I think I'm turning Vietnamese, I really think so

[xane]

For the first-timer or even the 1942 veteran, the array of weaponry and classes in BF:V can be confusing, but you need be alone no longer, here is a brief summary ...

There is a "Blue" and a "Red" side.

The "Blue" side is either; US Army, US Marine Corps (USMC), Special Forces (SF) or Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN). The US is represented by the Stars and Stripes flag, the ARVN by the Yellow and Red Stripes flag.

The "Red" side is either; North Vietnamese Army (NVA) or Viet Cong (VC), both use the Red with a Yellow Star flag.

Each map pits one "Blue" army against one "Red" army.

There are four Classes of soldier, each has an alternate loadout, so there are eight possible loadouts, each of these differs according to the army you are playing with.

The loadouts are very similar as a lot of different weapons do more or less the same job, so here is my summary without listing the exact weapons.

All loadouts have some sort of hand weapon (Knife, Machete, etc) and some sort of sidearm (Revolver or Auto-Pistol). The Special Forces also carries a Health Kit for all Loadouts and their hand weapons are Throwing Knives !

Assault.

All armies have fully-auto Assault Rifle and some Grenades.
The US/ARVN armies use a Shotgun as an alternative primary weapon.
The NVA/VC armies use an LMG as an alternative primary weapon.
The USMC and SF can use the Assault Rifle with Grenade Launcher combination instead of having separate Grenades.

Engineer.

The US/ARVN use a semi-auto Carbine as a primary weapon, the NVA/VC use a fully-auto SMG as a primary weapon.
All Engineer loadouts apart from SF and VC have a Blowtorch and a Wrench.
The US Army and USMC have a choice of Anti-personel Mines or a Mortar.
The ARVN have a choice of Anti-vehicle Mines or Triggered Explosive
The SF have a choice of Anti-vehicle Mines and a Mortar, or Triggered Explosives and a Blowtorch.
The NVA and VC can have a Shovel and Anti-vehicle Mines, or a Mortar and Wirecutters (NVA) or the dreaded Punji Sticks (VC).

Support (or "Heavy Assault").

The US/ARVN have an LMG as a primary weapon with either a choice of Grenade Launcher or Rocket Launcher.
The NVA/VC can have a semi-auto Carbine as a primary weapon with a Rocket Launcher as secondary, or a SAM Launcher as primary and Triggered Explosives as secondary.

Recon/Scout.

The US Army and ARVN have a choice of semi-auto Sniper Rifles, the USMC and SF choose between bolt action and semi-auto. All US/ARVN have Smoke Grenades as secondary weapons.
The NVA or VC can either have a Sniper Rifle (NVA is semi-auto, VC is bolt)with Caltrops, or a semi-auto (non-Sniper) Carbine with Anti-personal Mines and Timed Explosives.
All Recon/Scount also carry Binoculars, the VC Scouts also carry Flare Guns.

Weapons

A lot of weapons are similar, here is a summary;

Assault Rifle (full-auto); M-16, XM148 (M-16 with GL), CAR-15, AK-47, AKMS (AK-47 with short stock).
Carbine (semi-auto); M-14, Type 56
Sniper Rifle (semi-auto); M-21, M-16 Sniper, SVD
Sniper Rifle (bolt); M-40, M19/30
Submachinegun; MAT-49
Light Machinegun; M-60 (belt), RPD (belt), Type 53 (drum)
Grenade Launcher; M-79
Rocket Launcher (anti-vehicle); M-72 (LAW), RPG-2, RPG-7
SAM Launcher (anti-aircraft); SA-7
Anti-personal Mines; "Claymore" or "Bouncing Betty", triggered by soldiers and vehicles, can be manually triggered as well
Anti-vehicle Mines; as per 1942, triggered by vehicles only, can be manually triggered as well
Caltrops; a type of floor trap
Punji Sticks; a poisonous floor trap, instant death !
Triggered Explosives; C4 or TNT with an electronic trigger
Timed Explosives; TNT with 10 second fuse
Wirecutters; place a Booby Trap, TNT that explodes when moved
Shovel; used for the Tunnel system

Probably loads of mistakes, post corrections of you can ...

 

[Paradroid]

You mentioned Binoculars...I find their allocation a bit confusing.

It seems like every other loadout has Binoculars...but nobody seems to use them much, in fact, I hardly see anyone using artillery...

...discuss.



Is the Mortar able to fire indirectly?
Should I RTFM? (/pamphlet)...just did, what a joke of a manual! It starts talking about Troop Kits then finishes part-way through the only class mentioned (Engineer)...*sigh*... bring back the days of a healthy tome - where your buying decision includes considering the weight of the box...

 

[xane]

One thing I have yet to try is moving the Artillery guns, apparently the Rocket Launcher Truck can tow them around, then they could fire indirect from one end of the map.

 

[Cyfr]

I still can't work out which weapon I should be using for grunting

I've seen 4 people using Binoculars, each one got a fatal sniper shot to the head

 

[xane]

The bit I mentioned about Mines being able to be manually detonated, well, last night I was trying to find out how to do this, and promptly teamkilled my way to oblivion, as Mines were left all over the place.

What made it worse was Summo was on the server and kept ribbing me about it, bloody actors !

 

[leggy]

Nice xane. Fear not. The first time I met summo on a server I drove him through some bushes to find an unfortunately placed swamp on the otherside.

I got bits of summo on my face :/

 

[Mofo8]

As far as the binocs go, whenever I can I always try and use use them. It only takes a couple of second to whip them out (oooo errrr), and designate a target (like an enemy helo spawn point). If you die shortly thereafter then so be it, but if not, it gives artillery users a decent chance to do their stuff, and fucks up the enemy. I think the best way to use artillery would be to play on a server with a friend and take turns spotting for each other. That way you could take (alternately) then Engineer class that comes with his own mortar.

 

[Wij]

Summo plays games ?

You all play games too ?

 

[PLightstar]

A team of 3 is ideal for pounding the enemy one goes ahead and locates a target and the other two fire mortar shells on them indirectly one after another for countinous fire.