(Last Updated On: July 17, 2018)

Far too often, I see many players who only know one direction: forward.

Lateral movements are an important part of tact and field navigation that one absolutely needs to learn in arena games. Sometimes moving sideways is more important than pushing forward, the key to personal advancement is being able to key in on which of these actions will be the most beneficial.

It’s difficult to give a simile to how positioning and movements create an ebb and flow in a game like this without directly comparing each battle field to an actual war map. The maps are dynamic enough for each one to have a distinct feel, so as a single playbook is not applicable to all of them.

I find it’s best to picture the battlefield as if each player has an “area of affluence” or Area of Effect (AoE will be used hereafter), with the team’s total area of effect constituting a “line”. People ignoring these factors are often those that get nailed by two or three snipers/midrange while running off alone.

These concepts are much harder to use in random matches, so, the more educated the individual player, the better one can assess the field to be where they need to be, instead of where they want to be.

Ranges, Roles, and AoE:

Close Range:(<350M):

Beacon Runner/Scout:
Scouts have a very small area of effect as their goal is mobility oriented first, and they are opportunity driven. They can be greatly underestimated on the battlefield because they are notoriously susceptible to damage, but, if played correctly, can be a very large factor on the battlefield.

Orkan Rogatka
Magnum Stalker
Pinata Stalker
Ork/Pinata Gareth
Plasma Gareth
Pinata Jesse

Mobility:60kmph+ allows them to get to where they can be used effectively.

Rocket Dodging: these bots have the easiest time backpedaling 300M rockets at full speed. The Rogatka adds to this by being able to avoid 500M rockets with it’s jump ability, if the jump is used to obscure the rocket’s travel path and land adequately behind cover, it can completely avoid the threat.

Low durability: definitely not a bot to use for head on engagements.

Low firepower

Field role:
These bots are usually used in two ways

-A throwaway bot at the start of a match: these bots act as the spear point to gain an early beacon advantage, serving as distractions during the initial rush.

-Bacon stealer: these bots rush undefended beacons, dividing the opposing force, or negating a beacon push by taking the opposite side of the map as an opposing team’s hail Mary.

Positional awareness:
Beacon Runners want to stay out of the AoE, and general sight lines of snipers and mid range, but they need to do so while constantly moving.
Sometimes retreating into friendly territory is the best thing to do(I don’t see this nearly enough), sometimes being where no one else is, is being the best asset on the board. Flanking is king because fighting anything focusing you is almost certain death.

Power runners(quasi-brawlers):
These bots have a small area of effect, but a very distinguished one determined by their weapons. Mixing Mobility, durability, and firepower, these bots are suited for a variety of roles that are not exclusively damage dealing or beacon capture/defense.

Taran/Magnum Galahad
Orkan/Pinata Galahad
Magnum/Orkan Rhino
Aphid/Orkan Rhino
Thunder Carnage

-Excellent firepower for their durability and mobility.

-Extremely vulnerable to Mid-range

Field role:
These bots have a lot going for them, they can travel to where they need to be with relative ease, and take a beating while doling one out.

-Brawler: one of the two classes that can be used as main damage dealers, these bots can chase down and destroy other bots that are disadvantaged against their weapon or defense type.

-Flanker: Ambushing unaware enemies, and laying down damage to preoccupied does.

-Beacon capture AND defense:

Positional awareness:
I notice many players are too aggressive with these bots, often running into situations where their specialties are moot. Midrange and snipers are the biggest downfalls of these bots, adding on to their inherent weaknesas to certain kinds of munitions. Sometimes it’s better to let your enemy come to you, especially when the enemy’s position is in areas that have a high probability of being a mid-range bot’s firing lane.

Death Button(True knife fighters): knife fighters are the bots that we often attribute to being a sort of “Death button”. They usually have a slightly larger AoE than their weapon range would suggest, because most other bots will give them a wide berth unless they are another death button looking to lock horns. Firefights are short and straight to the point, usually lasting less than ten seconds. Thunder wielding Lancelots also falls into this category.

Magnum/Taran Griffin
Orkan/Pinata Griffin
Magnum/Taran Rhino
Orkan/Pinata Rhino
Thunder/Orkan Lance
Thunder/Taran Lance
Orkan/Aphid Griffin
Taran/Aphid Griffin

Subclass:Tank (trades 1/3rd of damage in exchange for becoming a bullet sponge)
Ancile Aphid Leo
Ancile Magnum Leo
Ancile Taran Lancelot
Ancile Orkan Lancelot

-Highest damage rates/totals in the game


-vulnerable to mid-range and long-range

Field Roles: These bots are meant to end confrontations quickly, but their limited range can give each one a varying degree of difficulty with getting to an effective position for their payload to make some money-shots.

-Brawler: These are the only bots that can take the simplest form of: “Kill or be killed” to heart. They require varying degrees of exposure time to enemy fire, so every shot counts.

-Flanker: This role is less subtle when done by a knife fighter, as the opportunities for flanking with non-aphid wielding variants often comes from melting a different Red to get to that desired position.

Positional awareness: as a Death Button, you are SLOW. Mid range is the enemy, avoiding them like the plague is key to a successful approach. Know your angles and pick your travel lanes wisely, as charging down the most convenient might mean tasting tulumbas and tridents as you look up at your smoke trail. There are way too many players that are too impatient. If you let your opponents decide where you fight, your victory is not assured, however, the other way around can guarantee your opponent a swift death.

Mid range:(350-600M)

Direct Support:These mid-range platforms are mobile, often serving as shadows to Power Runners and Knife fighters.They have a moderate AoE,and can deliver several bursts in short periods.

Pin/Tulumbas Griffin
Tulumbas Doc
Tulumbas Fujin
Zeus Carnage
Trident Carnage

-Respectable damage in a small period of time
-Agile enough to Zone effectively

-Knife fighters and power runners will dedicate their life to ending yours as quickly as possible.

Field Role:
Direct support mid-rangers are tasked with zone control for their bulkier, scarier close range counterparts. Quick to take pot shots at anything your close range partner may come in contact with, and preventing enemy flanks (by graciously pointing them out with your munitions) are the name of the game.

Positional awareness: While the direct-mid role is, by accessory, close to where all of the action is, I notice a lot of people over-step the capabilities of their bot by putting them in situations that do not take advantage of their range (newbie Griffin pilot’s are very guilty of this). Having better range does not abscond you from judicial use of terrain and cover, keep that in mind. Zone control is king, and sometimes changing lateral lanes, or retreating a few meters is the difference between a dead red, and getting ham-fisted by a brawler you left unchecked for too long.

Pure Zone control: I spoke earlier of a “line”, the AoE of this class of bot is often the very faithful, or painful, indicator of where that line stands. Two direct support mid-rangers working in tandem can fill this role, but the bots in this category are high priority targets, to defend when friendly, to destroy as quickly as possible when spotted on the enemy line.

Trident Fury
Zeus Fury
Trident/Pin Natasha
Zeus/Gekko Natasha

-Highest burst damage for it’s range class

-Slow, and somewhat defenseless between volleys

Field Role: I named them this because there was no fancy way to describe them. These bots are meant for area denial, two of them working in tandem with supplementary munition types can effectively secure whatever area they have in their line of sight. They have enough firepower to retaliate against anything wounded by your friendly knife fighters or power runners, and aim to shut down whatever fire lane they chose to cover.

Positional Awareness: as your main purpose is to secure a safe zone for your allies to retreat to, you’ll need to memorize the vantage points along all of the maps that you can capitalize on. I say all of them, because the biggest bad habit I’ve seen with these Behemoths, is when the person piloting them does not know when to move up, or move back. These sets can be considered campy, but they’re effective. There are at least 4 points on each side of every map that a Pure Zone control midranger should know.
They are:
-Where they should be in the event of an approaching spawn raid

-Where they should be when center control is contested

-Where they should be when Center control is in their favor

-where they should be when the enemy team is pushed to their spawn.

Long Range:(600M-1100M)

Artillery: Is currently bad, and you shouldn’t play it unless you know the layout of every map like the back of your eyelids, every control spot midranger will take, and every fox whole that runner classes will stop at.

Sniper: Snipers are the opposite end of the spectrum to Scout/Beacon Runners, they have the largest potential AoE in the game, limited in the majority of maps by cover. They have the lowest damage per minute of all loadouts, and have long reload times, to balance out their ability to inflict damage from across the map.

Trebuchet Butch
Trebuchet Fury
Nashorn Fury
Trebuchet/Gekko Natasha
Nashorn/Gekko Natasha
Gekko Patton

-You can hit your opponents as soon as both teams step out of the gate.

-Overall low damage output
-Long reload times
-Highly situational

Field Role: When sniping, target priority is everything. Since the only movement you’ll really be doing is to secure your firing line of sight, you’ll need to know how to prioritize your targets. Due to the low damage output, your targets are the two extremes of every spectrum with various degrees of priority:
Priority 1: Always focus the zone control mid rangers first.
Priority 2: A target fighting a friendly OR their cavalry
Priority 3: A target you will finish off OR A target with full health.

Positional awareness: This class is often the one that is played with the least tact, making the majority you come across seem fairly pointless. As a sniper you need to be aware of everything happening on the board, as every shot you take needs to count for your presence to be considered useful/Threatening. I don’t recommend using one unless you’re squadding with friends or clan mates, as the impact of a sniper in this particular game, is only how much it benefits it’s team.

Miscellaneous Support:
These bots do not fare well outside of organized play, and while they can be a major incovienience if played well, they do not fill any of the aforementioned roles optimally. The troll bots of yore, if I may say.

Aphid Patton
Hydra/Aphid Griffin
Hydra/Spiral Griffin
Hydra Fujin
Hydra Doc

-Make them see red
-Can hit almost any corner of the map in their AoE

-Low damage
-Mediocre reload times
-Aphids are too inaccurate to use as a primary weapon.

Field Role:……..

Hopefully this can add a little more depth for anyone that reads it. Learn your maps, know your bots and their role, and be aware that any position you may find advantageous, your opponents may find the same. Don’t be afraid of pulling back from one direction to put your gear forward where it will shine the most.
And most of all, always be aware of your surroundings. See you on the battlefield!

Read more: http://war-robots-forum.freeforums.net/thread/8642/ttfs-guide-situational-awareness-tact#ixzz5LXkbX5ey