I used the search feature and it came up empty, so don't shoot me if this has been posted before because I tried.

 

I'm posting this because I use tracer darts almost all the time but rarely see any assist points for it. I didn't realize how the whole "tracer dart" system worked until recently myself, so it's quite possible that quite a few of you are not aware how they work.

 

I had assumed that it helped rockets home in on the tagged target, but I was only half right. In order for it to work properly, the RPG or M2 user needs to keep their target reticle on the tracer-dart box until they get a range indicator under the box. That tells you the rocket is locked onto the dart.

 

At this point, you can fire the rocket and it will attempt to home in on the dart. I tried using this by firing straight up hoping it would come straight back down like a Javelin, but this doesn't seem to work. However, I have successfully shot a rocket over and around small fences and hit my target, while remaining completely out of cover. I haven't quite got the maximum fire arc's capable by the two launchers, but the system definatly works. And it seems to work quite well on helicopters as well - provided you can somehow get a tracer on them. My first Traced-RPG shot was on a heli in-flight (how the guy got a tracer-dart on it is beyond me).

 

So there you have it. Next time you are carrying that RPG/M2 and you hear that a target is tagged, give it a try. Get behind a low fence, step back a bit, get your lock, then launch the rocket over the fence. You might be suprised how well it works.

not much of a fan of the engineer kit, i do like the laser guided ones... ive hit tanks over a hill with out even seeing it...thats fun rite ther.

 

good post though.

Ah, awesome DR. Thanks for the info. I didn't really understand how they worked myself.

It took me a couple tries to figure it out too. They need to add some type of tone to let you know you are locked on.

 

BTW, how is an RPG guided? Never heard of that before. Sounds like a little Bad Company BS to me.

Nice, thanks for the info !!!

There's more - I have yet to confirm this, but I am getting reports that if you use the smoke-grenade perk for vehicles, the resulting smoke actually removes the dart. Or at the very least, scrambles the lock. But it MUST be the vehicle-launched smoke. Apparently, smoke launched from assault rifles doesn't work the same way. (But it's stil excellent cover for covering your squadmate engie repairing that armor I suppose)

 

I've always found myself drawn to the engineer class. Did it a bit in BF:Vietnam, although everybody was doing it when the M60 was an overpowered mess and you had the LAW as your backup weapon. *laughs* Ended up doing it in BF2, but didn't enjoy it that much. The SMG's weren't as good as I liked and I despised that I had to expose myself to use the rocket launcher. BF2142 was the first of the series that I truly enjoyed the Engineeer experiance. They truly got a lot of neat toys.

 

The Engie is ridiculously fearsome in BC2. I almost felt guilty that the M2 Carl Gustov was the first weapon I got a Platnum star in. But yah, at times I get tired of it and go medic. If, for no other reason, to be the only medic on the battlefield using a 870 with 12 guage slugs.

the carl fires just like a gun almost anyway. There really is no need to lock on. Thats why people use it all the time as an infantry killer.

lol or shoot a guy in the face with a tracer dart

Don't forget you can tag enemy infantry with it the blow them to pieces afterwards. Keep running you're just going to die either way. Hehehehehehe

that's true and funny to watch

I've done that actually. You know that bug where your mousewheel doesn't switch weapons in the right direction when your in sprint mode? Yah, happened to me. Reached for M2 after emptying the AKS and got the tracer gun instead. Fired without noticing and was all WTH about it. The kill cam cracked me up though, there he is standing with my tracer dart lighting up his manhood. *cackles* "Hey buddy, you might want to have that looked at"

 

Be aware, you can do it to your own teammates as well. It's a common griefing tactic to shoot your own snipers in the face as it

 

1) sometimes makes their screen blink red.

2) Lights them up for enemy engies.

 

Something you may want to watch for while admining your servers as the tactic is starting to get around.

LOL i did it yesterday to a sniper by mistake. Switched to the pistol and forgot i had the tracer. Shot him in the head, but he killed me, was funny to watch him trying to hide afterwards and a ton of guys chasing a guy with a glowing red dot head.

LOL, wish i saw that!