User:Neon Knight/BUCaptureASConvoy

Originally posted in the old Capture website, at capture.beyondunreal.com, now defunct. I had a copy in my backups.

Assault is back for UT2004 after a brief hiatus. Convoy is the first Assault gamers will recognize in UT2004, having been in the demo. Having played a lot of Convoy, I've picked up on several key tactics which you can employ both online and offline. Bots are smart opponents and will function a lot like humans, so don't think you won't get a good lesson offline. In Convoy there's many skills you can benefit from using frequently, especially dodge-jumping and double-jumping. First thing I'll discuss is the layout of the map.

Layout

The ultimate goal of the attacking team in Convoy is to capture the Nexus missiles on the other side of the repair vessel, which is where the defending team will spend most of the first four objectives. There are three vehicles of importance in Convoy: the repair vessel, the missile trailer, and the attacking team's vehicle (has no name). In order to cross the span between the attacking vehicle and the repair vessel, the attacking team must rotate a bridge by holding a point near the head of the vehicle. There are two viable methods for achieving this; go through the cargo of pipes and boxes or take the high road by dodge-jumping from the spawn point to the mesh netting above said cargo, then jumping onto the large pipe and onto the bridge itself. Defenders will make their stand starting here, as a jump pad will launch them across the void and right into the heart of the battle. Goings will be made easier for the attacking team as a weapon cache just beyond the bridge offer better weapons and change the spawn point for a quicker advance.

The role of minigun turrets in Convoy is huge, especially for the defense. The minigun turrets take a little more leading (of the target) to operate, but they're more powerful than the handheld weapon and can be devastating in the hands of the right person. The attacking team has one such minigun turret in their position right from the get go, just ahead and to the right of the inital spawn point. Another minigun turret can be made available if the forward weapon cache is taken. (This minigun is immediately available to the defenders.) The turrets can be destroyed but it requires many rockets to do. On the missile trailer side, the defenders have two minigun turrets: one at the head of the missile trailer and one above the position from where the attackers will be coming.

Once the bridge is turned and the attackers can begin boarding the repair vessel, a long, thin, and exposed walkway brings them to the door of the repair vessel, which must be blown up (explosives automatically given to you) in order to enter. This is where the quickest advance or the longest stand can be held, because of the bottleneck the walkway offers. Once the door is blown, the attackers then only have to go a few steps to the switch that opens the rear door, moves the spawn point and gives more weapons. However, a bottleneck at the door will make progress extremely difficult. As the rear door opens, the attackers are faced with a long advance up the repair vessel. A gasoline tanker in the middle can be destroyed, which opens up the middle and gives the attackers another option. The next switch which opens the way to the missile trailer is on the suspended wire-mesh platform flanked by health and ammo. Two ramps on the sides lead up to the platform, and the switch is at the front of the platform. Two crates also allow for quicker access, by jumping up them and onto the platform. The switch opens up two doors, one at the front and back of the repair vessel, from where the attackers will make their run for the missile trailer.

The missile trailer section has 3 vehicles other than the missile trailer and repair vessel which play a part in the attack. Two cargo vehicles supply cover from the minigun turrets and connect the way to the missile trailer, as well as health and weaponry. Getting past the turret on the missile trailer will bring you to health and a small opening in the back of the trailer which drops you into the missile chamber itself. Two doors on the sides of the missile trailer open up, allowing for the missiles to move through (they go out the right side of the trailer) and for people to go in. The third vehicle is a small, unprotected tank. Attackers coming out the rear of the repair vessel can jump onto the vehicle and ride it either to the head of the missile trailer or onto the left door of the trailer. If the turrets are destroyed, the missile trailer will be the Alamo of the defense and will be swarming (most likely) with many defenders. These openings offer a shorter trip to the missiles and a more surprising attack.

Attacking Strategies

Speed is the biggest key to attacking in Assault, but not just speed to the objectives but speed to making sure the defense has a tough time stopping you. In Convoy, the best way to give the defense a hard time is by destroying their minigun turrets. Right out of the gate, at least one person should make their job expending the rocket launcher ammo on the minigun turret on the repair vessel. That way, the defense has to earn their frags, not rack them up. The minigun turrets made available to the offense are in somewhat ineffective firing positions, though logic would lead one to believe that if the defender's minigun turret covers the left side of the cargo vehicle and bridge, then the attackers would stay on the right side, which would bring the defenders to the right side. Unfortunately, I've yet to play a match with people who think logically 100%. For what it's worth, however, the minigun turrets can attack each other, and if anyone is sniping and is in vision they won't be sniping for long. Ultimately the attacking minigun is made pretty useless by its inability to get into the battle, so to speak, and shouldn't be manned consistently.

(Ed: willhaven brought up the point about the shield gun on the thread about this article on the Atari forums. I completely forgot about it even though I use the shield while I'm taking a switch too. As an attacker, the shield will gain you more time before being killed regardless of who's attacking you. Make sure to crouch so you don't get killed by someone targetting your toes, which wouldn't be protected if you just stood up.)

Getting the bridge rotated is sort of the opposite of the "high road, low road" Scottish song, in that the high road (going on top of the mesh and the pipes) will get you to the bridge quicker and will catch the defense unawares, but the high road leaves you much more open to the minigun turret, which can slice you down in a hurry. If the turret is gone, advancing shouldn't be difficult. Getting the forward weapon cache should be one person's job as well. The height of the cache's body should provide a good blind spot for you to sneak around the minigun turret, if someone is there. Once the cache is taken, taking the bridge objective shouldn't be tough. The walkway is tougher but flak and rocket discipline should pave the way for progress. Equally tough is opening the rear door. I've found that defenders will pay attention to anyone in the opposite color scheme, so what I try to do is get into the vessel and draw as many guys away by running as far back as possible. If I make it to the next objective switch (which you can't take until the previous objective is taken), I'll fire down the hall (with anything; mini, flak, pulse) which will kill defenders or, again, get their attention away from the door. Try it and see if it works for you. Once the rear door objective is taken, jump up the crates near the platform for a quicker and less attention-grabbing way to the switch.

The missile trailer is the toughest vehicle to breach because now you've got two minigun turrets in tough positions with no rockets (but typically flak) to take them out easily. The way to the trailer doesn't offer a lot of cover from either, so you'll have to be quick and go in guns blazing. The minigun turret above where you'll begin your assault on the trailer is the easier of the two to destroy because you can't be directly stopped by the turret itself. Lobbing flak bombs up there won't be an exact science most of the time but when you hit it'll hurt. Other than that, your best bet is to go in groups: one takes the left of the trailer, one takes the right. Eventually this strategy should get you inside the missile trailer, which will then make things easier and tougher at the same time. You'll have three openings: the hole you just jumped through and two doors which open on the sides of the trailers. Most of the defense will make their stand inside the trailer, so you'll be faced with a more specific defensive unit. Near the opening of the hole, there's health, a weapon locker, and a jumper which will put you back to the hole. My strategy for this part is to go into the missile trailer on one of the two doors, fire away while falling back, use the jumper and repeat. This will weaken or kill the defenders leaving your teammates to clean up and take the objective.

Defensive Strategies

As soon as possible someone should be on the minigun turret and, if possible, a sniper to cover the minigunner. As I said in the offensive strategies, the minigun turret is powerful enough to stem the tide of the attack and will rack up a lot of kills quickly. The turret on the weapon cache is also a nice thing to possess, but not necessary. A good squad of attackers can "run and rocket" so having someone to backup the minigunner would be worth the lack of one man at the bridge truck. Another good strategy is to have teams of minigunners on the partition between the big pipe and the bridge platform. It's an awful small space for attacks to work with, so one person a side should be enough. At the switch it's pretty much every man for himself and it's tough to keep track. The bridge itself is closed off save for a couple openings with crossbeams so it can be a bottleneck for both sides. The door to the repair vessel is tricky to defend if everyone on defense isn't on the same page, because two or three attackers can overwhelm anyone camped out at the door. Inside, defending the door and the switch is easier, and my suggestion is pulse (linked is more effective) and goo. If that switch is taken, the offense is given as many as 4 options for getting the next switch so defense can be tricky.

Your best chance for stopping the attack comes on the missile trailer side. Two difficult-to-attack minigun turrets will make attacking difficult in general, and typically attacking becomes a one-person-at-a-time affair, which should be easy to handle. Just focus on your attacker and make sure there's someone nearby to help. It doesn't mean the end of the world if the attackers get into the trailer, but the assault will be much tougher to defend if you don't see it coming or where from like you will then. If everyone is patient and ready then you shouldn't have a problem stopping anyone coming from anywhere.

Conclusion

I've had two Dominatings on defense on the missile trailer side from manning the minigun turrets. Online I've found that people will forget that there are two turrets, but like the saying goes: "Out of sight, out of mind." Convoy hinges on these turrets and the haste with which the attackers destroy them or the lack of remorse with which the defenders wield them. If the turrets are destroyed, the game will boil down to skill and grouping. I've done a time trial on the course and I've taken all the objectives in under 2 and a half minutes, so if you're attacking or defending the last objective with a minute left, you can't just sit back because it takes about 15 seconds for those missiles to move out onto the truck that awaits them. The trailer is the most difficult objective to take and defend and you'll be in for a shock if you don't think so.