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Day of Defeat v2.0 Strategy Guide, Part 2

by Peter "Zhukov" Pawelek

Article Type: Strategy Guide
Article Date: April 02, 2002

Product Info

Product Name: Day of Defeat
Category: WWII FPS Mod for Half-Life
Developer: Day of Defeat Mod Group
Release Date: Released
Files & Links: Click Here

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Back to Part 1


Introduction

There are five different character classes that you can play in Day of Defeat 2.0 (DoD 2.0). From easiest to most difficult, they are: Assault (SMG), Light Infantry (rifle), Machine Gunner (LMG), Support (assault rifle), and Sniper (scoped sniper rifle).

The biggest mistake that you can make is to play them all the same way. DoD 2.0, for the most part, is not a ‘run and gun’ first-person shooter. If you’re a rifleman, for example, running and gunning will get you killed beaucoup fast. This section of the strategy guide will show you how to effectively play each of the five classes.


Before we get into the nitty gritty of each character class, it's worthwhile spending some time discussing some common strategies.

General Tips

1. Avoid Detection
Know what it is about your particular class that will get you detected by the enemy. The Machine Gunner and Support Classes will have to worry about tracer fire giving away their positions, for example.

Unless you’re playing Assault Class (i.e., using a short-barreled SMG) or using a pistol, be very careful about the barrel of your weapon protruding from a window or from whatever crevice you happen to be hiding in. This is a newbie mistake that will scream out your position to any observant enemy in the area.

A typical newbie error.

2. Keep Moving
Don’t stay in one place for too long. Even if you’re huddled in a very juicy position and have scored three or four kills, move on to another position since you can guarantee that you’ll soon be seeing an inbound grenade with your name on it.

Unless you’re machine gunning or sniping, get in the habit of being constantly on the move, including when you’re reloading or changing weapons. If you’re approaching a position that you know is likely to be defended by riflemen or snipers, do not move toward that position in a straight line. Approach it obliquely by using a lot of erratic strafing moves which will make it harder for these types of classes to draw a bead on you.


3. Compensate for Weapon Recoil
Most weapons have a certain amount of recoil depending on your stance (assault rifles such as the BAR, for example, are almost impossible to aim properly while standing). Use this recoil to your advantage by always aiming low (i.e., at knee level) and allow the recoil to rake fire upwards towards the head of your target.

Also, take recoil into account when targeting an enemy. Crouching will significantly reduce recoil, and going prone will almost eliminate it for most weapons. For automatic weapons like SMG’s or assault rifles, recoil will also increase depending on the length of the burst.

Use the following rule of thumb for firing at targets with SMG’s or assault rifles: at far distance targets (greater than 50 metres), go prone and apply short bursts of two or three rounds. At medium distance targets (between 10 and 50 metres), crouch and apply bursts of four or five rounds. At close range (less than 10 metres), remain standing—and moving!—and apply a sustained burst, otherwise known as ‘spray and pray’.


4. Use all weapons at your disposal!
Be conscious of which secondary weapons come with your particular player class. Many classes come equipped with pistols and bayonets which can be very effective in close-quarter battles. Map a hot key to one of these weapons so that you can quickly switch to them when rushed by an enemy using shock assault tactics.

Grenades are incredibly powerful in DoD 2.0. But aside from using them as an offensive weapon, they can be indispensable in allowing movement across firing lanes since they will momentarily obscure the vision of emplaced enemy machine gunners and snipers. Timing is critical here, but a well-timed grenade blast could buy you enough seconds to sprint across an alley to enter the safety of another building.


Now let's focus on specific aspects of each of the DoD 2.0 character classes:


The Assault Class

Allies: Sargeant
Axis: Unteroffizier

Allied Primaries: M1 Thompson (7 clips x 30 rounds) or M1 Carbine (11 clips x 15 rounds)

Axis Primary: MP-40 (7 clips x 31 rounds)

Allied Secondaries: Colt Pistol, Knife, 1 Grenade
Axis Secondaries: Luger Pistol, Spade, 1 Grenade

Role: Spearheading assaults; leading teams.

Allied Sargeant leads an assault.

The Assault Class is the easiest to play and offers instant gratification to even the greenest newbie. This is not to say that hardened vets won’t enjoy this class. In fact, a veteran Sergeant or Unteroffizier can make a formidable leader, inspiring his teammates to push an assault through to victory.

A player of this class has many advantages. The primary weapon is an SMG which has a high rate of fire (ROF), low recoil, and high accuracy while mobile, allowing you to lay down a lot of lead as you assault a position.

This class also moves faster than, say, a machine gunner. The Axis variant, the Unteroffizier, has a grey uniform which blends in very well with urban environments, providing effective camoflage.

On the downside, the SMG is not a high lethality weapon and it may take three of four hits to kill an enemy depending on where you hit them (head and torso shots are generally more lethal than shots to the limbs).

It’s no coincidence that this class is named ‘Sergeant’ for the Allies and ‘Unteroffizier’ for the Axis. Play this class like a leader. Fearlessly move towards the enemy while laying down suppressing fire. Spraying bullets from your SMG will more often than not unnerve many of your adversaries, causing them to move from good defensive positions. Use this psychological edge to your advantage, and play with an aggressive mindset. Even on public servers where you don’t know anybody, you’ll often find that you’ll be spearheading an assault with a bunch of happy riflemen following behind you. That’s good…that’s your job!


The Light Infantry Class


Allies: Rifleman
Axis: Grenadier

Allied Primaries: M1 Garand (11 clips, 8 rounds/clip)
Axis Primary: Karbiner 98k (13 clips, 5 rounds/clip)

Allied Secondaries: Colt Pistol, Knife, 2 Grenades
Axis Secondaries: Luger Pistol, Spade, Bayonet (on Rifle), 4 Grenades

Role: Reinforcing assaults; holding occupied ground.

Allied Rifleman taking a firing position.

Unlike the assault class, which is about as close to ‘run-and-gun’ as you’ll get in DoD 2.0, you must play the Light Infantry Class more cautiously. Your mobility and ROF are much lower, and both the Kar-98 and Garand rifles have a significant amount of recoil (the Garand has much more recoil than the Kar, although this will supposedly be corrected in version 2.1 which is due out soon).

Take advantage of cover as you advance towards a firefight. Rifles are much more lethal than SMG’s, and you can often kill an enemy with one shot. But make that shot count because if you miss you will likely not have enough time to reload and re-acquire your target if he’s closing range with you.

Whenever possible, fire from a crouched or prone position to maximize accuracy and minimize recoil effects. Your rifle is accurate to a very long range; use this to your advantage and take out your enemy before he has a chance to close range.

Many players dislike playing snipers (for reasons discussed later in this article), and will play this class as a sniper. If you want to do this, hang back in the shadows and take advantage of the fact that your rifle will not betray your position by firing tracers. As mentioned in the previous article, remain as motionless as possible when sniping since lateral rotations while stationary will give away your position.

Be prepared for an experienced enemy to approach you in erratic strafing movements. Watch carefully for patterns, since many players won’t be erratic enough. If you can spot a pattern (a zig-zag, for example), you’ll be able to predict their position and take them out before they get too close.

If the enemy does happen to get within close range, switch to your pistol, shovel, or bayonet immediately. Don’t try to engage in close-quarters battles with your rifle because if you miss it’ll be your last shot.

This class (especially the Axis variant) comes with plenty of grenades. Use them to clear out snipers and machine gunners whenever possible.

Axis Grenadier in action.

An additional bonus of grenades is that they will kick up a lot of smoke and dust which will obscure a sniper’s vision for a few seconds and may save your life.



The Machine Gunner Class

Allied: Machine Gunner
Axis: MG-Schütze

Allied Primaries: .30 cal MG (2 boxes, 150 rounds/box)
Axis Primary: MG-42 (2 boxes, 250 rounds/box) or MG-34 (5 cans, 75 rounds/can)

Allied Secondaries: none
Axis Secondaries: none


Role: Providing area denial; supporting assaults; defending positions.

Axis Machine Gunner covering a choke-point.

As a machine gunner, you have a formidable weapon at your disposal. With unparalleled ROF and ammo capacity, your main task should be area denial. Find a good position that covers a chokepoint through which the enemy must pass and mow them down at will. If you are in a good position and the enemy cannot get within grenade range, you are essentially invulnerable.

You can take advantage of a number of MG nests that have been placed by the map designers. These usually look like waist-high barricades and when you approach them, you’ll see a MG-nest icon appear. This means that you can deploy your MG on the barricade, allowing it to stabilize your weapon while in a standing position. These nests are usually strategically placed, but unfortunately are well-known to the enemy, making you vulnerable to grenade attacks.

It is much better to forgo these nests if possible and find your own positions which will be less predictable. This means you should have a good knowledge of the maps that you’re playing on. Study them in observer mode or while logged in to an empty server to find good strategic positions in which you can deploy.

Axis Machine Gunner manning a MG nest.

A major drawback of this class is the extreme lack of mobility that you have while your MG is deployed. If possible, team up with someone of either the Assault or Support class to watch your back and feed you MG ammo when you need it.

In most cases, it is not a good idea to ‘Rambo’ with a MG. ‘Ramboing’ refers to running around and generally acting like an Assault class with an undeployed MG. Your accuracy is going to be horrendous if you try to shoot while standing or moving. However, this is offset by the outrageous amount of bullets that you’ll be spraying at your foe. I confess to having ‘Ramboed’ in the past and can vouch that it’s a lot of fun to do once in a while.

If you’re on a server that stresses teamplay, however, avoid ‘Ramboing’ and concentrate on providing support for assaults, covering chokepoints, and defending flags. Make sure that your teammates are aware of your positions so that they can pass MG ammo to you when you need it (Light Infantry and Assault Classes can drop MG ammo by pressing the ‘Drop MG Ammo’ key; if you’re playing one of these classes, be a good teammate and make sure to keep your machinegunners supplied with ammo).

Finally, be aware that the MG-42 can overheat. You’ll notice an icon on the right-hand side of the screen which resembles the barrel of the MG-42. With sustained fire, this icon will become redder, indicating that your gun barrel is heating up. If you let the gun barrel overheat it will render the gun useless, so watch this icon carefully and try firing in long to medium bursts instead.



The Support Class

Allied: Support Infantry
Axis: Scharführer

Allied Primaries: BAR Rifle (12 clips, 20 rounds/clip)
Axis Primary: StG-44 (MP-44) (7 clips, 30 rounds/clip)

Allied Secondaries: Colt Pistol, Knife, 1 Grenade
Axis Secondaries: Luger Pistol, Spade, 1 Grenade

Role: Providing mobile assault support and area denial.

Axis Scharführer taking aim.

The primary weapons of this class are the world’s first assault rifles. In fact, the Sturmgewehr-44 (StG-44) is very similar to the modern AK-47 in many respects. The StG-44 is also referred to as the MP-44 in the game.

As a player of this class, you enjoy a powerful weapon with a high ROF accompanied by plenty of ammo. The Scharführer has a slight advantage over his Allied counterpart since he has a significantly higher clip capacity.

This class is best played as a hybrid between the Assault Class and the Machine Gunner Class. Advance to the business end of a firefight and lay down some impressive suppressing fire which will allow your teammates to press an assault. As with the Assault Class, play the Support Class aggressively.

You have perhaps the most powerful primary weapon in the game, so don’t be afraid to use it. In fact, both the BAR and Stg-44 have high penetration power and can shoot through doors and some walls. Use this ability to clear out areas of suspected snipers and machine gunners.

Get used to dropping to either a crouched or prone position since the BAR and StG-44 are incredibly difficult to fire accurately while standing due to an almost uncontrollable recoil. You cannot take advantage of MG-Nests, so you’ll have to compensate by changing to a crouched or prone stance instead.

Unlike the SMG’s of the Assault Class, these weapons have high accuracy at long distances. In a prone position, squeeze off two- to three-round bursts while firing at distant targets.


The Sniper Class

Allied: Sniper
Axis: Scharfscheutze

Allied Primaries: Springfield Sniper (11 clips, 5 rounds/clip)
Axis Primary: Karbiner 98k Sniper Rifle (13 clips, 5 rounds/clip)

Allied Secondaries: Colt Pistol, Knife
Axis Secondaries: Luger Pistol, SS Knife

Role: Harassing fire; long-range targetting.

Axis Sniper in an ideal covered position.

The sniper is the most difficult class to master in DoD 2.0. In addition to a slow ROF, you have no mobility while using the sniper scope. As well, there is a 2-3 second delay while switching to the scope, and this happens every time you fire a round. While using the scope, you have to compensate for a swaying effect that is meant to simulate subtle movements of your arms while holding the gun.

With plenty of practice you can overcome these disadvantages to enjoy the best combination of weapon accuracy and lethality in the game. As with the Machine Gunner, you must know your maps inside out. It is highly important to find positions that will not expose your back since you are completely vulnerable while using the scope. If it isn’t possible to find such a position in a particular circumstance, buddy up with a member of the Assault or Support Classes to watch your back.

The most important thing to learn about being a sniper is to always switch to your pistol while moving. The sniper rifle is useless in close quarters, so if you stumble across an enemy at close range you must rely on your pistol which has a reasonably high ROF and a lethality equivalent to a SMG.



Practice, Practice, Practice!

Regardless of which class you decide to play, you’ll benefit by practicing on an empty server with or without bots. Create your own server by selecting ‘Multiplayer’ -> ‘LAN Game’ -> ‘Create Server’. Choose whichever map you want, and be sure to have enough player slots available if you decide to use bots.

On the empty server, roam freely and discover new positions for machine gunning and sniping. As well, practice your marksmanship with high recoil weapons like the Garand. Pick a point on a wall, and fire at it repeatedly at different ranges. Get used to slightly pulling the mouse downward after each shot to compensate for recoil. You’ll soon find that your shot grouping will improve dramatically and this will show in your gameplay. There’s nothing more lethal than a rifleman who’s accurate at long ranges (well, except for snipers, of course…).

Bots are AI-controlled players that you can practice against. Sturmbot 1.2 is the most popular bot for DoD 2.0. After installing the bot (which is self-explanatory), you can populate your server with bots by calling up the console (using the ‘~’ key) and typing ‘addbot Sturmbot’. Each time you use this command, it will add an additional bot to the server. To practice against moving targets without getting killed, type the console command ‘botdontshoot 1’ to prevent the bots from shooting at you. You can always reverse this by later typing ‘botdontshoot 0’.

You can also make a number of Sturmbot commands accessible ingame by typing ‘bind i “botmenu” ’ at the console. Then, whenever you’re ingame, hitting the ‘i’ key will bring up a number of commands like ‘Fill the server with bots’, ‘Kick all bots off server’, ‘Freeze all Bots’, etc. Use the bots to experiment with weapon lethality and targetting.



Conclusion

This should give you enough information to play all of the available character classes with confidence. As you’ve seen, snipers and machine gunners require an intimate knowledge of the maps that they’re playing on. This is also important for the other classes in order to watch out for possible ambush positions while on the move. In the next and final section of the strategy guide, we’ll look at each of the official DoD 2.0 maps in detail so that you can prowl through every nook and cranny like a true vet.



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