AVA Escort Guide

AVA Escort Guide by Sig Sauer

This tutorial pertains (applies to) to Scorpion in some parts, but the same principals can be applied to Rising Dust as well.. I’ll cover some basic defensive and offensive tricks I use in Escort…

First of all, let’s go over what Escort IS. It’s a game where one team escorts a tank (by standing near it) and the other attempts to destroy it with RPGs. Now, in escort, you can’t be sitting back at any time on any team. Nor can you go play ‘hero’ and try to rack up kills on your own. You HAVE to stay with your objective, too many times have I observed THESE problems in escort:

People who DON’T focus on the mission
Really, it’s a TEAM BASED objective, you need the ENTIRE team to focus on the objective. There can’t just be two people focusing on the tank while the rest of the team goes out to get kills and provide ‘cover’.

Class Unbalance
If you’re offense, DON’T STACK YOUR TEAM WITH SNIPERS, sweet mother of Microsoft, I see that WAY too much. In ANY game, you can’t just stack your team with a single class, it won’t work. Too many snipers, and the enemy will be right up your arse the entire time (flanking you, coming from your peripheral). Too LITTLE snipers, and your team will have NO support. Look at the scoreboard: If you have 3 or more snipers, you have too much. If you’re a sniper, and your score looks like 3 and 15, change classes. You’re not any use to your team, as much as I hate to say it, it’s the truth.

Camping
Camping should only be used if you’re playing defense, and even then it should be done as little as possible. If you’re offense, you CAN’T sit still, you’re supposed to be MOVING UP! If you’re on defense, you NEED to push them back.

With those key problems out of the way, let’s look at some of my famous ‘Dos and Don’ts’. I’ll categorize them into offense and defense.

OFFENSE

DO

Keep pushing forward. When you sit still, not only are you not moving, you’re SITTING STILL! Instead of pitching your tent in that hallway, get to the damn tank! You could be sitting still over near it in case you have to repair.

Keep a firm line set on the enemies. Moving forward DOES have its limit: the enemy spawn point. You can’t “LEEEEEEEEEEEEROY!” (charge) into that, spawners are invincible. Instead of rushing into their spawn, sit in a spot (THIS is the time when sitting still is appropriate, when you’re RIGHT on the enemy lines) that allows you to put grenades on paths that they will run out onto. It intimidates a lot of enemies into NOT wanting to move up and rush you. Remember: Be intimidating. If you rush and just end up dying in the enemy spawn, it lets them run forward with no obstacles. Even a single enemy around a corner will stall enemies into wanting to take that path.

Stick to the tank! That radio command ain’t there for nothing. You can’t have just 2 people repairing, if they die, who else will be there? Don’t send the ENTIRE team with the tank, just have a few people on your team CONSTANTLY rush the same side hallway. Do this for 2 reasons:

1)False ‘Predictability’ and distraction. Enemies will begin to think that they’re the smartest players in the world and can sit around the corner you always come from. They’ll be taken from they’re objective to watch that corner, after all, SOMEBODY has to watch their flank for them. It’s a good way to shift the focus of defense from the tank to the flank.

2)Offensive Focus. When your team coordinates and figures out who’s doing what, everybody won’t be running around the map willy-nilly. Everybody should have a job that the team knows about, and that they can work with. If everybody does whatever they want, there’s bound to be one weak point in your rush (such as not enough cover).

DON’T

(don’t)Just sit behind the damn tank. You’re pretty much camping, in an area where, sure, you can’t be directly seen, but it’s too damn easy to guess where you are. You’ll find yourself being mowed down by prefire. Sure, you’re right there to repair the tank, but you have to make sure nobody is up your arse while you do it.

Sit back. You’re OFFENSE. Get up and do something, really. As realistic as it SOUNDS, the tank has no ability WHATSOEVER to defend itself. (whoever is manufacturing the damn things must be forgetting, oh, I dunno, the entire DEFENSE MECHANISM of the tank). Throw bodies at the enemy, they’ll be pushed back, and focusing on YOU instead of stopping that tank. When people get into the enemy’s front line, it opens up the opportunity for a single player to push, repair, and use the tank with ease.

Be lazy. If that tank is busted, don’t just walk past it. Sure, I know, you’re pro, you want your kills, that damn guy camped me and I want retribution (revenge). But if you see it (and spawn near it, really, you do), take the opportunity to repair it. Already 2 people repairing it? Stick with them and watch their backs.

DEFENSE

DO

Get out there and fight!! I’ve seen it too much. People who think that the sniper is the ULTIMATE defense class. If you’re sitting back, and just pointing at the tank, guess what’s happening? Not a damn thing. You can’t see BEHIND the tank with that sniper rifle. They’ll just sit behind it and be protected from your shots. Defense doesn’t mean ‘holding your ground’ in all situations. Especially when it’s a mission where you have to prevent a moving target from getting somewhere. If you sit back, you give that target free time to move up.

Throw those nades! This works on Scorpion VERY well, but only before the first checkpoint is it very effective. When that tank rounds the first corner, put nades BEHIND it. Don’t save them up until you SEE somebody, it’s a waste of time. Throw your nades down the stretch of the road, and get them behind the tank. Even at the VERY start of the game (on Scorpion), if you throw grenades to that first corner that the EU’s come around (counter terrorists), they’ll get prenaded. ‘Prenading’ is a technique in which the throwing player throws his/her grenades across a map or into a hall etc. and then continues along another route. When putting nades behind the tank, it kills repairmen, and sometimes keeps them from wanting to get near the tank. Very useful, because you don’t have to actually get behind the tank to kill.

Limit the amount of RPGs on the team. If half your team is using RPGs on that tank, what are they doing while it’s destroyed? Not a damn thing. Unless you’re using that thing on ground troops, don’t just stand around with your RPG waiting for a chance to fire. Waste of time, and a player who could be doing something else.

DON’T

Sit back. No matter what team you’re playing, sitting back is NOT good. It’s even worse for defense, because if you sit back, the enemies are moving UP. Eventually, you’ll just get pushed back while the enemy charges forward.

Become distracted from the tank. If it’s dead, keep it dead. Rush it, get the hell to it, and HOLD that position. The longer you can keep people away from it, the better.

Waste a DAMN second. These rounds are timed, and can affect your next round’s progress. Don’t let the enemy have a single SECOND left over in their rush. How do you do that? Follow the Dos and Don’ts already.

And that concludes my little tutorial on how to play escort. Any points you can add are, of course, much appreciated. I’d be much obliged if you can help improve the guide as MUCH as possible.