[Guide] Stealth-Tactical Guide I

[hindos]

Tactical Guide I - Stealth
  I ask you this and I ask you this alone, what does it mean to have acquired the art of how not to be seen?
  The answer is stealth, a ability to deceive your opponents and literally move past them without their knowing of it. It can range from distractions, silent movements, to secret passages a decoy team-mates. Here I shall teach you the art of how not to be seen, also known as stealth, and how to use this in Ace Of Spades to you're advantage.'
For beginners I recommend only reading the first part.
Contents:
1.Basic Stealth
2.Passages & Obstructions
3.Silent Movement
4.Camouflage
5. Teamwork & High-tier Infilitrations [NEW!]
6. Stealth Weapons[NEW!]
7. Notable Tactics

Basic Stealth:
  To begin your career in stealth you must know how to avoid your opponents. The most basic form of stealth is to simply take such  a wide arc around your enemy you never enter their view range. This can be accomplished by gathering intel from other team-mates who may share the opponents location with you, or you may spy on them from a camouflaged position, and finally you may simply take such a wide arc the chances of detection are next to none.
  The advantages of this form of stealth is there is no restriction to movement speed(you may run), nor do you need to make less sound. However, it has more risks then other stealth options as when you even for a moment enter another opponent's view range you may be detected, it also doesn't work well in smaller maps or against holed-up positions.
  The final basic form of stealth is darkness. It allows you to enter the shadows and seriously or completely disrupts your opponents view. Unfortunately, this tactic currently does not work well due to a incomplete lighting system-everywhere is the same light-level. However, hiding in the side of tunnel does work very well and opponents will easily run by without noticing you(even if you're only 1 block away), this is good to net kills; but you're position is easily compromised so it tends to help to have a fail-safe tunnel(i.e. tunnel you enter and place blocks to make it look natural again, so the opponent forgets where you were located.

Passages & Obstructions:

  The term FOV stands for 'Field Of View' , it means the area in which you or other players can see from their view point. For example if you are standing on one side of the hill you FOV stops you from seeing what is on the other-side, whilst you enemy may be on the other side and likewise unaware of you on the other-side of the hill due to their FOV.
  The Field Of View can be manipulated and used wisely to escape detection. Quickly going from cover to cover or using natural obstructions to go past an enemy perimeter(which is the obstruction wasn't there you would be in the field of view of your opponent). You can also build obstructions to help aid your team-mates in infiltrating enemy bases, however this has the disadvantage of potentially being used by an enemy as a shooting point.
  Thus you can use obstructions of your opponent's FOV to your advantage. Sometimes it is actually useful to do a suicide run and quickly construct a wall so you can use it later as an obstruction for sneaking into the enemy base.
  Advantages of this tactic include that you may be in their view range, but not in their FOV thus you can be much closer to them without their knowledge. It also works from varying distances, at short range you will need to move quietly and at key times, and at long range you may quickly run from cover to cover without their knowledge. Disadvantages include that you can only run if the distance is far enough and the obstruction a minimal of 3 blocks tall, furthermore they may spot you if there is a break in cover; this can be compensated for by moving quickly and when they aren't looking.

 Next, are passages; passages are completely enclosed spaces with no holes to look through. This usually means an underground tunnel but it can also include a above-ground hallway. These are usually 3 or 2 blocks heigh and 1 block wide. You can use passages to sneak past opponents by digging under them, and thus eliminating nearly all risk as the chances of them hitting your tunnel are very slim(especially if it's very deep).
  It is recommended to use the right-click function on the spade to dig tunnels as it is quicker, more silent and digs a 1x3 tunnel which is the idle height. If you passage is very deep underground there is no need to worry about making sound, and you may freely run through the tunnel. However, above-ground passages are ideally 2 blocks tall as you will need to sneak to minimise noise.
  Generally tunnels are much safer and less riskier then most tactics, save the slight chance of hitting enemy tunnels. Above-ground passages are generally more dangerous and easily spotted on plains, however many maps come with corridors and hallways which makes them very useful and easier since you don't need to make it yourself. Passages can also be used to through hills or mountains , thus obstructions, which can cut down travel time and decrease detection.
  Advantages of this tactic include less risk, complete enclosure, tight space(easy to fire, if you're prepared), and can be used multiple times to easily infiltrate the enemy position. Disadvantages include time(takes a while to build the tunnels), sound(if they are shallow, quicker, then you'll need to be careful to stay quite), and can be used by your enemies to get back to your base( can be countered easily since you know where the tunnel entrance is).

Silent Movement:

  Silence and quite movement are a key skill for infiltrators and spies, and are a must at close-range avoidance. Most enemies are aware of sound and if they hear anything suspicious will go to investigate, thus minimalising or making your noise obsolete is key to keeping your position secret to the enemy. Likewise this can be misused to distract enemies then quickly use that time-frame to move past their position.
  The first and most important way to stay silent is crouching , by pressing the 'ctrl' key you can move completely silently not only on land but also whilst swimming. It also decreases your heigh allowing you to hide behind lower obstructions. Of-course it will slow down your movement, but charging is often considered suicide and a brilliant way to be spotted.
  To decrease the sound from your spade you should use the right-click function which is great for digging tunnels , is quieter and can also be used to sap enemy buildings quicker. It only takes on dig with the right-click function to destroy 3 blocks, most players don't know of this function so use it wisely.
  There is no known way to decrease the sound of your weapon , thus only use it when absolutely necessary as you may be quickly swarmed by enemies. But by the time you see an enemy they may have shared your location with team-mates, but if you follow the stealth art well this shouldn't happen. Gun-fire is a very good way to distract opponents, it is better to make your team-mate cause the distraction but firing it at a far-away structure might make them mistake it from coming from somewhere else(i.e. fire at a illogical target from your position).
  Block placing is also not silent, but is sometimes necessary to cover your tunnel entrance or quickly construct stairs to reach a enemy building roof. Use the click-drag (right-click) function instead of the basic left-click to more quickly and much more silently construct things.
  Using a combination of these quieter or silent methods could mean the difference between life and death. During my newbie stealth time I often made the mistake of forgetting this and often payed the price by having them dig into my shallow tunnel and then use it to infiltrate our base. Silence is bliss, and remember team chat doesn't make any sound!

Advantages of Silenter Activities:
1. Can decrease chances of detection
2. Useful after being detected to stay hidden better
3. The opposite of silence can also be used to distract opponents, high risk factor if done by self though.
4. Sometimes silent activities don't have penalties but increase work rate, right-click spade function is quieter and faster and click-drag building is quieter and faster.
Disadvantages:
1. Slower movement
2. It is close to impossible to be completely silent

Camouflage:

 Camouflage is to be able to blend in with your surrounding despite being in the FOV of your opponent. It is essential for sniping nests and sneaky-kills and a  very important advanced tactic when trying to avoid detection.
  First of it is essential to note which colour team you are, whether it be green blue or custom makes a large difference on differently shaded backgrounds. For example green team would blend in with green blocks which are generally used for nature, this in forests. Whilst blue team blends in with blue blocks and entities, like water thus the ocean and swimming are a good option.
 Furthermore, in sniping positions camouflage is key. Using a natural object that fits well with your team shade can make the difference between making a sniping nest in a high-contrast object. Attempting to make your entire snipe nest your team colour is ill-advised, but can be useful if you want them to find you so you can hit em in the back whilst they walk in.
  When building quick walls or fortifications to help in the war effort it can help to make them your team colour this makes it hard for snipers to notice when you stick out your head and can make the few milliseconds of a difference. However, this openly declares that it is a more likely target for your team members to be at.
  When moving from cover to cover , if you have the choice  it is advised to run by a less contrast colour to slightly decrease the chances of detection whilst you run past.
  Overall , camouflage has a lasting and big influence on stealth and assassinations. By making it harder for the enemy to spot you it can make a few seconds difference allowing you to take out the target before they  notice you, it also allows you to escape detection despite being in FOV; this works particularly well with running opponents as they don't have the time to carefully stare at things.

Camouflage advantages:
1. Can make the difference between detection or life and death
2. Increases time for opponent to aim at you , thus allowing you take them out just before they shoot you.
3. Useful when moving from cover to cover
Disadvantages:
1. Smart opponents generally look more at shades of your team colour since those are generally targets where more of your team would be hiding. Thus they would aim at a green wall(if ur green) before they aim at a blue one.

Teamwork& High tier Infilitrations:

Ace Of Spades is a multi-player game and as such you won't be alone in your struggle for supremacy. Working alongside your team-mates gives an essential boost to your teams chances, communicate and work together; knowing someone is covering your back is very important.
Likewise team-effort helps boost stealth based work as well, when one infiltrates the enemy alone one shot and your back to square 1. But if you attack it as a squad one of you can serve as a distraction or if discovered and killed the others can hide and you can use them as spawn-mothers.
Firstly you must learn of the art of distraction, by yourself distractions are very difficult unless you move quickly and make them them you're somewhere you're not. This can be accomplished by showing your head then moving in a direction and showing your head again, they then believe you're going that way. When in-fact you used a side-route and turned back without showing your head. Another way is to throw grenades specificly so that it looks like you're somewhere you're not, this costs a grenade though but is louder and more effective.
In teams distractions are vital in highly defended positions since it is sometimes nearly impossible to infiltrate them, thus distracting the enemies by firing and showing your face can give your fellow infiltrators the time they need to break in.
When distracting opponents stay far away from your team-mates route so there is no chance of the enemy spotting them in your distraction. A good way to get attention is to fire many times, try to take a few opponents down with you, if you have the time setting up a quick wall and tapping crouch and firing can vastly improve your survival rate.
Sometimes one faces a very well defended position filled with enemies, to infiltrate these you will need to use very advanced stealth tactics mentioned in the rest of the guide even then chances of success are minimal. Tunnelling, flanking, and sniping tactics are advised here. Have one of your team-mates camouflage a snipe-nest into nearby hills, large trees, etc, if not available you'll have to try and blend in as much as possible. Preferably make it multilevelled so they can move positions and hole it up if they're discovered. This team-mate will cover your team, distract, and weaken the enemy.
In team infiltrations it is ill-advised to stick close together. However staying within quick walking distance is vital if your team-mate needs help. This is because if one is caught not your entire team is compromised. Fortresses are usually sceptical to tunnelling, have your sniper report the part of the fortress with the least of an enemy presence and end the tunnel there or just behind the fortress.
Use these tunnels to sneak in, help your team-mates if they are caught and use all silent movement tricks. Remember to communicate using team chat and use keywords like bc (need back-up), re(retreat) to limit typing time.
In large fortresses it is sometimes effective to sneak near the wall and dig in a few block then hole up behind you then silently (right-click spading) dig into the walls, weakening them.
Once you have infiltrated the fortress weaken it for the bulk effort, sap walls, weaken thicker ones, take down towers and root out enemy tunnels.
If you die whilst working with team-mates this is an ideal time to chat whilst you wait for a re-spawn, inform them of whatever you last saw before you died and warn them of any dangers.

Stealth Weapons:

Sub-machine guns(SMG's) are ideal for distracting the enemy, loud and repelling fire, however they very loudly announce your presence if you didn't attend to to this on purpose. They are also good for sapping the enemy quickly if you're busted and behind their lines.

Rifles are ideal for infiltrators, they only fire one bullet at a time, allow you to snipe, and are the least loud weapon. If you sneak up behind someone they can also own at close-range. However they are bad at defending yourself if caught by multiple enemies, especially foes with shotguns or SMG's at close-range.

Shotguns are an ill-advised stealth weapon, but they can quickly take care of your foe at close-range which is perfect for tunnel situations. They can also very quickly weaken enemy walls, but run quickly out of ammo and are very loud. Effective at distracting but due to it's inaccuracy you'll take down much less opponents with you.


Notable Tactics:

 Here you will find a convenient list of tactics using the above information to infiltrate, assassinate, or spy on your opponents.
1. Snipenests- find a high-up or overseeing object(preferably with low-contrast over your team colour, e.g. green team would want  a mossy/grassy hill), generally hill or mountain, and sneak to it and quietly dig a entrance into it. Cover up the entrance with the same colour block as mountain(optionally make a single block slightly different shade, so you can find it later), then start digging out  a snipe nest aimed over the opponents side of the battlefield. You will want to make multiple view points for a large -scale snipe nest(multiple teammates, or just for longer snipeouts) but for a quick one only make one, it is a good idea to dig a 1x2 hole looking over the enemy then dig on block down to have a 1x2 wall so you can quickly duck to hide your position. Make sure to make all blocks the same natural colour as the object. Now you can snipe away at the opponent and it's structures(rifle only feasible weapon, smg easily traceable), duck when reloading or when you anticipate them looking at your direction. You can sap weak-base structures(useful in tower maps). This tactic can rack you a lot of skills if you do it professionally, be sure to have  a failsafe tunnel in-case your position is compromised, use it when someone pops a grenade inside or when a enemy is heading towards it(finds it empty) and starts using it for their snipes, then shoot em in the back and take it back .
2. Back-Shooting -  A very useful tactic to rack kills, however some may be tempted to go about it dishonourably. First infiltrate or arc around your enemies spawning area(thus when they spawn they face AWAY from your position), then make a camouflaged snipe nest or bunker in maximum silence. Some may consider it dishonourable or cheating to shoot them as soon as they spawn(this is not honourable don't do it), so instead wait for them to walk out a bit and then fire them in the head. This can rack you a lot of kills quickly, but you may be caught and the bunker may be used against your team. Furthermore, if you shoot them the moment they spawn they will likely votekick/ban you for dishonourable fighting techniques.
3. TunnelSapping- Tunnel sapping involves reaching the base of main(or minor) enemy structures and destroying it undetected. First you need dig a tunnel towards the enemies base, depending on your starting position(further away=less risk, more time taken) this may take some time, try to dig deeply so no-one hears you dig. Once you have reached the base of enemy structure(use minimap 'm' key) then start destroying it with the spade from underneath them, do this quietly and quickly fill up holes that aren't part of the base. You can quickly sap structures this way, but near the end there is a high chance of being detected. Once finished the tunnel can be used by team-mates to reach the enemy position more safely(be sure to announce it on team chat).
4. Swimouts- Useful for quickly and silently infiltrating the enemies positions in maps with lots of water or river. First of jump into the water from your side of the map(be sure to check for enemies in viewing distance i.e. scan landscape for spies), then hold ctrl and silently swim along the shoreline to the enemy position. Once you have gone around them you can either popup and snipe/shoot at enemies, or silently try to steal intel or sap structures. This is useful on maps like pinpoint, and you can optionally(less risk) make a very large arc around the enemy in the ocean however this is slower and riskier when trying to approach their shoreline from behind.

[TheSifodias]

Great job! You basically covered all the basics of stealth and detection, creating the perfect guide for the inexperienced intel capturer. A couple of suggestions:
- Revise the whole guide using a spell/grammarchecker
- This one is very important!
Explain situations of when to go alone or in a group of 2 or 3. Certain situations, like infiltrating a powerful fortress require a team effort, while others, like scouting lone territory, are best done alone.
Remind the player that due to the game mechanics, all enemies are telepathically linked and can contact others even after death.
Explain the use of the walk button, the "v" button on your keyboard.
According to the wiki, lightly pressing the left and right keys allows your player to run in silence. I however, have never tried this.
Explain various situations to use different weapons.
Another important topic!! Explain that sometimes you have to be detected/die to avoid enemies spotting your team's tunnels.

[hindos]

Great job! You basically covered all the basics of stealth and detection, creating the perfect guide for the inexperienced intel capturer. A couple of suggestions:
- Revise the whole guide using a spell/grammarchecker
- This one is very important!
Explain situations of when to go alone or in a group of 2 or 3. Certain situations, like infiltrating a powerful fortress require a team effort, while others, like scouting lone territory, are best done alone.
Remind the player that due to the game mechanics, all enemies are telepathically linked and can contact others even after death.
Explain the use of the walk button, the "v" button on your keyboard.
According to the wiki, lightly pressing the left and right keys allows your player to run in silence. I however, have never tried this.
Explain various situations to use different weapons.
Another important topic!! Explain that sometimes you have to be detected/die to avoid enemies spotting your team's tunnels.

Thanks for the advice :D , I'll add those things to the guide.
I allready put the thread through word's spelling checker >.> , so It must have been awful before that :P .

I'll start working on typing up the rest then ;)

Edit: Added them in, I'll need to do more research as to the 'v' button and right and left sprinting trick, but I'll add it as soon as I do ;)
Edit2: Can't find anything about the 'v' button...

[MrHaaaaaaxFF]

Semi- machine gun? It's sub-machine gun.

Try not to sound like a mean deuce next time, thank you. Post edited to remove meme. ~Doc

[hindos]

Semi- machine gun? It's sub-machine gun.

Try not to sound like a mean deuce next time, thank you. Post edited to remove meme. ~Doc

Woops my bad, it's getting late here :P Edit: Fixed

[HoboHob]

Another good guide.

(dude you copy/paste this from TA or did you re-write your guide)

[GrumpyApple]

When i am sniping and don't want to be detected. I make a emergency hole,Its succesful.

I never get caught,try it.

[Aqwertybqwerty]

Mostly common sense, but that's something quite a few people lack these days,and this is written quite extensively; an excellent guide overall.

[TheSifodias]

Don't make a charging/fighting guide, I'm making one... ;)