WIN a Crossfire match w/ ANY class - 4 EASY STEPS! (updated)

THE ACTUAL GUIDE IS BETWEEN THE GREEN LINES.

Updated 2/16/2011

Does it seem that your team always lets you down? Are you tired of losing? Do you want to be a one-man army? Well, you came to the right place.

First of all, I feel that my credentials are important to prove that my method works.

- I bought this game for PC on Janurary 25, 2011.
- I've played about 35 hours since then.
- On Feburary 1, 2011 my ranking on the leaderboards are:
Earnings ($594714) 110 out of 45633
Kills (1524 kills) 355 out of 45660
Wins (111 wins) 100 out of 45661

DISCLAIMER: I do not mean to sound arrogant in any way by posting my stats. They are not actually meant to directly reflect on my playing skill, as these stats are now currently in the past in the month of February, 2011.
Why do you think you see several testimonies on infomercials about weight loss? Or for a piece of exercise equipment? Or for a amazingly absorbent orange towel that can do things from washing your car to saving your drowning dog in Niagara Falls? It's to show you that the product WORKS!

Steam account: http://steamcommunity.com/id/youve_missed (Feel free to add me!)
Steam Nicknames: Das Attack Cows or Attack Cows


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Now for the guide...

Please bear in mind that this is an OFFENSIVE strategy and does not work well defensively. After all, it is less likely that a team will win if everyone defends.

One thing should be kept in mind while reading this: I LEFT OUT SOME DETAILS THAT ARE TOO CLASS-SPECIFIC, ESPECIALLY CLASS BUILDS. USE YOUR JUDGMENT TO CREATE THE BEST OUTCOME IN ANY GIVEN SCENARIO.

The method is simple. Having you and (hopefully) your team adhere to these four priorities in the following order will almost always result with you and your team with a win.

1 - Turrets
2 - Bots
3 - Moneyball
4 - Players


1 - Turrets

9 times out of 10, the team with more substantial turrets (depending on the situation) is the team that is winning at a given time. Long story short: Turrets provide security to its corresponding team. Therefore, you must make sure that there are an adequate amount of turrets on your team and a lesser amount on the opposing team's.

You should not build turrets at the beginning of the game. Let the game play out for a few minutes and AT YOUR DISCRETION, place either Rock-it turrets or Long Shot turrets. It would be unwise to place Long Shot turrets if your team gets pushed into a defensive position (a position where you are playing on your 1/2 of the map). A Rock-it turret would have been a better choice in that scenario. If the other team is in a defensive position, then a long shot turret would be ideal. Again, use your judgment.

As for destroying the other team's turrets, I recommend farming bots until a juice is available. Then, use the juice to destroy the turrets.
*NEVER* PLACE KILLING OTHER PLAYERS AS A PRIORITY OVER KILLING NEARBY TURRETS WHEN JUICED. Kill other players after the nearby turrets are down *OR* when the other turrets are out of reach. Not all classes need to do this, however.

SIDE NOTE: Having armor as a gold or silver sponsor is recommended for any class to assault the enemy's turrets effectively.

SIDE NOTE: Know how much damage you can take before you have to retreat to safety for whatever class you play. Avoid grappling other players when juiced, it is always a waste to do so.

SIDE NOTE: Sometimes it is better to buy juice than to upgrade a skill to level 3.

2 - Bots

Slim Bots and JackBots are your means of bringing the moneyball down, as well as being metal-meatshields when you are in danger. Escorting them does not necessarily mean you have to walk with them to the moneyball. They stop moving forward for two things: to destroy turrets and to destroy other bots. Since we have the turrets out of the picture, we can focus on killing the other bots. This will also help you to build juice up for repeated assaults on the enemy's base.

Here is where some fail to follow. YOU MUST KILL THE OTHER BOTS AFTER THE TURRETS BUT BEFORE THE MONEYBALL AND BEFORE KILLING OTHER PLAYERS. But again, this is dealing with an ideal situation where the other team is in a defensive position defending of the last 1/4 of their map. Use your judgment to produce the best outcome.

SIDE NOTE: Learn to use the ejectors appropriately. It depends on the agility of the class you are playing with as well as many other factors.

SIDE NOTE: The annihilator should be used immediately, as this can change a winning team's offensive position into a defensive one.

3 - Moneyball

Turrets down? Check. Bots down? Check.

Now you can go for the moneyball. Use the most rapid firing weapon that your class has, as the damage on the PC version is quantized every hit. In other words, every bullet, shuriken, mortar, grenade, etc. that hits the moneyball does the same unit of damage. Dealing the moneyball 1 unit of damage will reset its timer.

SIDE NOTE: Sometimes it is good to sacrifice yourself to reset the moneyball's timer.

SIDE NOTE: I estimate that there is 1000 units of damage that can be dealt to the moneyball before it breaks. Each 'hit' counts as 1 unit of damage and every bot does about 20 units, give or take. I have no experimental data to support this, however.

4 - Players

Simple. Kill the other players last. Of course, if you have been using your judgment well, you will find that sometimes it is better to kill a player before pursuing the main objectives. However, if this is frequently placed above the other priorities, then it is most likely that the method may not work.

Classes

For difficulty using each class to follow this method, here is a scale from the most easiest to the most difficult:

Assassin --> Tank --> Gunner --> Assault --> Support --> Sniper

...and those are the steps to winning a crossfire match with any class. Remember: stealth is your best friend. Not stealth as literally being invisible like the Assassin class, but stealth as in being unnoticed.


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Opinions and constructive criticism are welcome.

Opinions/Suggestions

Simply put, these are opinions and suggestions that I've found relevant and helpful to this guide.

Cheers!
-Attack Cows

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

This sounds better than E-Harmony.com and GameCrush.com, I am released from my doubts on how to win games.

But seriously though, I think the guide is meant more or less for the assassin and not the other 5 classes.

Amen.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

I've played against this guy. He's not really good at all. He was assassin the entire time and he raged everytime I punted him out of the ring when he front-grappled me.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Hello there to you too! Refresh my memory--may I [respectfully] ask you what your steam ID is?

EDIT:

Also, I [respectfully] disagree with your statement " He's not really good at all. " I've played for only about a week give or take and have risen to the top 100 on the leader boards. I've gone through 34 hours of gameplay, but that includes about 12 hours of me accidentally leaving the game running.

However, I [respect] your opinion about my skill. But this thread is about how to WIN games, not about me!

P.S. - It seems as though you joined the forums just to leave this reply. So, welcome to the forums!

Cheers!
-Attack Cows

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Thanks! However, depending on certain *ahem* circumstances, the tank is far more superior than the assassin in following this method.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

It seems awfully... vague, even by assassin standards.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Elaborate.

In this guide, I lay out four priorities that one should keep in mind while playing a Crossfire match offensively. I briefly explain the reasoning behind each priority. I didn't want to write an extensive guide, as I would assume that most would rather be playing than reading!

Please, give me feedback, so I could make this guide better!

Cheers!
- Attack Cows

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

The "ANY class" in the title is misleading sorry bro.

On another note having steps and certain priorities in a match doesn't follow through. Priorities like these only work when games are static and are always played out the same way. You have to analyze what's going on in the match before you can decide what jobs you need to get accomplished to further your goal of victory.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Fair enough, I respect that--but I disagree.

In MNC, there is no such thing as a static game. Static usually indicates a lack of movement. However, I think a better word would be predictable (please correct me if I'm wrong).

But when you think about it, aren't all games predictable? Especially in the beginning. Typically, everyone moves to the front lines to bag kills on bots and other players so that they could make some money for upgrades. This is true ESPECIALLY when every turret stub is occupied later on in the game, if it gets to that point.

When the pit girl announces that their shields are down, this can indicate two things to a knowledgeable player:

- Turrets on at least one side have been destroyed and;
(Slim bots and Black Jack bots will stop to destroy a turret and any other opposing bots in their way. They and Jackbots are the only ones that can bring the shields down)
- At least one side is not being adequately defended by players.

Will you ever play a game where at the beginning, an entire team decides to let the bots come to their base as a defensive strategy? Maybe, but probably not.

The game is a tug of war. You're supposed to 'escort' your bots to the opposing team's moneyball. You can't do this with turrets in the way! Keeping priorities straight (within reason and good judgment) will ensure a victory!

This CAN be done with any class, some are just more difficult than others.

P.S. - I have got to get a life! :lol:

Cheers!
- Attack Cows

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Definitely worked-- Following this helped me, a fairly new guy, lead a 4-minute stomp rush as a Tank, and I got MVP while doing most of the Moneyball damage in a valiant Juiced sacrifice. It was fun and tactically sound to boot.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Thank-you for the kind words! I look forward to playing a match with/against you! I hope this method makes the game more enjoyable for you!

Cheers!
- Attack Cows

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

It's still more complicated than that. The game and player-base are incredibly predictable yes but, I guess what I'm talking about is the outcome of such predictability. Let me try and give you an example of a match I would play and all the key components that could change things. Incoming wall of text.

Map: Grenade III
Class: Gunner

You start things off buying skills and picking a lane. You activate the first lift to get on the upper are of the lane. If the other team has a sniper I can predict he'll be sitting up at his base overlooking the map and trying to snipe me. It comes down to my mortar fire vs his sniping. If I hit him once or twice he'll back off, but if he headshots me my early game is fucked and It'll be at least another minute before I can win the game.

No sniper? Awesome. That means any other player I will engage will be either on the upper platforms or in the lane. If I'm outgunned on the upper platforms I'll have to work my magic and kill them anyways. If they're in lane they're most likely oblivious to me and even if they're not I'll just jump down and kill them along with the wave.

At this point the lane is being pushed and you're just coming up on their bot spawn. Now I can either rain mortar rounds and kill the turret while I shrug off chip damage coming into my lane if the opposing team is hanging back spamming my general area/bots. If they get close and actually become a threat I can decide they're in range for me to mow them down, then I'll go back to killing the turret and cleaning up the bots.

The game has been going on for about a 1 1/2 minutes now give or take and if there was no sniper to kill me initially I'll have my juice up. If I killed anyone coming at me I'll wait till they spawn before popping it, killing them, the bots, and then the moneyball which should now have lost its shields to my bot wave. If no one is spawning I'll wait for the bots to spawn, pop juice and one-shot wave, kill anyone by the base and if there's a little bit of juice left I'll get a final mortar shot off on the opposite turret just because.

So shields are down now. I'll have to reload from the previous juice skirmish, and stand in a spot most players would overlook while I wait for them to respawn. They respawn and don't notice me so I just mow them down with my minigun finishing up the clip on the moneyball and refreshing the 30 second timer on it. I'll then kill a bot wave on my way out while I proceed to buy juice.

Now this is where outcome of predictability can play a substantial role. Just what exactly happened in the other lane? Did it get pushed to my base and the enemy team is working over my moneyball, or did my teammates steamroll that lane as well? In either case I can decide to go back to the enemies moneyball with my juice. If it's a race I have juice advantage, and no matter how awful my teammates are they'll eventually kill the enemies at our base with respawn zerg.

So I go back to the enemies moneyball and pop juice. I need to shoot the moneyball once to reset the timer and then I mow everyone down because loljuice. Even if an assassin or another player grabs me I still have more than enough time on my juice to down 4+ people in the small area of their base.

If my team steamrolled the other lane the game is nearly over with the moneyball seconds away from death so I can stay and finish the job. If my team lost the other lane I'm probably the only person there and I can either go back for another juice or test my luck and camp the spawn for a quick cleanup to buy more time for my team. No matter which choice I make my team will win in the next 10 seconds to 2 minutes. Games average about 3-5 minutes on this map unless there's a decent sniper to counter me.

Now lets get a recap on my changing priorities this entire time. During the laning phase I killed nearby/opposing players in my lane and then I cleaned up the bots. As soon as I got in range of their turrets I went for their turrets unless another player was a threat. Once their shields were down players became my top priority thus eliminating them from the game while my bots pushed lanes by themselves because of their health advantage.
From that point it's really just keeping the pressure in whatever way you can, it doesn't matter what it is you're doing as long as someone is taking care of the other players.
---------------------------

It's hard to talk about various probable outcomes without going extremely in-depth and I didn't talk about various other factors like the annihilator or supports healing turrets but this is already long so I'm just going to stick with this.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Traitorr, you've made some very good points! On the other hand, I agree and disagree with some of them. But of course, that is your playing style--that is what works for you. You can skip to my conclusion at the bottom if reading all of this bores you, I wouldn't blame you. But...

IncomingWallofTextRightBackAtcha! :mrgreen:

1.

It seems that you made it seem sniper will be very likely to refute an attempt to successfully assault the opposing team's base. As you know, the Gunner's strength is a close-to-mid-range offense; his weaknesses are his big size and slow speed. Therefore, if there was a sniper on the other team looking down your lane, it would be advisable to go back to the other lane and stay on the bottom level and hide behind a wall, where he cannot hit you without relocating. Another thing you could have done is to hide behind a wall on the same lame and chances are that it would have been as effective, in terms of your initial strike.

Other than that, you could have followed through with the rest of your format as you said.

BUT... dun dun dun :twisted:

2.

As a Gunner, you know that you have a lack of speed and mobility when compared to the other classes. Therefore, you cannot always flee successfully. However, you do have a good offense that you should use to eliminate the threat of players. I use this strategy when playing as a Gunner, Tank, or an Assault. Killing the players that got in your way before the nearby turrets is your use of your judgment, which is implied (poorly) in the guide.

***However, when I am juiced, I feel that it is important to ALWAYS focus on the nearest turrets before killing any players.*** As you know, having them spend their money on turrets hinders the skill progression of their player, which in turn makes it easier for them to kill. It also allows the regular bots to get through and do what they were made to do!

3.

Letting your bots kill the weakened bots as well as assaulting the moneyball while you kill spawning players by yourself is rather inefficient and unpredictable. You WILL definitely lose some bots to the opposing bots and your bots will stop every time there is a conflict between them and another set of opposing bots. This, in turn, will take longer for the other team's moneyball to be destroyed solely by them [the bots]. Also, there is a good chance that you will die if you're going up against more than one re-re-re-re-re-respawning player. Of course, it also depends on the players' skills and competencies to kill you.

I did forget to put this in the guide, but it is important. Depending on the class you play, you should attack their moneyball from a good location with a rapid firing weapon, as each attack deals the same unit of damage against it. So, as a Gunner, it would be advisable to attack the moneyball at the corner where the bots spawn and where the moneyball is in sight. You could mow down players, bots, as well as the moneyball from this position. An Assault class would have to position himself closer, as his assault rifle is somewhat inaccurate at mid-to-long ranges. However, he does have extra mobility--a dash and a fly skill--to escape when he feels the need to.


CONCLUSION:

All in all, both methods *MAY* work if done properly--but then again we're different people. Whether it's tic-tac-toe or MNC, this is what makes competing against another person worthwhile.

Again, I respect your methods and ideas 100%. I just disagree with most of them... Nothing wrong with that, aye? This guide is not meant to mislead, but well to... guide! I've left out some details so that people that use it may develop their own playing style.

That is all.

Cheers!
- Attack Cows

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Oh! Now I know! It's because you weren't specific in what to do per class.

I just see a lot of class specific guides that suggest weapons and uses for said weapons on this board and the generalization of the guide caught me off guard.

For example, you suggest attacking the turrets, which is a fine suggestion. I suppose an experienced player know what to do with this phrase but newer players will wonder what they should do specifically with their chosen class.

Assaults can use their grenade launchers and gunners can use their mortars, specific weapons players may pick up on. Classes like the assassin or support, for new players at least, need an explanation that goes beyond figuring out what tools to use. Assassins typically farm juice from bots and juice rush a base with their sword. Supports use their airstrike skill and need to carefully economize it to make sure they have it when necessary.

The guide in general works as something of a primer to new players but leaves something to be desired if some players expect to have their hand held in terms of guidance.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

StriderHoang, thank-you for the feedback! Upon realizing this mistake I made (actually about 5 minutes ago), I added a few disclaimers that specify that I left out some class-specific details. I want people to create their own playing style out of it. But this is as general as I could make it.

But from what you are saying about the other classes, that is exactly the idea!

Cheers!
- Attack Cows

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Cow, I like that your guide is about winning, and wants everyone to take responsibility for actually winning. I agree with your mindset.

My two cents is that you need to add something about the annihilator, which in my mind is the absolute #1 thing in the game, and ejectors, which I find an outrageously time-efficient way of killing bots. Also I think that if you're the gunner, there is no need to wait for juice before attacking the turrets. That's usually the first thing I do in any game - straight for the rocket turrets.

Traitorr thanks for the detailed description of your play, I remember running into you the first week I played the game, you were tearing it up... and I've been trying to work on my opening for each map, so it's great to read a detailed first-person opening from someone else.

I think your conservative style works for the better players who can consistently defeat everyone they come across in an honest face-to-face fight, but I would encourage newer players like myself to be far more aggressive. The first jumppad I buy on G3A is straight to the enemy dome, and when I see the enemy sniper at the open, it's usually his back that I'm looking at. That way, at least if I die I can put a few mortars on their turret first, and be back in like 15 seconds to do more of the same.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

ricefrog, thank-you for your input--it is greatly appreciated!

I agree with you 100%. The grenade launcher is incredibly effective against turrets. I do not usually see Gunners attacking the turrets, but focusing on other players; a huge mistake on their part.

I may consider making this guide class specific. It seems that there are too many different scenarios for it to be as generalized as I intended it to be. Any suggestions?

Cheers!
- Attack Cows

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

I forgot to comment about this... but you're absolutely right. I will add details about those features in the game when I get a chance to.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

As a tank I like to throw a couple spins before going for turrets while juiced if there are enemies around me just so I won't get grappled and waste my juice. I'm still usually able to get 2-3 turrets this way.

Re: How to WIN a Crossfire match with ANY class - 10 EASY STEPS!

Thanks for replying, Deeja!

Ahh yes, while playing as a tank, I dread getting grappled by an assassin from behind, ESPECIALLY when I'm juiced. However, instead of wasting your spins, you could keep jumping and strafe in erratic patterns to avoid being grappled.

But whatever works for you, by all means do it! It's your game--you play the way you enjoy!

Cheers!
- Attack Cows