America's Army: Special Forces/Bridge Crossing Tactics

General Topics

Look out for 203 grenades at all times.
Watch out for snipers and 203 on the assault ledges, on the truck and on top of the middle tower.
Stay out of spam!
When you turn a corner, do it either crouching or lying down. This way if the enemy is around the corner they are gonna have to lower their aim to hit you giving you a split second advantage.
Crouching in windows is the best way to end up dead.

Bridge Crossing Tactics – Assault

Use Suppressive Fire: Fire down the bridge to allow your teammates to advance. You may just hit an enemy if they aren't careful. You'll also slow them down, as they'll need to dodge your fire. Watch out for incoming 203's though. If you have the Squad Automatic Weapon, lie prone on the bridge, aim towards the other end of the bridge, and sweep the fire back and forth.
The main challenge for assault is to pass the center arch. This can be accomplished in several ways.
1. Stand back and kill defense from a distance. Soon no defense will be left near the tower. Then move quickly to the defense tower to try and kill those in the defense hills and those hiding on the ridge to the right.
2. Smoke the center arch heavily and then rush through. Normally moving to the right catwalk or defense tower asap.
The second challenge of the assault team is passing the defense tower. There are also several ways to do this.
1. Move up the trap door quickly, removing any defense in the tower that are left if the chosen tactic for the center arch involved a rush. The assaulter in the tower now can check the ridge to the right of the tower for any defenders.
2. Move to the left cat walk, hiding behind the corner of the defense tower. Throw nades into the defense hills then move out to the left following the cliff or straight ahead if there appears to be no resistance.

Common Knowledge – Assault

Right at start you should get away from the insertion zone ASAP. People like to shoot 203 nades on start location thus killing a few people who do not move in time. This is known as 203 SPAM.
Watch out for snipers in the defense tower or on defense tower crates. Also watch for the nice "treehugger spot" by the tower.
You also might have one more 203 than the defense, use it wisely.
Lots of smoke is good, as long as it's on the defense side.
OPFOR on the defense tower steps can be quite deadly.
Another sniper spot is the wooden catwalk on defense side, right behind the rail that goes around the edge of the catwalk.
Do not camp behind truck. Defense grenadiers love to spam there, whether it be a dropshot or straight shot.
Do not dawdle halfway down the catwalk. People have to get through, plus you (and anyone stuck behind you) will be a sitting duck to defense rushers around middle tower.
Don't rush. This map requires a lot of patience, and if you rush you'll make an easy target.
Don't throw frags unless you're at the front line. Too often do people throw from the back, killing teammates while at the same time the cars they use for cover keep the flack from hitting OPFORs. The same goes for smokes, which can easily blind your teammates unless they give up their cover!

Bridge Crossing Tactics – Defense

Suppressive Fire: Fire down the bridge to hinder the progress of the assault team. You may just hit an enemy if they aren't careful. Watch out for incoming 203's though.
The job of defense is to defend, therefore "using tactics" is condoned. However if the defensive team does not move at all the assault team will quickly learn their locations making for a slaughter.
On small servers, defense rushing can catch the enemy unprepared leading to an easy victory, since defense spawns closer to the middle tower than assault. However make sure you have your team's support. Do not try this on large servers (20 slot) if you are new, or you'll get wiped out.
If the assault team is winning easily, try hanging back (as a team!) behind the defense tower, there is more D cover than O cover. Doing a backwards bound and overwatch with suppressive fire to fall back can be quite effective at confusing the enemy.
Beware leaving the area after the bridge, as even if it looks like the assault is losing, someone can easily sneak along the sides of the bridge and run for the objective without being seen. A single guard right where the bridge ends can easily worn player if someone snuck by.

Hiyou_uk1's Guide to Bridge Defense

The first and only objective of playing defense on bridge is to DEFEND the tunnel end. Too few players take up fixed positions behind the defense tower. From a position set a little back from the defense tower there are a number of spots where you can be 100% safe from either nade or bullet without first at least getting a sight of the enemy. Often the enemy does not even know you are there until you open fire and nail him. A favoured spot is on the north defense hill. Below there is a screenshot of the position.

http://www.smac01.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/image002a.jpg

From this position you cannot be fragged, sniped or shot without first getting at least a sight of the enemy presence. Either visually or audibly. Before moving on it should be mentioned that all players should have gone into audio settings in game and where you see the drop down list titled Audio Mode drop it to H/W 3D + EAX. Even if your sound card does not have the EAX capability it will do no harm it just means you won't have true EAX. But even if you don’t you will still have a far superior quality of sound from the game including an improved perception of the direction a sound comes from. This can be a vital edge.

But back to the north hill defensive position. From a lying down position for more accurate shooting the player can see the exit enemy would take from left cat and also the central arch area. From this position the player should in general use single fire mode with iron sights up. If you are not in the habit of using either iron sights or single fire mode you will be astounded by how deadly it can be when used to effect. It’s common for an enemy travelling along left cat to give a little jump as he nears the end, which reveals him to you if you are watching carefully. Even if he doesn’t jump to have a look from cat it’s also common to see just a little of the top of his head pop up as he runs. Generally you will be scanning the area with iron sights down but if alerted as described above you can bring up iron sights and be ready with a sight on the area he will pop out from when he goes up on the wall. When enemy is in your sights blast away on single fire rapidly and you will be producing a far more accurate and more deadly burst than any other mode of fire.

While keeping an eye out for enemy coming from left cat another spot to be watched very carefully is just at the lower left corner of the car. An enemy can lie down behind the car and edge out to take shots at you. Lying down and on single fire with iron sights up you can take extremely accurate shots back, but if you prefer can edge just slightly into the right which denies him his shot at you but still leaves you able to cover the area. While on this topic another thing that all good team players on defense should do is make sure the door in mid arch is closed at all times. An enemy skipping quickly over the wall unexpectedly and running in that door invariably kills all the tower huggers after climbing up maintenance tunnel. Why do people open that door at all? To go up to the tower?? That’s a long way for a shortcut. If you MUST open the mid door close it again. But preferably just keep out of there, if you want to play at running up and down the maintenance tunnel do it in single player please.

Another source of enemy contact from the north hill defensive position is off the wood cat at right. In this case it’s generally quite late in the game but not necessarily so. The alert factor is this: you will HEAR anyone walking on that wood if you have sound settings correct and especially if you are using a headset. A headset is highly recommended for play and those players who use them have an advantage.

If you hear the enemy on the wood you should crouch or stand immediately and change to burst fire. If it’s late in the game and you are sure it is enemy you can toss a frag over if you have one and try to kill him that way. But that can be too slow and my preferred method is to throw over a flash then rush forward and right till enemy is in sight from brow of hill and mow his flashed ass down. If there are still more enemy you can then retreat back to your lying down position. WATCHING left and LISTENING right.

All this does not mean that you should never go forward at all. In game play I most often go forward moderately early or more often mid game, moving on the cats to frag reported enemy positions at mid but then retreat again to the north hill position. This part of the game is another thing entirely and the inexperienced should practice fragging on single player mode. I may expand on this at another time but I will start off those who have no fixed blind fragging shots with one I myself use to great effect. Go forward on the left cat keeping tight in against the wall until you reach ladder. Always keeping tight against the wall step on to the ladder as gently as possible until your gun disappears. When the gun disappears you know you are definitely on the ladder. Then step back off the ladder as gently as possible until your gun appears again. All this ensures that you are in a precise spot every time. The shot will not work if you are not. Once in position draw your nade. Below is a screenshot of the drawn nade ready to be released. Note the position of the thumb just below the large icicle looking thing near the edge of the tower.

http://www.smac01.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/nadeshot2+61.jpg

Once the shot is lined up use whichever key or button you employ to pull the ring to cook off nade then two flashes of live grenade at bottom left of screen then release. This shot takes a steep trajectory and if you cook it off much longer than 2 there is a chance of mid air explosion above the tower, missing enemy at left back. The first screenshot below shows five stooge enemies at left back of arch, the second shows the result of the nade when thrown as directed. All dead with one missing who was presumably blown over the wall.

While on this subject it should be mentioned that it's really poor team play to follow and hang close behind a team mate on these cats. From either of the cats I can frag any point either front of or back of the mid tower and I can do this from either cat. For example I can frag either front left, back left, front right or back right of mid arch, all from either cat and each shot as deadly and precise as the one illustrated here. But I need freedom of movement on the forward section of the cat and anyone hanging around behind me is a hindrance and a distraction. That apart from the fact that's it's also silly for two players to be in the one spot to be killed by a frag from the opposite cat.

It's good practice at any time in the game to stay far enough away from team mates to ensure only 1 of you could be killed by a single frag or 203 round in any given spot. Bunching is very bad. Just recently I took out four assault players with a single frag using the shot to left back of arch illustrated here. Taking out so many with one frag is very unusual since 2.5 patch which halved the killing distance of frags. They must have been bunched around the back of the arch in a similar fashion to that depicted below with stooges and the shot actually killed all five stooges too. An example of very poor assault play which should be taken on board as a deterrent against bunching by defense too.

http://www.smac01.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/enemymid_+61.jpg

http://www.smac01.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/midafter_+61.jpg

I am pleased if this nade shot from a blind position is of any help to anyone who plays defense on bridge. But my main object is to try to encourage people to actually DEFEND the bridge. This little fragging demonstration was merely to show that you can attack at mid but still DEFEND the objective. Going to mid or hanging around there is totally senseless. Mid is the most dangerous, most shot up, most naded spot on the map. The advantage of defense is that you do not NEED to go there. Assault MUST go there if they want to win. And actually that’s sometimes not even true. I have seen entire defense teams throw themselves past mid and all be shot or sniped with a minute of the game remaining. They threw away the advantage by trying to assault rather than defend. Remember that assault has a material advantage. They will always have a 203 and you may not for example. They have more smokes. When on defense use your advantage to the utmost. Make them DIG you out of there. Positions in front of the tower particularly in the latter stages are silly. It’s practically certain you have been seen there and reported there by the enemy to be shot, sniped, blown up or whatever. You are no surprise at all, whereas the guy lying in the hill is. The north defense hill position illustrated above gives you the advantage of a concealed position the enemy must reveal himself in to win. In general, on defense do NOT GO LOOKING for the enemy. Wandering around looking for enemy means you must risk revealing yourself. Defense doesn't HAVE to reveal itself. Assault DOES. That's the advantage of defense. Use it to the max. MAKE THEM DIG YOU OUT OF THERE!!! There are a number of good spots the player can experiment with. But keep in mind they must give you cover from all angles. If you are too far back you can be sniped. Stay close enough to the back of the tower that you cannot be sniped by a distant unseen enemy. Only once or twice have I seen the majority of a defense team follow this strategy. And when they do it’s awesome. Practically unbeatable. Instead of having the usual idiots all standing at pillars in front of tower or lying behind cars or standing in windows or on stairs, all the usual easy places to find and kill them. Instead of that assault are faced by a foe who frags their asses off at mid then retreats to an unassailable, unseen position. Trying to pass defense tower with like 6 guys all spread out behind it is virtually impossible. One assault victim of this strategy became so frustrated he screamed CAMPERS!!! Actually called defense campers. So if you want honor points and a good frag rate. Play defense on bridge as it should be. Keep cover in un-snipeable positions and instead of moving around all the time stay perfectly still and LISTEN. Listening cannot be over-estimated. From the tower when the game is quiet you can hear enemy crawling on ground at mid. Yes you can actually hear them CRAWLING slowly along the ground rather than even walking. Imagine what assault hears at mid as the tower huggers skip like fairies from window to window on those boards, just begging to be sniped. KEEP COVER!!! DEFEND THE OBJECTIVE!!!

Additional blind frag shot. Defense right cat to right back of mid arch.

As before, move along the cat keeping tight in against the wall at all times. Keep moving until you hit the ladder, you will know you are on the ladder when your gun disappears. Step back again as gently as possible until your gun reappears. Draw your nade and line up the shot as indicated below. Press whichever key or button you employ to cook off the nade. Allow it two flashes of live grenade at bottom left of screen then release. The other two screen shots show five enemy pawns at back of right mid arch and then the aftermath of the shot. All dead with one missing who was blown over the wall.

http://www.smac01.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/nade_rb61.jpg

http://www.smac01.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pawns_rb61.jpg

http://www.smac01.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rb_after61.jpg

Always keep in mind that you are not trying to assault the mid. After you have used your nades quickly retreat again to a safe defensive position behind the tower such as the one on north hill shown above. You are not assault. I have a 1.93 fragrate employing these tactics. I have to be doing something right. KEEP COVER!!! DEFEND THE OBJECTIVE!!!

Full site here: http://www.smac01.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/BridgeDefence.htm

Common knowledge - Defense

The sooner you can reach a good defensive point the better.
Right at start you should get away from the insertion zone ASAP. People like to shoot 203 nades at the spawn location thus killing a few people who do not move in time. This is known as 203 SPAM.
You could also consider NOT standing in the def/ass arches in the starting minutes of the game since both SAW and 203 will cut you to pieces.

//Nightworm
//roastedMnM //JasX

Weapon Classes

Try to memorize the order that the weapon slots appear in for both assault and defense. Notice that assault side gets their M203 and their sniper slots earlier down the list than defense. In a small server with 5 players per side, that means that as an attacker, you may not have to worry about OpFor having M203s and snipers. If you are an defender in the same server, no-one on your team will have those guns.

This does not matter for a full server when all the slots are taken up.

-GoldDragon

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For: Riflemen

You've got 2 Frags, make use of them. If Assault loves to rush the ledges, rush up the corresponding ledge on your side and lob a nade over the mid tower (after 3 second cook). Chances are, you'll catch him running up or climbing the ladder. If possible, try for an airburst that'll cover both the ledge and the main bridge with fragments. **NOTE** DO NOT ATTEMPT AS ASSAULT AGAINST RUSHING DEFENDERS, THEY WILL SHOOT YOU WHILE YOU'RE COOKING THE NADE **NOTE**

Smoke is the sniper's bane, use it well. Good example: smoke the sides of the mid tower before trying to climb or crawl over to the other side. This annoys the heck out of the snipers who like to hole up in the tower. It can also annoy the heck out of your own sniper too if he is having a snipe around enemy stairs, so just check he isn't right next to you when you chuck that smoke. Beware though, if a guy with a SAW is in the tower, he'll probably spray the smoke with a hundred or so shots.

Single shot or Burst? It's really a personal decision, but I personally like single, unless I'm involved in CQB at Mid Tower. Then it becomes important to fire rapidly; it is recommended that a rifleman learn how to effectively "auto-fire" a M-16 on burst-fire.

For: Grenadiers

You don't have frags. Be sure to have a nearby Rifleman, so you can ask him to toss a frag around the corner or lob a frag onto the top of the tower.

Hit some smoke, don't hit others. For example: Smoke in the middle of the mid tower should not be shot at. That is often used as cover for someone to switch from left to right, or vice versa. However, smoke on your side of the middle arch SHOULD be naded after about 5 seconds. You'll most likely catch someone trying to run through to a ledge. Just make sure none of your teammates are there. Also, if you're defense, knowing how to 203 the sides of middle tower from defense tower is very handy indeed. (Tip: Make sure that your crosshair is inline height-wise with the top edge of the middle tower)

Memorize certain shots in single-player. It's cheap, but memorized shots greatly help your team. Specific ones to learn:

Middle Windows of both towers
Right and Left of Middle Tower
Enemy stairs
Enemy wrecked cars
Enemy arch (~15 seconds into the round is good)
If you're feeling particularly cruel, OpFor spawn (But beware: many servers now have this practice banned and will kick you if you do it. Check server rules first.)

Learn how to survive CQB. For those who have not memorized shots, you will more than likely be forced to head to Middle Tower (a.k.a. CQB heaven) in order to aim at the windows or enemy stairs, and if you die at Middle Tower, then whoop-de-doo, you've just given your teams most potent weapon to the OpFor!

For: Machine-Gunners

First thing's first: If you haven't already, read Cappy's guide (it's also accessible in the main area of this site).

You've got three options on this map:

Think like a sniper - Find a location far from the battle, go prone, and sight in on the action. Then, when an enemy exposes themself, riddle his body full of bullets.
Suppress the enemy - Fire off half-magazines or entire magazines downrange, making sure that your tracers make a noticeable line. This scares the daylights out of the OpFor - or it makes them rain rather accurate fire down on you as they aim for the source of the tracers (oops). This has often given rise to interesting SAW battles, with both gunners aiming only by the other's tracers. I enjoy these greatly.
Provide forward firepower - rush forward to Middle Arch, stay on your side, and just fire at anyone coming up the OpFor ladders. This also gives good opportunities for you to accurately take out enemies on the OpFor side of the bridge.

For: Snipers

Sniper rifles are all most accurate when prone and supported. However, in the hands of an above-average sniper or better, you can score killing shots while standing. It's advisable to crouch when sniping though, as that allows you to exfiltrate quickly.

Change positions. Especially on this map, find two or three good spots to snipe from (common spots: Top of Boxes/Barrels in the tower, one of the tower windows, stairs, or cars). Go to one sniping spots at the start of the round and stay there, picking off a target. Immedietly afterward, relocate to another of those handy spots. Repeat.

However, if your team is getting thrashed, it might be a sign you need a better spot to support from. If you are seen, relocate AT ONCE and run to your second spot. He may have gotten a call out, and soon your first spot will be blistering with enemy fire. However, if you relocate, you can catch the OpFor off guard by sniping the guys who are wondering why you aren't where their teammate said you were. Strangely enough, almost no one actually uses this tactic.

Exploit your dead comrades. If a rifleman keels over next to you, pick up his m16 and any grenades he may have dropped. This way you won't have to depend on your dinky little M9 peashooter.

Defense tower stairs- provides commanding view of defense road, middle tower, and the left defense ledge.