User blog:Twkptps/The Noob's Guide to Phantom Forces

Good day soldiers! Twkptps here. You know the extremely annoying feeling when you're a noob, knowing nothing about the game and having zero experience, but not being pitied by the other players and instead being victim to a barrage of shots from overpowered assault rifles? Well, I am here to help. Hope you like what I've written.

Ranking Up
Let's assume that the average player reading this guide is Rank 1. That means you've already ranked up from 0 to 1. Well, good job! However, you'll need 2000 experience points to reach Rank 2, instead of 1000 from 0 to 1. Therefore, you will have to work harder and harder to rank up, but it also could be easier, because you will be more experienced and have better guns.

How to slaughter those Phantoms
Listen up noob Ghosts; I bet before you had the sense to read this guide, you have been spawnkilled, knifed, machine gunned by those dumb Phantoms. Now, although you don't have an overpowered assault rifle, you can still give them a taste of their own medicine.

Some Great Starter Weapons
-M4, perfect for close or medium range combat. It's sort of like an assault rifle, but not as powerful.

-M60, good for all ranges. Best for spraying bullets at your enemy so that they run off, and you can capture the point you want. It can be used also for close quarter combat. Do not underestimate this gun just because a lot of low-ranked players use it. It is extremely powerful and can be used to kill whole hordes of enemies. In the hands of a master, it can be absolutely deadly.

-M9, good starter secondary weapon. It is a light pistol, and very good for close range attacking, especially when your primary weapon isn't suitable for the job (like a sniper rifle). Once, I was going up the crane, and I saw my enemy, sniping from the top, oblivious to my presence. My primary weapon was an Intervention, which is a sniper rifle, so I wouldn't be able to kill him with that. I could have used a knife and exterminated him, but at that time, I was rank 2 and didn't know about the knife, so I whipped out my M9 and emptied a whole magazine into his head. It got the job done. -M200 Intervention, like the M60, it's a starter weapon that's very dangerous if your enemy has it. I have slaughtered several pro players with this gun. Hide behind cover when you're not firing. Right-click to aim, press Shift to steady. Try and get your enemy's head in the cross hair. Then fire. At first, only a few of your shots will actually kill your targets, but it's better than being killed continuously by those Ghosts. See Tips on Sniping. -'''MP5K. 'In my first draft, I didn't put the MP5K in this list, because I felt it was useless. But now I know it is a good PDW. You can try it!''

Close Quarter Combat (CQC)

CQC is the most common form of fighting in Phantom Forces. You need to be good at it if you want to get a good kill-death ratio (KDR). Okay... I think you guys need to learn some abbreviations. I'm starting to get tired typing them completely out. In CQC, you need good reflexes, and a gun like an assault rifle, carbine or even secondary weapons like the M9 or G17.

Basically, when you see an enemy that is close to you, SHOOOOT!!!!! That's pretty much the essence of CQC. Of course, you also need to know how to sneak up on people, so that you get to shoot them before they shoot you. And after you have killed someone, look around for other enemies, because chances are that there's another guy coming up behind you to kill you.

To sneak up on your enemies, if you see them at a distance going somewhere, go in that direction, but don't follow him directly. Then, when he appears round a corner, shoot. There might also be other enemies crowding round that space. Shoot them all! At least try to kill as many as you can.

You can also check out Salty Tim's guide on flanking and sneaking.

The more you play, the more experienced you will get, and the better you will get at killing those murderous Ghosts.

Tips on Sniping
The most important control here is the right mouse button. Right-click to aim. If you don't aim, there is NO WAY that you can kill ANYONE, unless they're close to you. When they are very near you, you should hipfire. Look around for enemies first. Press E to spot. Once you see a target, aim. Watch his movements. If you're lucky, you'll be able to hit him while he's moving. But to guarantee a hit, you have to wait until he's aiming and trying to snipe someone else. Aim for his head. AND SHOOT! Good luck, soldier.

Individual Map Tips
This has already been covered in the "Maps" section of this Wikia. But anyway, I'll go through the most basic stuff.

Crane Site - Try and get up on the crane before you're shot. Once you're at the top, hide behind the billboard, then aim out and shoot. Unfortunately, you can't shoot while you're hiding, so you have to go out before you aim. After you shoot, whether you've killed your target or not, GET BACK IN COVER. You will be shot by players on the bottom if you don't. But if the crane is already occupied by your enemies, hide nearby and shoot up when you see them. Try not get shot by them and watch out for other enemies.

Ravod 911 - I like to snipe on this map. Get behind the vehicles, peek out, and snipe. It's difficult for your enemies to shoot back. The only downside of sniping there is that you'll be oblivious to enemies who come with big assault rifles from the side, and shoot all the snipers. Even worse is the knife. Since the knife is silent, you won't know that there's an enemy by your side killing all your friends until he slashes you in the back. Be aware of that. The middle of the map is extremely dangerous, but it will be fine if you have a gun that can take out snipers on the tops of the buildings, and be alert to people crouching down behind the several cans and props.

Metro - The middle of the map is super dangerous and heavily contested. If you have an assault rifle, you can take out several campers and snipers there who are sometimes oblivious to their surroundings. This map involves extremely close combat, like Mall Construction. Still, it's better to get an assault rifle or a machine gun than a personal defense weapon because long-range combat also occurs in this map. There are pathways leading directly to the other team's spawn points, and you might meet enemies running along it. They probably won't be expecting your presence, and so take advantage of this surprise and shoot them before they can react. Other stuff are covered in more detail in the "Maps" section.

Crane Site Revamped - Try your best and get on the crane without getting shot by the others. Hide behind the billboard, then when you're ready to shoot, peek out, shoot, and get back in cover. If there are enemies upon the crane, either you go up with an assault rifle and take them all out, or go to the high floors of one of the buildings near the crane and fire upwards. This is precisely why you must be careful when on the crane. There are a lot of such people waiting in the dark buildings to snipe you down.

Desert Storm - You can use a lot of types of weapons in this map. For long-range killing, of course, a sniper. For medium to close range, a light machine gun, assault rifle or carbine. Beware of enemies hiding in the buildings. Tip: If you see your enemy proning on top of the building, try and get on the floor directly below him and shoot his legs which would be sticking out at the bottom. Once he gets shot, he'll look around but won't see anyone. Then he'll think there's a really sneaky sniper nearby. He won't know what got him until he's dead! Well, that's some revenge for the pros who keep spamkilling you.

Some Really Awesome Inspiring Scenes (that really happened to me)
Shotgun Surprise - Once in Ravod 911, I got a really good kill streak on my AK12 assault rifle, and when I was in the midst of trying to taking out my sixth enemy in a row, I suddenly ran out of ammo. "Oh shoot," I thought to myself. Then, I spied a KSG 12 shotgun lying on the ground. I picked it up and hid behind a big container. The moment my enemy confronted me around the container with his huge M60, I blasted him in the face. He died.

What you can learn from this: Don't use your secondary weapon, unless you can't find better guns on the ground.

King Of The Remington 870 - On King Of the Hill gamemode, my teammates and I were defending the really dark hill in Highway Lot. I had just hit Rank 11 and was excited to try out my brand new Remington 870. As everything was extremely dark, my enemies couldn't really see me when they came in, so I just blasted pellets at them. In half an hour, I racked up 25 kills.

What you can learn from this: Shotguns are good for close range encounters. And they are super powerful. Rank 3 noob VS Rank 103 legendary guy - I was below the crane, and he had a super OP BFG 50 sniper on top of it. Fortunately, I was equipped with an M60, which is great at shaking your enemies and making it impossible for them to aim at you. He tried to move to the side, but my shots moved with him. His dead body still lies on top of the crane at this very moment..... (not) [he respawned and killed me again and again in revenge] What you can learn from this: M60s are good at suppressing; and they can wreak havoc on snipers.

Epilogue

I wish all new Phantom players good luck and hope you'll rank up fast. As you keep playing, you'll know the tricks of the game and will be able to handle many different situations. Godspeed, soldier.

Yours Faithfully,

Sergeant T.W.K.P.T.P.S., Retired Noob

Proof-read by Alphaundercat

And attempted at linking Tim's shoutout by Fermin07