The Ultimate Infantry Guide
If you play armour, you need allied support against air all the time. If you play air, you are scared of the AA gun just over the next ridge. If you play support your scared of anything within 3 feet of you. Infantry meanwhile, they can take care of themselves. They are built up of hard counters, to deal with most problems, but also have the most versatile unit in the game, the infantry Squad. Infantry’s main weaknesses are their low Speed, low Health, and speeding hummers running you over.
There are some things you will need to note. I play USSR. I will be using some specific map strategies. These may not be as effective as the USA/NATO versions depending on the map. For example, ruins is balanced and symmetrical, however hometown is not.
Units
The first thing we need to know are the units you SHOULD get. These will include some units from different roles.
Infantry Squad
Get these if you don’t know what the problem is, normally at the start of the battle. They can counter most things. You should also build them if the enemy taking the air, as they provide great AA cover. Choppers can’t see a man with a stinger coming.
Anti-Tank Infantry Squad
Get these when facing HEAVY tanks, and if allied air cover is running low. Most of the time heavy tanks are taken care of by allied air players, and the weaker tanks can be taken by Infantry Squads. Make sure you have some infantry squads with these guys, in case something else pops up.
Sniper
Get these when facing infantry. Stick them in a wood or a building a watch as entire units are cut down. IF you place them in a wooded area, make sure you spread them out, otherwise 1 napalm = all dead. By placing them in an irregular shape, it may require 3 napalms to kill them all. This unit is also your greatest foe. Make sure you always have 6-12 TA’s available to call in napalm on them, if they are hiding in forests. If the level has no woodlands or the snipers are in buildings, your friendly support player will use some artillery on them. The best place to use snipers is on assault and tug of war maps. On these maps the enemy and you spawn nearby each other, plus the enemy is going to be moving toward fixed choke points. It’s often obvious which one the enemy infantry will go for; that is where your snipers wait.
On domination, you need to remember several things:
- Infantry can go through woods and buildings. What may have been a choke point/wall for tanks is not for infantry.
- Infantry will often hold the command point closest to their base, while the tanks take the one closest to the enemy. Place your sniper in a place where you can shoot the infantry-prone point.
- If the enemy is massing infantry, it’s very easy to see where they are going. Wait for them at their destination.
- Snipers have very long range. Don’t make a pretty line between you and the enemy. Shoot from wherever you can.
Troup transport
Get these if you want to rush. I personally WALK everywhere with my infantry. However, I do sometimes just get troop transports and drive like a mad man to a central command point. They can also provide moderate AA cover. Just watch out for Heavy Helicopters.
Transport Truck
There are a few maps where getting these has its uses. However, most of the time a troop transport will be worth more.
Transport Helicopter
Used if you want to Helidrop rush.
Things NEVER to Get
Amphibious Armoured Transport
They are expensive, and the only map you need to use them on, the armour players should already be spamming them. Build infantry and grab a lift.
Demolition Engineer
They are micro intensive. Other than destroying bridges they have little effective use. Most of the time it’s easier to use laser guided bombs. Also, the support class can build them, and they will have more time for that kind of activity.
What Strat to Use?
The main thing is, to realize what strategy each map requires. Within the 30 second countdown. Sometimes a map has 1-2 viable strategies, so you pick the one you are best at. Sometimes the location of an allies drop zone shows what he is doing. If an infantry player is already looking like he is going to take the left flank, take the centre or the right flank.
Here are some of the basic strats available to infantry players:
Helidrop Rush
You all know this, so I won’t spend much time on it. Build 2 transport choppers, and 2 infantry. Garrison them and fly to a 2 point command post. It should be either be in a central, flanking, or difficult to reach location. Examples of this are Hill 81 on riverbed, Road on riverbed, or Radar on Silo. On assault maps, specifically airfield, where the first point is a fair distance from both teams initial drop zones, a Helidrop rush can make attacking the first point very fast. You can then move onto the second before the enemy players realise what’s going on. You should also use this to defend on airfield.
Notes:- If the command point is clear, the units capture it as soon as they start repelling. This means they can capture it before they land, even if the chopper is killed.
- As soon as you cap it you can select the infantry BEFORE they land, and get them back in fast and fly away. To the next point.
The Troop Transport Rush
Build only Troop transports. The aim of this is to drive in front of your allied tanks, and take all the central command points fast. By doing his you can see what the enemy army is building, so you can then build appropriate counters. It can be used on most maps where there is a central 3 point command post which is highly contested.- Troup transports are FAST. Your aim here is not to stay alive, but to capture points fast, to gain maybe 1-6 quickly. Then you can see how the enemy kills them and build counters.
- Use armour piercing bullets as soon as you are attacked. The transports in all chance WILL die. So increase damage as soon as you can.
- They can do decent damage vs. Air units, if you end up with a lot in one area, air will often retreat. This is an advantage for your tanks.
- When standing next to each other they heal. Keep in box formation, and use the healing to make sure you live long enough to know which counters to build.
The Transport Truck Flank
On top of a regular army (see below) you build 2 transport trucks. These drive to some remote useless command post and grab it. A good example is the Shipping Docks on Space Needle. The aim of this is 2 fold:- Gain some quick domination points.
- Attract the enemy’s attention.
With any luck the enemy artillery or air force will fly there or fire there to investigate. This will keep your allies safe, but also mean they wasted 30 seconds on 2 trucks of little significance. They will then send some troops to take it, while you can concentrate on the now less defended more important CENTRAL command points.
Regular armies
Regular armies are what you should be using for the bulk of the game. This is what you use when fast attacks have ended and the battle has turned into a meat grinder, with the teams hitting head on.
- Basic Army – Just whack down as many infantry squads as you can, they can counter most things that head your way, and it’s up to you to keep them safe.
- Strategic Army – Good for tug of war, when enemy tanks, air and infantry could all come at you within 10 seconds. Build 2 snipers, 2 infantry and 2 rockets
- Heavy Army – When your allies are dealing with most problems and enemy just keeps sending tanks, just build anti-tank infantry squads.
- Assault Army – Equal number of snipers and anti-tank infantry squads. Good on most assault maps (other than airfield) as you are getting some hard counters out fast. Also on assault maps allied support players tend to send a lot of AA forward, so there is less need for regular infantry.
Distance
You also need to note the distance from the drop zone to the nearest Command point.
Far – You will spend forever running. Either use a heli drop or troop transport rush. Medium – You can probably make it with sprint in good time; however, a troop transport rush is still open if there are any close command points past it. Close – You can get there in less than 10 seconds of deployment.
Close – ALL tug of War maps, all Domination maps other than Airfield, Riviera, Powerplant, X-mas, Seaside, Space Needle, Liberty. Close/Medium – Hometown. Medium – Island, Quarry, Silo, Riverbed. Medium/Far – Ruins, Farmland. Far – Airfield.
If the map is Close, don’t waste time on strategy. Build counters and move out. If the map is Medium, troop transports are advised; however, once at Command Points, it can often be easier to move on foot. If the map is Far, troop transports and helicopters will be useful. Command Points are a fair distance apart. Mobility is important around several obstacles and choke points.
But my infantry! They still die!
How to Deal with infantry’s weaknesses:
- Low Speed – To solve this problem, you can use transports; however, think about it this way. I could build 1 infantry squad and 1 troop transport, but if a heavy helicopter flies over the tree line and fires a heavy missile I have lost 1k points. Meanwhile if instead built 2 infantry squads, when the helicopter flies over the tree line I click to disable the sprint button, my guys start firing and take it down. In most cases SPRINT will get you moving. Also, the second sprint ends, all your rockets fire at any targets. Sometimes it’s worth the cost of transports, for the speed, yet these will be map specific and you will soon learn when you need transports.
- Low Health – Infantry have low health. TINY HEALTH. But the best thing is that they can heal themselves. When out of combat, standing still, the infantry members will each regain some health. If the worst comes to worst, and 1-4 members of your squad die do not fear! Look here at this tiny button of no significance.
Select the battered squad and press. Some smoke is dropped, and a few seconds later, the entire team is good as new!
- Getting run over – Infantry + large enemy viechles = meat pancakes. AVOID them. Stand behind allied tanks. Hide in buildings and woods. Fire at ones the enemy is not in control of at the time, or ones in command points who won’t move. DON’T, whatever you do, charge at them sitting in a command point. The main problem with this is not only will they start trying to run you over, but your infantry are smart. Unlike in Quake they will not fire a rocket launcher at an enemy standing next to them. Last time they checked fire + skin = bad. Stay back and fire from safety then. Once the area is cleared, move in.
Who the devil are you?
74th best infantry general of WiC, at time of guide publication.
