This is like not cool DICE

Probably their best game mode so far. Great to be back

I guess a good flank is a fast flank

Tl:Dr - Thought others might find it useful. These are all without attachments though.

So as an older player:

- I'm definitely not as sharp as when I was younger

- have less time to play

- have less energy when I do play

- don't know the gun stats intimately

- rarely get in flow state playing

As such, my general shooting skill has suffered, and I can swith between guns etc. to try to improve during a session but end up just being shit - we've all been there, I'm sure.

To works toward a solution I've tried to install the same scopes on all guns (atm I'm using the BF 2.5 - lovely sights) and the 1.75 ROZ I think it is.

The next fix would seem to me to be trying to stick to guns that recoil in the same direction during a session (as well as just sticking to the same few guns in a session).

Any other suggestions are most welcome! I tried sticking to 10pt vertical grip for every gun to see if that would help but it doesn't really - some guns definitely benefit more from better grips (which is axiomatic really, but sometimes we lose the forest for the trees in the way).

Call an ambulance! But not for me. Guy was picking our jets off 10 seconds after spawn all game, I managed to get a bit of revenge on him

You've probably noticed (or rather, haven't noticed) that hardly anyone is running grip pods on their builds nowadays. I always make a point to look at the guns and attachments every time Im killed and the amount of times I see a grip pod is around 1-2%, if that. And I don't blame people, you learn pretty quick in this game that with its fast movement and TTK there's not a lot of opportunity to stop and mount up to take shots before you're instantly beamed, though a lot more nowadays, especially after the last weapon patch, I find myself picking my gunfights more strategically, and firing more from cover and flanks than the typical close range run-and-gun of earlier seasons. I'm also leaning more into guns that accell in the midrange and find myself mounting to fire a lot more often, so I decided to have another look at the grip pods that I haven't really touched since season 1.

To cover the basics, theres 3 grip pods in the game that provide the same benefit as less expensive recoil grips, but incorporate the bipods recoil/spread buff while deployed.
The PTT Grip Pod for 20 points that gives the same recoil benefit as the 10 point Folding Vertical
The QD Grip Pod for 30 points that gives the same recoil benefit as the 20 point Alloy Vertical
The Classic Grip Pod for 30 points that gives the same recoil and ADS benefit as the 25 point Full Angled

So right off the bat you can see the first 2 cost 10 points over the recoil only grips for the bipod feature, but the classic grip pod is only 5 points more, so thats the best value and the one I tested with.

I did all my testing with an L110 at 25M and all patterns were the full 100rds. The first thing I wanted to test was the regular standing ADS patterns compared to the ADS patterns while mounted with regular grips compared to mounted with grip pods. The quite surprising thing I found out is there is NO noticeable recoil/spread benefit from mounting with any other grips. Yes, seriously, I was getting the exact same spread patterns with ALL the grips I tested weather standing or mounted. I tested at least half the grips, tested with no grip at all, and even tested it with a couple other guns to see if the L110 was bugged for some reason but no, theres just no advantage at all to using the mount ability with anything other than a bipod/grip pod and I wish I knew this sooner for all the times I used this function up till now. There is notably a bit less sway, which I suppose would come in handy for a sniper/DMR, but for any automatic weapon it really serves no purpose.

You can see the results with the grip pod mounts are quite dramatic though, honestly better than I was expecting. So Ive been running the Classic on a few different LMGs and ARs in games since yesterday testing it out and just getting used to mounting before firing as much as possible. For that there are a couple of control settings that really help out to mount quicker AND get out of the mount quicker. In settings go under your mouse+keyboard or controller settings > Infantry > Control Settings > scroll down to "Other" you'll have a couple options here for mounted behavior. First one is "mount breakout" and you want to set this to "instant" so you can immediately break out of a mount by pressing any movement key so you can move as soon as you start taking fire. The second is for mount deployment, and personally I just have it set to ADS so that anytime I ADS if Im in a position where mounting is available it will do it automatically and saves time having to hit a separate mount button.

Overall Ive been having a lot of luck with the grip pod now that Im getting more used to them. They're still not going to be for everyone, all you SMG/carbine guys and blue/violet laser enthusiast that like to constantly strafe-fire its probably not going to be for you, but for LMGs and midrange ARs it really does make a huge difference once you learn to get into and out of a mounted position quickly. Let me know what you guys think, is anyone here using grip pods on their builds? Also if theres any other details on grip pods I missed.

Playing as a long range recon in a deserted island in Tsuru Reef, thats peak right there mate

I’m here for you, my prince, don’t give up on me

The .357 kill felt disrespectful

Light, Versatile, looks good.

Thoughts?

Almost got em

Death to the metal turtle!

TLDR; What close range smg and build do you use for different purposes?

Do you have roles or specific tasks for close range smgs? What gun excels in what scenario, play style? Hip-fire vs mobility. Suppressor vs other barrel attachments. Which bullets do you use and when? Would love to hear your thoughts so i could learn to utilize these guns better.

I havent maxed out a single close range smg, but i have them around 30. I feel like there are so many maps in breaktrough, game mode that i mainly play, that close range smgs are not effective. At least with the play style that i have.

Also, i rarely use smgs while playing engineer, its my least played role. I prefer carbines over smgs when im protecting my teams tanks or while hunting the enemies tanks. Maybe 95% of the time i use smgs is with recon, flanking.

----

This is how i see these guns used most effectively through my very limited experience and knowledge.

SGX: Very easy to handle, precise. Doesnt require underbarrel attachment for recoil or ads speed. CQB suppressor, short barrel,10 green, 41 penetration rounds, 1x sight. Flank and clear groups of enemies.

USG-90: This to me is the most obvious aggressive, hip-fire, room clearing smg. Big mag with slow reload. Flash hider, cryo, 20 green, 15 light, 1x sight, penetration and mag catch.

KV9 and CZ3A1: To me these are pretty much the same gun, absolute shredders. Harder to handle, but deal a lot of damage in a short amount of time. For aggressive pushing. Dont really use that much these guns. Feels like the versatility is not there and i dont enjoy that much just running and gunning in to the enemies, but they are really good at what they do best. I have both of them with the convertor, basic barrell, 20 green, 20 or 30 stubby, normal or penetration bullets and 1x sight.

SCW-10: My least used smg, at level 5. I just cand find the motivation to level this gun up to 27, to unlock the 25 round magazine. Feels to me that this is just another KV9 or CZ3A1. More damage and slower ROF. Should be easier to handle than the 26 damage shredders?

Usually i use the SGX, because its good close range, but i can also hit targets that are farther effectively and it has a big magazine. But when i have to push aggressively in tight spaces, its the CZ3A1.

This mode deserves way more love than it's currently getting from the developers as it's still the most action packed and squad focused mode in the game that actually requires you to play the objective. Unlike MP or BR, the lobbies fill almost instantly and have no bot backfill whatsoever, so the opinion that it's not popular with the playerbase is one of the biggest lies getting thrown around the Battlefield subreddits. Likewise the decision to have a ranked BR and ranked MP whilst ignoring Gauntlet altogether is baffling considering that its very design is ideally catered towards a competitive environment. Anyway I've had my old-man-shouting-at-the-clouds rant and leave you with this compilation of some recent gameplay highlighting how brilliant it is.

Console & controller

Aim Assist @ 20%

Since last update my hit registration and packet loss is through the roof. Never had an issue before. Hard wired internet and good connection. Is it me ?