Bad Company 2

I have stated many times that Bad Company 2 is a team game. The side which is communicating and most importantly cooperating more adequately will prevail in the conflict. The best chance of you achieving that is joining a clan, developing good ties and wining round after round. But sometimes, in random servers with random people you can only rely on just a single friend. Yes, the whole team is needed to win the round, but if the two of you have good tactics together, you can help your side a lot.



The idea is that a well trained force of just two willing soldiers can potentially be far more deadly and a non-cooperating four-man squad. You have probably seen many squads of just two men, locked up so no one else can join. If you are alone in a random server with just one friend, sometimes you can both join a squad with more people to use the re-spawn mechanics, or clean your play by making a separate squad. Even if you are in a full squad of four friends, you can still split the squad in two and operate with greater flexibility. In any case, the man next to you is all that matters. Here are some good ideas gathered over time mixed with common sense, for those who already do or like to try working trough a round relying mostly on a single buddy. And remember that all of the things mentioned here are good for Vietnam as well as BC2.

Rules of Thumb

Again, these tactics can be applied in a full four-man squad divided in two or with just two players. There are many advanced ideas, but most people will guess, that if you are relying mostly on the other dude in your pair, you will both have to take good care of each other. Re-supplying, reviving and watching his back exactly when your buddy needs it are very important tasks. Communication is vital in this regard and mikes are best suited for the job. But all of the above are mainly situation based tactics. There are three simple rules of thumb that can and should be applied trough the entire round with consistency.

Never loose sight of each other

The first thing that people get wrong (and this applies to four-man squads that play normally) is the importance of staying within eye sight. You and your buddy come to a container or a shack, you decide to check the right side while he moves on the left and if all of a sudden you are engaged, your friend can't cover you. In the case that you die, he doesn't know what exactly happened to you. He may be a Medic and may want to revive you, but he didn't see from where you took fire and is clueless of the enemy position, and will most likely suffer the same fate as you if he comes to the rescue.




This is why maintaining vision of your buddy is very important. Yes, you can turn your back to each other to cover for threats, but still stay in such angles that if you turn around you can quickly locate the other guy and react if he is threatened. There are occasions where splitting up is reasonable, like if you both want to clear a house by entering trough two different doorways. But remember, that every time you loose sight of your buddy, not only you but you both are putting yourselves in danger.

Stay close, but keep your distance

Staying close merely refers to the above rule. Most people with some First Person Shooter experience will tell you that bunching up with your team mates is bad luck. A simple grenade or a Carl Gustav will get both of you with one hit. By keeping a distance of a few meters between each other you can prevent both of you getting hurt by a single explosive. Spreading out a bit will even help you with automatic weapon fire, by making you more difficult to kill. Believe me, there is nothing more easy to score a double kill on than a couple of dudes hugging each other. Sometime lack of cover will dictate that you gather together really close, but generally try to avoid it.

Always have at least one operational weapon

What this means is never let both of you run out of ammo at the same time and never reload at the same time. Running out of ammo is not an issue if one of you is an Assault. But if you are both other classes, make sure you don't run out of ammo at the same moment. This is achieved by watching the combined ammo reserve (pistols also included) and distributing tasks. If one of you gets to his last mag, he should get into supportive role and let the other guy do most of the killing, until you get re-supplied. When you empty your primary get your secondary out and use that, but as a team of two always have a way to kill if you are required to do so instantly.

Reload management is a slightly different thing and is applied to everyone no matter the class. If you both reload your Assault Rifles of SMGs at the same time, that gives a few precious seconds for the enemies to take you both out. This is most important for a double LMG combo, where reload times are very long. So to prevent that follow these simple rules when paired with a buddy:

One primary weapon gets empty – the second guy continues to fire so the first one can reload rather safely. In that way constant fire is provided and there is a good chance that the enemy will try to stay behind cover. If you are the guy providing cover for your reloading buddy, try to control your shots so you don't run out of ammo until the second guy reloads his primary. A good way to communicate is to say "reloading", the second guy says "covering" and when you are done reloading you say something like "OK" or "ready" to signal that not only you are ready, but he can safely reload if he needs to.

Both primary weapons get empty – both of you get your sidearms up and start shooting. From that point the same rule from above applies. Try to avoid emptying both guns at the same time. Choosing pistols with different mag sizes is a good way to mentally prevent both of them running out of ammo at the same time. If the situation is hot and one pistol empties you want to reload it, not switch to your primary. If you have a good opportunity to get your primary weapons up (an opportunity can mean good cover or a clear area) then one of you gets his primary reloaded first, while the second guy watches the surroundings with his secondary. After the first guy finishes reloading, then the second may reload his primary.

Both primary and secondary get empty – in this worst case scenario you always want to reload you pistol, because it will finish faster than pulling out and reloading your primary. Again, choosing two pistols with different mag sizes will help. The idea is that if this happens when the second gun empties, the other will at least be half way trough the reload.

Tactical Reloads – a good time to do a tactical reload (reloading when the mag isn't empty) is when an opportunity arises – either cover or clear. Then again you both reload your weapons only one at a time, while the other guy provides cover with a ready weapon. When doing a tactical reload to both your primary and secondary, which one should your do first? Your pistol, because you will more often than you think forget about it and will end up not having a fresh magazine inside when you need it.

Moving

In Bad Company 2 in a given moment you can generally either move or engage. In this section we will take the above rules of thumb and cover some basic movement drills that will help you and your buddy complete your objectives with ease. Wherever you two are, we should always assume that an engagement is imminent and we must prepare for that. There are two major movement formations that you two should follow.

Moving in a Line

When you are in an open area or in a wide enough choke point, you can apply the old line formation. You move shoulder to shoulder, at some distance from each other (like the second rule of thumb states).



This allows for both of you to get a good vision of what is ahead and put your targets down quickly with overlapping fire. If you are engaged from the front it will be impossible for your foes to shoot at both of you at once. This formation is also excellent if someone tries to flank you as you can both quickly turn around and attend the threat. If you are facing possible flanking, it is common sense for one of you to move slightly ahead, so that you don't form a column from the perspective of your sides. A lined squad of two players is a fast reaction, firmly moving unit that can perform great reloads and both lay fire on the same target with ease.

Moving in a Column

When facing a narrow chokepoint on your path, that you will risk bunching up together too much, you still shouldn't break eye contact. One player (usually the one with the most close range damage) moves a bit forward, while the second one covers him from behind.



Notice that the player behind is slightly to the side so they don't form a perfect column. This prevents the forward player from blocking the rear player's vision and prevents a lucky M95 shot piercing both of you. This position is very good for sustaining eye contact in narrow areas and rooms, but is vulnerable to flanking. If one of the players is engaged from the flanks, the second player may not have a clear shot on the enemy. This is why when moving on to a wider area, it is good practice to wait for the rear player to catch up a bit.

Combat

All of the rules and trick above are fundamentals and will help you both survive longer. But the main reason for a couple of player to form a tight bound is to be combat efficient. A lot of the movement skill transition to the moment when you two actually start fighting. The mechanics that you should apply are heavily directed by the specifics of the situation. But the one main ruse is: When one zeroes in on a target the other one looks around for other threats. To do this right takes patience, experience and knowing your partner. The whole idea sums up that a single soldier should be efficient to take down another soldier, but is vulnerable to other threats while shooting. So the second one should scan the surroundings for secondary threats. This also helps with the timing reloads since one of you will always have more bullets in his clip than his friend. But let's take a look at some examples.

Close Range Encounter

The CQB environment is the most nervous environment for the two man squad. The problem here is not only that the enemy could pop up from anywhere, but which one of you should engage him. The best scenario is if every one of you has a different target. That way you are as efficient as a two man squad can be. But generally a given enemy is engaged by the first one who sees him. If you hear your friend engaging then look around to see what is going on and if he is doing fine scan the surroundings for another foe. If you both happen to engage the same guy don't worry. Keep on firing until he is dead. There is no bigger mistake that you engaging a foe and then both stopping in order to scan for threats, believing that you buddy will continue to fire.
Practice if very important here. If you both engage and the target hides behind cover that one can go and pursue while the other watches his back. Voice communication can help a ton. If you spot an enemy and are certain you can get him, you can just say "this one is mine" and let your friend know that you got this, so he can watch your back. OR if you need help just say so and you can both engage the target. In a hot, battle heavy environment mastering this will take time, but if you can both engage different threats and watch each other's sixes you will be unstoppable.



A short note about movement pace, that is more appropriate here than the movement section. You should know that engaging while sprinting takes longer than while simply walking. So whenever you believe that you will face a threat soon, stop sprinting and get ready. But the real trick and what kills many people is a fast second encounter. Remember be fast to take the gun into the fights, but don't be so quick to take it out of the fight. What this means basically is that after each encounter, give your self a few seconds of walking before you start sprinting again. Both of you should scan for additional threats for a moment before returning to your normal movement.

Long Range Encounter

The idea here is that you have either spotted an enemy at long range or are receiving sniper fire. In both scenarios you have decided to eliminate the threat before moving on. The routine here is much more simple that close range fighting. The one with the more "range capable" weapon begins to engage the target, while the second one covers his back. When your buddy is trying to hit your distanced enemy, you have no reason to zoom in and try to help him. Just keep scanning around and protecting your friend from close range or other threats. Even if you get killed, this will still signal the other guy that there is another imminent danger. It is always better to do this, that both of you getting knifed.



When receiving sniper fire from an unknown location, your first priority is to get to cover. Then if you decide to deal with it, the one that will engage pops up and looks for the sniper, while the other one stays fully hidden, but still looking around. If you have a buddy to practice this, you can become quite efficient and begin to find good locations on the various maps to do all those drills.

The two man squad can also do all of the above in a dynamic matter. Whenever a long range foe appears one engages it in the quickest fashion, while the other watches the six, and as soon as the threat has moved away you keep on moving. Again if you have voice communication, one yells "long range threat", so the other one can immediately begin to scan the surroundings and as soon as the "clear" signal is given you keep on moving.

Engaging a Vehicle on Foot

This includes only the scenarios where at least one of you has AT capabilities, be it C4 or Rocket Launchers (static emplacements don't count). This is one of the situations where you should keep a distance from your friend, especially against tanks, so you don't both become easy pickings. Sometimes it might be even better if you are on opposite sides of the vehicle you are attacking, but that heavily depends on the scenario.

If one of you has AT capabilities he should attack the armor like he usually does. If the other one doesn't have AT, he should watch or even hunt down enemies who are exiting the vehicle. It is almost certain that after every shot a tank takes the players inside get a little bit more scared and the likelihood for one of them to pop out is getting higher. This is the time for you to strike and possibly take away from the tank the capability of a quick repair. If you are engaging a chopper then it is best for the one without AT to either hide or draw the pilot's attention from his Engineer buddy. It again depends on the current situation and the mood you guys are in.

Kit Combinations

Off course whenever we talk about a squad it all boils down to its composition. The classes you choose for a two man squad are even more important than a four man squad. The possibilities are many but here are just a few favorite combinations and a few specifics about them. You will notice that all of them have an Assault soldier in them. Wile combination like double Engineer/ double Medic, or a Recon and a Medic work, the lack of ammo will soon become a liability.

Assault and Medic

This is a great combo if you are not that skilled. Both of you are good damage dealers to infantry and the Medic is always there in case things go bad. The Assault should be the one doing most of the fighting and he must be sure that his buddy is well supplied. The good thing is that since the Medic's LMG has more ammo in its magazine than the Assault Rifle, you will most likely always have a gun that is up and running. Just make sure that the Medic's priority is his buddy and that he doesn't run to resurrect allies, unless they are really close to the squad.

The Double Assault

Now this combination sounds very potent, but it is tricky. The thing is that both of you won't be able to engage armor or heal/resurrect each other. Whenever one dies the other must make sure he is safe until re-spawn. But if you manage to coordinate together you will find that the Double Assault is an extremely mobile, combat oriented combination. Two Assault Rifles can move rapidly and engage enemy infantry at various locations. Don't underestimate the value of resupplying each other even if you are both Assaulters.

Assault and Engineer

This is in most cases the best combo. It gives you guys not only mobility but flexibility as well. You have both anti-infantry and anti-tank capabilities. It is good especially on vehicle heavy maps like Heavy Metal or Phu Bai Valley in Vietnam. While one of you takes down the enemy armor, the other one keeps his ass safe. And you won't worry about running our of rockets. This is a great combo if the Engineer wants to take another specialization instead of Explosives Leg Pouch. And on the other side, the Assault isn't worried about running into an enemy tank.

Assault and Recon

There are two types of AnR combination. If the Recon decides he will do some close and personal C4 rampage the Assault is there to provide firepower, re-supply and benefit from the usage of Motion Sensors. In fact, a combination of an Assault and a Recon can be even more potent that a double Assault squad. If your Recon buddy however decides it is time for him to snipe and call down mortar strikes, you still have a job. As an Assaulter you should make sure he always has ammo and no ambitious enemy can sneak up on him. This is a very good combo on Isla Inocentes and even Hill 137 Conquest.

Final Words

Battles or in our case rounds can be won by numbers, tanks and mortar strikes. But the team is only as strong as the individual. And if that individual understands that teamwork is essential he will make sure both he and the man next to him are prepared. Never underestimate the power of a two man squad! A couple of guys who know each other (especially in real life) and like to play some Bad Company 2 together are a formidable force. Keep this few rules in your minds and don't be afraid to experiment with your own ideas.



Here are a few guides that you might find useful with in combination with this one:

• M26's Guerrilla Tactics
• Fender's The Art of Flanking
• Ender_Graff 's Covering the Charge
• M26's Getting Around

• Discuss This Article in the Forums
• Return To The Bad Company 2 Portal
• Head Towards The Forums To Discuss The Latest Issues