9 Tips for Doing Well in a Matchmade Splockets Game in Halo: Reach

The good ‘ol Splockets game type is back in Halo: Reach! Here are 9 tips to help you get the most out of your rocket launcher and Spartan laser.

1. Don’t run. The sprinting armor ability is useless in the Splockets game type. You can’t outrun a rocket, and most definitely not a laser.
2. Fly like an angel and rain down red beams. The jet-pack is a very useful armor ability. Not only does it give players a high vantage point, it can also be used to shoot down on your opponents as well. Enemies will have a hard time hitting you if you are floating in mid-air with no objects close to you. Just be sure to shoot them before they shoot you!
3. Don’t forget about Armor Lock! Armor lock allows your player to become temporarily invincible. If used properly, it can be used up to three times before having need to recharge again. This is incredibly useful for taking rockets and lasers head on. As well, since both weapons have relatively long delays in between reload, you can easily hit them while they’re recharging or reloading
4. Half charge the Spartan Laser. The Spartan laser takes approximately three seconds to generate a laser blast. While moving with the Spartan laser, half charge it, release, and repeat. This way, it will only take a second and half to fire at an opponent.
5. Avoid walls. Unless they’re separating you and your opponent, attempt to stay away from them. A rocket could explode off a wall and easily kill you.
6. Don’t try to rocket flying enemies. As mentioned in tip 2, flying targets are difficult targets (unless close to an object, like a wall). If you’re planning on taking out airborne enemies, use your Spartan laser
7. Stealth is key. Have a spot you can quickly hide at. This way, after taking down enemies, they won’t be able to see you until you decide to fire again.
8. Stay away from teammates. Two heads are better than one, but two heads are a better prize than one. Staying in close proximity with a teammate puts both of you at risk. If you can manage to stay distanced from your teammates, you can find your team being able to hit the enemy from several angles, giving many opportunities to hit your opponents’ blind spots.
9. Find a spot where you don’t need to worry about your back. Although walls are dangerous to be close to, they can be used to close off your back. If you are using armor lock, you can take advantage of corners and walls by looking at one general direction. This way, you don’t need to turn 360 degrees every few seconds to be sure no rockets are coming your direction and you will be able to see the enemy fire much earlier, giving you more time to get into armor lock.

Jump into Action Sack now and start playing some Splockets!

Why Ambushes are Deadly in Real-Time Strategy Games

Why are ambushes so effective in dispatching your enemies? Here is a brief summary of why you should consider setting ambushes when you play a strategy games.

Ambushing is very similar to how a hunter hunts their prey. They set a trap, and wait for their prey to fall into the trap, making the kill very easy. Ambushing is the art of hiding your troops, and waiting for your enemies to pass a favorable spot for a skirmish before attacking first.

Firstly, a proper ambush applies the element of surprise. After launching an ambush, your enemies would become disarrayed while your troops are carrying out their duties with the most deadly efficiency. This means that you will be able to cause a substantial amount of damage before your enemy gets their bearings. At this time, you should have already wiped out most of the oppositional troops before they can make a significant difference.

Let’s put ambushing into a scenario. You are hiding twenty infantry units in the forest. A small strike force crosses the forest path. The strike force composes of thirty-five infantry units. As get closer to your troops’ position, they exit their hiding spots and fire. The twenty infantry manage to neutralize fourteen infantry within the first bullet barrage. The enemy infantry are scattered and confused, randomly shooting. They manage to nick four of your infantry. Your infantry launch another barrage of bullets, taking out a larger amount of infantry now that they can aim for their target. They neutralize sixteen of the enemy infantry. The enemy is left with five infantry units. They are too small a force to do considerable damage, and surrender.

Of course in a video game, the rules and gameplay may vary. Nevertheless, the option to set an ambush is always a tactic that should not be ignored. There are games where ambush attacks would cause more damage, or may surprise an enemy unit and render it unresponsive for several seconds. There are even scenarios where you can place a few infantry in ambush and destroy tanks when they launch the surprise. No matter what ambushing does, do it.

In real-time strategy games, hiding your troops may literally hide your units! R.U.S.E., for example, allows you to place artillery and infantry in forests. This hides the units from the enemy’s eyes. Whenever a unit discloses their position to attack, they also gain a 30% damage boost, which allows less deadly units to do much more damage, especially en masse! On top of all that, and because this is a video game, the units go back into hiding, allowing them to use the damage boost until they exit the forested area or are destroyed.

If you haven’t gotten the gist of the article yet, use ambushes as much as you can. Depending on your game, your units can become stronger, you can make your enemy disorganized, you can make your enemy scared (actual factor in certain games), and many other kinds of advantages that a strategist like you appreciate.

Stay updated with Decent Gamer. In the near future, many examples of ambushes will be further elaborated and explained.

6 Tips on How to Survive the Halo: Reach Campaign on Legendary

Legends must be strong. Here are 6 tips on surviving the brutal Halo: Reach campaign on Legendary difficulty.

1. Take one step at a time. Reach is infested with Covenant invaders. Take your time to explore and acknowledge your surroundings.
2. Do not pick up the Armor Lock ability. Armor Lock is one of the most useful equipment that can be used in Matchmaking mode, but is the opposite in campaign. If you were to go into armor lock, the enemies would simply surround you and barrage you with energy blasts the moment you exit armor lock.
3. Big guns are good friends. If you ever see a sniper rifle or rocket launcher, or some other gun that looks big and dangerous, take it! Even if you are not familiar with the weapon, you should at least be able to neutralize one or more Elites. Such guns should be sought after and taken at every opportunity.
4. Take advantage of your allies. Understand this. You are a Spartan, the commandos of the human forces. UNSC marines are cannon fodder of the human forces. Get this through your head. Let your marines soak up damage (hence the name cannon fodder) and just shoot past them. Don’t forget your Spartan buddies are invincible too, so let them distract the Covenent and then take your chance to fire.
5. Semi-automatic guns are valuable. Designated marksman rifles (DMR) and needle rifles should be highly sought after. It’s true that automatic guns are in abundance and can suppress the enemy, but the semi-automatics are the key killers in the game since they have the ability to do instant kills on enemies when shot in the head. Try to conserve your semi-automatic ammo and pick any up when you see some.
6. Kat can’t drive. Neither can any of your NPC buddies. If you plan on using a vehicle, it would be wise to man the driver’s seat and let your allies man the turret. NPCs do not have the capabilities to recognize threats fast enough to maneuver around them.

A friend or two can make all the difference in surviving through the campaign as well. If you’re not going for the achievement, try inviting a friend into your game or go matchmake a campaign game.

How Range Affects a Gun's Damage in Modern Warfare 2

It’s one thing to have high powered gun, but it’s another thing how long that power can last.

Every gun in Modern Warfare 2 has their unique stats. Each category of guns has their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, submachine guns are used for close to medium range combat whereas sniper rifles are used for very long ranged combat.

The range stat of a gun determines an important factor of the strength of a firearm. Range is the stat that shows how much you can keep the same stopping power while firing through long distances.

Confused? Let me elaborate. Say you have a high damaging sidearm like a desert eagle. In close range, only a few shots are necessary to take down an opponent. However, if there was a person a few hundred metres away and you tried shooting this person, your desert eagle will not cause the same amount of damage. The further away a target is, the bullet’s flight time will become longer. As it flies, it loses velocity, and ultimately stopping power.

In real life, a factor of a gun’s range is its barrel length. Modern Warfare 2 does not make an exception. Obviously, the barrel length of a sniper rifle is tremendously long, which definitely gives a sniper bullet a very long range. A submachine gun, which focuses more on rapid firing than actual firing range can not do much damage at long distance.

There are attachments that can modify your gun’s range. A suppressor cuts down a gun’s range in return for silenced bullets which don’t appear on radar. Scopes would never physically increase a gun’s range in real life, but they do in Modern Warfare 2. Putting ACOG scopes on regular guns would increase the range, whereas putting ACOG scopes on sniper rifles would decrease the sniper’s range.

With all things considered, be careful which gun you bring into which map.

5 Reasons Why the Grenade Launcher in Modern Warfare 2 is Not a Good Attachment

If you can’t beat them, join them, right? No. Just because everyone uses grenade launchers in Modern Warfare 2 doesn’t mean that grenade launchers are the strongest weapon in the game. Here are 5 reasons why grenade launchers are ineffective.

1. Reloading. When you spawn, you already have a tube loaded in your underbarrel which is nice. What happens after you shoot that one grenade? It takes approximately three seconds to load another grenade launcher into your underbarrel. Figuratively, that doesn’t seem bad, but when you start adding in factors such as how many bullets an enemy can pump into you in that three seconds greatly exceeds that one grenade that takes three seconds to reload.
2. Grenade flight time. Unlike bullets which have the capability to break the sound barrier, grenades, don’t. They are nothing more but a grenade shot at a higher velocity. By the time that grenade hits its target (or something), you might find your body full of lead. This leads to reason number 3.
3. Inability to score a high kill ratio. Before you start criticizing, think about this. A grenade fired from a grenade launcher scores a kill. Somebody else could have easily killed you in between the time of firing and reloading. Now if that grenade doesn’t score a kill, it is still likely that somebody still could’ve killed you from the time wasted reloading yet another single-fire grenade into your underbarrel.
4. Safety while you want to die a hero. Say you get ambushed as you turn the corner. The enemy has a submachine gun that is about to unload at you. Being so close to the enemy, you figure the only way to save your kill ration is to shoot between us, taking both of us down together. Instead, by shooting the ground, the “safety” used to protect soldiers restricted you from salvaging a kill from an inevitable death.
5. Limited ammunition. Each soldier spawns with two grenades if they have the grenade launcher underbarrel equipped to their gun. Even if you do manage to fire two grenades, what are you going to do next? Without ammunition, you can’t do anything with the grenade launcher. Sure there’s the One Man Army perk that allows you to reselect your class, giving you full grenade launcher ammo. The time that you take changing your class, however, could have been used to score more kills with a regular weapon, and it leaves your player vulnerable to attacks as well. Scavenger is often thought of a decent alternative as well, though this is untrue due to several reasons. Firstly, you need to have your grenade launcher mode selected while you resupply, or else you will resupply bullets instead. This leaves you prone to attacks if you don’t have any grenades left. Secondly, after resupplying, you still need to reload, which is three seconds that is wasted and leaves you prone to enemies. Thirdly and finally, if there are no resupplies, then you are in trouble.

It wouldn't be surprising if you don’t agree to any of this and still believe grenade launchers are almighty. I’ll answer some very common questions about grenade launchers, and you can judge if those answers support or diminishes the strengths of grenade launchers.

Q: Well, if you don’t use a grenade launcher, what would you recommend as an attachment then?
A: Why not an underbarrel shotgun? Grenade launchers aren’t effective at close range, and a regular gun can cover long distance. Underbarrel shotguns would cover for the short-range weakness assault rifles have. You can also attach heartbeat sensors, red dot sights, or anything else that might support your gun or aim.

Q: What if I only use grenade launchers to room-clear?
A: That’s perfectly fine, as long as you switch to your primary right after so you can instantly respond to any returned fire.

Q: I get plenty of kills from using grenade launchers. Doesn’t that contradict with this article?
A: This depends on how much you rely on your grenade launchers. If you know someone’s hiding behind a window, of course a grenade would be deadly. If you walk around (corners especially) the map with your grenade launcher ready at all times, you’ll find that you really aren’t ready for everything they might throw at you.

In short, grenade launchers shouldn’t be relied on very much. If you do use a grenade launcher very much, you can find yourself scoring some kills, but usually more deaths as well.

Taking Advantage of Chokepoints in Strategy Games

Strategy war games almost always have scenarios where there are chokepoints. Chokepoints can be a huge advantage to winning a strategy game. This article will explain what a chokepoint is and how it can be used.

A chokepoint is a small narrow path where enemy troops have to funnel through in order to reach another area. These chokepoints are usually bridges or paths between forests and mountains. Basically, chokepoints are where you can expect enemy soldiers to move through in some point of the game.

To take advantage of this, you should try to overwhelm and dominate chokepoints as soon as possible. This will cause your enemy to be cut off from a passageway. This also makes you more maneuverable. If the enemy can’t get there and you can, you can collect resources or create a strike force, or do something useful with the space your enemy doesn’t have.

One of the best examples of using a chokepoint is playing on Advance Wars. I’ll quickly explain a scenario that I encountered during gameplay. In short, there was a bridge. The enemy had tanks, but I only had infantry. I had more resources, but I needed time to build ordnance. I placed the infantry on the bridge to stall the tanks and wait for reinforcements. In the time my infantry bought, I was able to produce more and even stronger tanks than the enemy, which provided me a very easy win.

In another example, chokepoints can also be used as excellent spots to hold an ambush. As explained above, the enemy and you will some point have to traverse through chokepoints on the map. Say that a chokepoint is made due to forests on either side of the road. You know that the enemy will be sending a large battalion of tanks and infantry. In response, before the enemy send the attack, you place your own infantry equipped with anti-tank and personnel weapons (explosives all the way!) behind the bushes and trees. As the battalion moves through the forest, your ambush can quickly eliminate the opposing forces, or at the very least do very significant damage.

Chokepoints in strategy games are tactical positions that should be held early on in the game to provide an advantage in the middle-game stage. Just remember, whoever gets to the chokepoint first owns it!

Benefits of Having High Honor in Red Dead Redemption

In the Wild West, a selfless person who was willing to die for others would usually find himself dead with nothing in return. In Red Dead Redemption however, being an honorable person and assisting those in need comes great rewards.

In Red Dead Redemption, you can shape your character into a positive member of society by doing good deeds. By far, being good is definitely harder than being evil. Good deeds require patience and effort, two qualities that can be an annoyance for most, but if you are willing to spend the time to attain a high honor level, you can expect those efforts to be rewarded.

At high honor levels, shopkeepers will find a positive air about you, and trade greatly towards your favor, as much as buying for higher prices and selling for lower! Thieves’ Landing however, has a certain dislike to goody-two-shoes and offer outrageous prices to players with high honor. In fact, criminals who reside at Thieves’ Landing may open fire at you just for being a good person!

When your honor level is at maximum, a random event might pair you with a nun who has been searching for someone with a kind heart. This nun will award you with the Obscuridad del Santo Andres. This miraculous item will make the player have a 25% lower chance of being hit by bullets.

Above all this, the player will have earned the respect of civilized townsfolk to the point where they will let small and minor crimes slide. Besides, everyone knows that if you run over a dog with a horse is definitely an “accident” right?

Finally, here is the greatest reward of all. Not getting shot every time you enter a town!

Be sure to read this article about the benefits of having low honor in Red Dead Redemption.

Benefits of Having Low Honor in Red Dead Redemption

Being a low-life scum in Red Dead Redemption may not be as bad as it sounds. Here are the benefits of having a low honor level in Red Dead Redemption.

The first benefit of having low honor is that you take what you want, from whoever you want. If you like that horse, it’s yours. If that person seems to have too much money, it’s yours. You can basically take whatever you want if you wish to live an outlaw’s life.
Making money is much easier too. Although regular shopkeepers won’t like you, the ones at Thieve’s Landing do! You can buy items and sell your wares at Thieve’s Landing for good prices given you have a low honor level. On top of that, you can rob people and banks for money as well, so wherever money is, you just need a way to get to it.

Having very low honor can fear the citizens enough to not report minor crime you make. Did you run over that puppy and enjoy it? Well no justice will be done since the townspeople are too afraid to report it to the lawmen.

Finally, an honor level of Desperado allows you to whistle for the Dark Horse. The Dark Horse is one of the best horses in the game due its very special ability. It can go on unpaved areas with no speed or stamina penalty. This means you can quickly travel across the lands and avoid roads if you wish.

Does living the life of an outlaw really what you want to become? Do you really want to be carrying too much money on your back to the point where it hurts to move? If that is a life that you don’t mind living, the life of an outlaw may just be the life for you!

Alternatively, if all the hype doesn’t attract you to being evil, there are also plenty of benefits from being a person with high honor.

Using a Sniper Rifle in a Halo: Reach Matchmade Game

Halo: Reach’s sniper rifle is the most deadly weapon in the game. If used correctly. This article will explain how to use the sniper rifle to its maximum capabilities.

The sniper rifle, like Halo 3 has a clip size of four bullets. A regular sniper rifle will generally have twelve bullets in total. This means that if you use this powerful weapon properly, you should be able to score at least twelve kills.

One sniper shot to the body will completely take out a player’s shields. Two body shots will kill. A shot to the head is an instant kill. Already you can see how little effort is needed to kill or at least damage a player.

Like any sniper, a good vantage point is always appreciated. This means getting to a high, preferably hard to see spot where you can rain bullets without too much fear of getting shot back. To make this more effective, many players choose to also bring a secondary long-ranged weapon such as a needle rifle or DMR. By bringing one, a marksman can conserve ammo by hitting the body with a sniper shot, and finishing off with a secondary to the head. This way, a sniper can easily score a full twelve kills before running out of ammo.

Unlike other first-person shooter games, the sniper rifle in Halo: Reach has a definite crosshair. Instead of zooming in to line up an accurate shot, the sniper in Halo has a small circle that defines where the bullet where go. This means that when you’re shooting a sniper rifle without scoping in, the bullet will still fly straight, meaning you do not have to zoom with a sniper to score a headshot or body shot. If used properly, this could also make the sniper rifle stronger than the shotgun in close quarter combat since a headshot is an instant kill. Alternatively, a shot to the body and a melee attack will do in the player as well.

A huge difference between the sniper rifles in Halo: Reach and Halo 3 is that Reach’s sniper rifle can completely wreck vehicles. Two or three shots can easily take down a Banshee, and about a clip can take out Covenant Wraith. By simply possessing a sniper rifle, any enemy vehicle is in danger from sniper shots.

In conclusion, the sniper rifle is pretty beast. If you find it, take it. If the other team has it, hide. Practice using the sniper whenever you can, because if you put enough effort into using the long-barreled gun, you can become the most dangerous player in the game.