This is the third and final part in the series of basic playing guides.
These guides will teach you the basic things you need to know when playing
Day of Defeat.



Voice comms



Unless you've actually played with a clan at some stage voice comms are
probably a little alien to you. At the moment in DoD they are used mostly
for random comments on the public servers. But occasionally it is used properly
and then the game really works. Why should you have to type every message
when you can just speak it. It's faster and easier to take action if you're
surprised whilst speaking than typing. I have been caught typing a number
of times and you end up writing a message along the lines of "Enemy ahead
tawasda ." You always try to move before you realise that you're typing
instead and in that time you're usually dead.



By using voice comms as well you can more easily keep the whole team aware
of your location and intentions and issuing orders is far faster, with the
others giving real time feedback. There's no need with voice comms to skip
any smaller messages because you can't be bothered to type. The only downside
is messages can be garbled and you'll need to configure it properly to get
the best results.



Also if you start issuing orders they will generally be followed. No-one
else is generally willing to take a tactical role in the game so if you
start telling the team to all attack the left flank most of them will. DoD
players seem to want leadership but on public servers there is very little.
All it needs are some motivational rants to "Take the last flag now!", or
"Rush them before they reform" and this collection of random players will
suddenly become your team, especially if what you say leads to victory.



Signalling and built in voice messages



Remember to make good use of the built in commands in DoD, you can also bind important commands
to keys so you can issue them at the stroke of a key. With a little
thought and the use of mnemonics and some imagination you will soon be able
to hit the correct command every time. I have "Sniper!" bound to X because
it reminds me of a Cross-hair on the scope, flank left and right, move out
and hold position are bound to the relevant arrow keys, Grenade! is bound
to G.



It's very easy to do and you can also do it directly in the config file
if you feel more confident, lists of all the available commands are available
on the net. The other option which many people use is to just learn all
the numbers of the commands so they can issue any command with 2-3 keystrokes.
This isn't as user friendly but is far more comprehensive.



Always remember you are cannon fodder!



Don't worry too much about your score, sure it's nice to be top of the board
or to get the best Kill to Death ratio but what's more important is your
team winning. So remember it is important to get the right kills not the
most. Also killing snipers
and MGs should always be top priority as they can tear the heart out of
an assault or defence, so don't worry if your suicidal Grenade attack earns
you a posthumous VC, all suicidal Grenade charges should end with you dying
as you pop the grenade through the window or bunker view slit.



Also if you see the enemy about to take a flag rush I throwing grenades
every where and stop them. So long as the capture is broken you have succeeded
and that's all that matters. Or if you see the enemy about to do the same,
to prevent your team taking a flag, stop them no matter what it costs.



In DoD you are nothing but a dead man walking so don't be too protective
of yourself. Remember it's always best to die doing something important
than quietly in a corner snivelling like a girl because your precious score
is suffering. I find the most enjoyable games are often the ones where your
score rarely gets much above 1:1 but you are the guy that was always there
on the assaults or defences drawing enemy fire away from team mates so they
could achieve an objective.



Crouch firing



With the new recoil and aiming systems in DoD the days of running and firing
from the hip are gone. To actually hit anything you'll need to stop and
aim. Pausing whilst standing will allow the moving part of the cross-hair
to come to rest and you'll be able to get off one shot accurately. If you
crouch though this happens faster and for weapons like rifles it will allow
you to fire faster and more accurately than if standing.



If you are going to shoot I definitely recommend firing from crouched rather
than standing as it is pretty rare to get a kill with the first shot so
you'll need to fire more than one which means going crouched will let you
do this faster, more accurately and make you a smaller target.



The guns this works best with are the Garand, carbine and the automatic
weapons (Tommy Gun, BAR, STG44, MP40). The garand and carbine are particularly
lethal in this mode. The Kar98 doesn't need it as much as it has a slow
rate of fire and by the time the next round is chambered whilst standing
the cross-hair is steady again. Also due to it's high accuracy and power
you very rarely need a second shot.



Keep an eye on your ammo level



You should try to make sure that you have enough ammo in your gun for most
eventualities. This varies from gun to gun, the Garand I'd say it's 2-3
rounds minimum before you deliberately fire them off and reload, with the
carbine 5-8, SMGs probably about 10, BAR 5-8, STG 44 10 etc. These are up
to you to modify and are purely a rough guide. Just find levels that you
feel comfortable with and stick with them.



Also MGs run through ammo very fast especially those that are performing
well. So keep them well stocked at all times and if the MG gunner calls
for ammo go give it to him, there's no point you hanging on to it. It's
often a good idea when you are dead to cycle through your teams players
and note the locations of an MGs. Then route your path in the map to go
via them so that you can drop them some ammo on the way. There's nothing
worse than being an MG running out of/without ammo. They have no other weapon
so they rely on charity or have to get themselves killed.