My lovely employers threw us some unexpected cash just before Christmas and, after consulting with her indoors, I blew it all in two hours at komplett.ie. Shiny new video card and the required new mobo (for the pci-e), new CPU (because of the mobo), new power supply (new mobo is 24-pin) and new hard disk (new mobo doesn't do RAID the old way).
Man she is the kicking. Been replaying everything on arse-kicker resolution and it is most pleasant.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
BF2 many months on
So I've been playing it for a lot longer now and it's time for further impressions.
After many patches (1.12 currently) they've definitely sorted out the login servers and have improved the browser (though not enough, not nearly enough). They've changed the rank requirements and the unlock points so that even I, Sargent Heresiarch, have three unlocked weapons. Of course I'm not too sure I've unlocked the right ones (and the community doesn't seem to help much here). So far, the new medic weapon makes that character class much more survivable and the support weapon is much better than the old one (it's far more accurate). I miss the grenade launcher from the assault rifle though and so I usually don't play with the G3 (which doesn't seem all that accurate anyway).
The thing is that we still don't have a really effective way to deal with aircraft. Chopper pilots are just getting more skilled as they play, I've started seeing pilots fly through the tubes in Kubra Dam which is pretty incredible. The problem is that there still isn't much your average infantryman can do about it. The Stingers are stationary and very slow to reload. They also don't actually do much damage and love nothing more than flares. Those of us who play anti-armor are getting better at hitting the less experienced (ie, hovering) pilots but it's still pretty hard. Even the mobile AA is pretty weak, there's no chance of winning a 1 on 1 fight with a chopper, you pretty much have to surprise them or have someone else soften them up.
Of course, there's the argument that choppers and ground-attack fighters should be left to the jets but that's not really how it plays out on most of the maps. Usually the flyboys boot around trying to take each other out to no useful effect. I guess I'll just have to learn to duck more.
I must say though that the game has given me some great moments and being part of a big push is a great feeling. I'm enjoying the dismounted combat much more than I thought I would at first, especially on Sharqi Peninsula (a great map).
Having recently upgraded my kit (effectively to a new PC) I can also say that with all the graphical options on it looks superb. I had some trouble playing online due to a corrupted cd-key entry in the registry but EA tech support were very helpful and helped me through a fix (even over Christmas).
After many patches (1.12 currently) they've definitely sorted out the login servers and have improved the browser (though not enough, not nearly enough). They've changed the rank requirements and the unlock points so that even I, Sargent Heresiarch, have three unlocked weapons. Of course I'm not too sure I've unlocked the right ones (and the community doesn't seem to help much here). So far, the new medic weapon makes that character class much more survivable and the support weapon is much better than the old one (it's far more accurate). I miss the grenade launcher from the assault rifle though and so I usually don't play with the G3 (which doesn't seem all that accurate anyway).
The thing is that we still don't have a really effective way to deal with aircraft. Chopper pilots are just getting more skilled as they play, I've started seeing pilots fly through the tubes in Kubra Dam which is pretty incredible. The problem is that there still isn't much your average infantryman can do about it. The Stingers are stationary and very slow to reload. They also don't actually do much damage and love nothing more than flares. Those of us who play anti-armor are getting better at hitting the less experienced (ie, hovering) pilots but it's still pretty hard. Even the mobile AA is pretty weak, there's no chance of winning a 1 on 1 fight with a chopper, you pretty much have to surprise them or have someone else soften them up.
Of course, there's the argument that choppers and ground-attack fighters should be left to the jets but that's not really how it plays out on most of the maps. Usually the flyboys boot around trying to take each other out to no useful effect. I guess I'll just have to learn to duck more.
I must say though that the game has given me some great moments and being part of a big push is a great feeling. I'm enjoying the dismounted combat much more than I thought I would at first, especially on Sharqi Peninsula (a great map).
Having recently upgraded my kit (effectively to a new PC) I can also say that with all the graphical options on it looks superb. I had some trouble playing online due to a corrupted cd-key entry in the registry but EA tech support were very helpful and helped me through a fix (even over Christmas).
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