ll want air support when assaulting Fire Base or The Mill (if you lose either one)
My tanks pops smoke in order to survive a few more seconds.
Armor:
The armor is the most critical role and will bear the brunt of the attacks. But remember to pressure Mansion at all times! Even if you don’t get both positions, having one is better then the enemy having both. If you do manage to take one, pop some smoke – it’ll give you several extra seconds you wouldn’t have otherwise. Also, remember that if you’re retreating, drive backwards so the enemy is firing on the front of your tanks. It’s the most heavily armored side.
Support:
Artillery has not proven to be very useful on this map because units are constantly moving and there isn’t much of a “hot spot”. I suggest using your points to build mainly AA units but also some repair tanks, and keep those vehicles by your armor buddies. If you coordinate your efforts, you will be three times as efficient and powerful.
Infantry:
Use the forests as cover. Use mainly anti-tank still. Try to flank armor patrols, hit them in the sides or rear where there armor is weaker. Remember to use sprint and focus your fire on one tank at a time. If choppers are all over you, sprint for trees and call for backup.
The Enemy Counterattack
At some point, the enemy will throw an attack on your position and will almost certainly take it back (The Mill, most likely). The main thing is to stay calm and stay organized. Organize a taskforce of some heavy tanks, AA, and then fire off some precision artillery to clear out the checkpoints. Move in and retake the position. Works nearly every time. The important thing is to keep the AA close since enemy choppers will make short work of your taskforce.
Finishing Touches
Because this map is so wide-ranging and unfocused, it’s hard to give you a good in-depth direction on how to move your troops. My best advice? Hold the points you have and pressure the ones you don’t. Make sure you’re working with a buddy to increase your performance. The Q tool should be enough for that but a mic helps even more! If you can successfully pull off First Surge & Multiple Maneuvers, you’re far on your road to victory already. The important thing to do after that is not to lose sight of your goal.
Notes on communicating: If you have a mic, communicating is fairly simple. You can constantly be requesting aid over voice and be able to give a much better description of your problem then “I NEED Anti-air”. However, if you don’t have a mic, I’d recommend strong usage of not just the “Request X” but also “I’m going HERE” And the “Advance HERE”. These help let your teammates know what’s your strategy and how to help you with that all during the flow of normal gameplay.
Closing notes
Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide. Now get out there and blow things up!
