Zapping Zekistanis

Full Spectrum Warrior™: Ten Hammers continues the Full Spectrum Warrior™ tradition of heart-thumping action and brain-twisting strategy. In fact, the game's unique combination of spell-binding visuals and strategy make it as addictive as it is exciting. That excitement, however, can lead to depression when the Zekistanis shred your poorly planned attack. But that doesn't need to happen to you: Follow these tactical tips and tricks and you'll soon empty the streets of insurgents and gain your rightful place as a military analyst on CNN.

In addition to its awe-inspiring firepower,
the Bradley is darn near impervious to
anything less than a Zekistani RPG.

Cover
Cover and its use are the cornerstones of the Full Spectrum Warrior series. Simply put, you want to stay in cover, and maneuver your men so that when firing on the enemy, he has none (cover, that is). Players of the original game will readily recognize cover (and the rest of you shouldn't have too much trouble … I mean, how hard can it be?). Cars, corners, boxes … anything that can stop a bullet is cover. Like a fashionable credit card, never let your men be caught without it, and don't give a move order unless it is to move from one piece of cover to another.

Also keep in mind that there are new cover possibilities in Ten Hammers. Building interiors are the most obvious change in potential cover locations. It's gratifying (read way cool) to duck into a building, run room to room until you outflank an insurgent position, and then pop up at a window and feed the Zekistanis a plate of lead. But in Ten Hammers you no longer need to only think in two dimensions. When Pandemic opened the buildings, they also opened the way to vertical envelopment. Of course, when the U.S. Army talks about vertical envelopment they mean a flock of Blackhawk choppers dropping men behind the enemy. We mean something different. 

Imagine, if you will, this scenario … you enter a courtyard and a pair of Zekistanis immediately pin team Alpha with machinegun fire. Is it an RPK, is it a 14.5 millimeter machine gun? Who cares? It's only a video game, and either way it has your videogame soldiers pinned. There's no way to flank the Zekistani positions, and a frontal assault would be decimated by a hail of bullets fueled by the Zekistanis' pixilated passion.

Yet there is more than one way to skin a cat. Enter the tall building behind your men and climb to the top. Aha! Now you are peering down on top of the enemy position and they have no overhead cover. Slay them, and your advance can continue.

Bradley IFVs not only pack a wallop, but provide great cover as well.

You need not always move to cover. Some cover can move to you. In addition to its awe-inspiring firepower, the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) is darn near impervious to anything less than a Zekistani RPG. Don't forget this when working with the famous World War II general's namesake. It can not only suppress the bad guys, but also provide cover for your men in an otherwise coverless street.

Teamwork
The second most important aspect of Ten Hammers is teamwork. No doubt cover is an important tool, but teamwork is the hand that wields it properly. Vaguely disturbing analogies aside, you must learn how to command your men and make them function as a team if you hope to stay alive.

The most basic team tactic is fire and maneuver. Although basic, it wins most of your encounters. In its most simple form, fire and maneuver consists of engaging (and suppressing) the enemy with one fire team while another team maneuvers to the bad guys' flank for a clear field of fire, thereby neutralizing the enemy.

Unfortunately, it can get a wee bit more complicated than that. There are several mitigating factors. You must first find the enemy's flank in order to neutralize them. Sometimes that can be easy, and consists of no more than sliding around the edge of a courtyard until you have the shot you want. Other times you need to trace your steps through narrow streets and alleys, hoping to sneak in behind the enemy.

You can flank enemies from above as well.

But what if you encounter additional enemies while maneuvering? Or, even worse, what if the second team is ambushed? There are a couple of ways to avoid this. The first is to employ the game's new scouting feature. Send a lone soldier ahead, being careful not to unduly expose him. If he spots something, he reports, and then rushes back to the team. You can then decide how to best tackle the new problem.

An efficient way to tackle this is with Ten Hammers' new buddy team feature. Unlike the original game, you may now split your fire teams into two-man buddy teams. So, if Fire team Alpha is busy suppressing one enemy position and you encounter more bad guys as you attempt to flank the first enemies, you can use the same fire and maneuver tactics normally employed by the entire squad. Have two men suppress the newfound enemies while you flank them with the other buddy team. After you eliminate them you can continue your advance until you flank and destroy the first enemy position.

There is a downside to the buddy teams. In the real world, combatants are most likely to stop fighting when they feel isolated from their comrades. The same is true in Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers. Accordingly, when you split down into buddy teams, your warriors are less likely to effectively engage the enemy. Bottom line: Although buddy teams have their place, breaking down your fire teams does have its drawbacks.

Two-man teams help cover your back, but they are fragile.

The Final Round
These tactics aren't everything you need to survive in your war against the Zekistani insurgents, but they are a beginning. Here's a final tip, and it's a good one. Treat your fire teams, Bradley IFV, Hummer, or any assets as if they were real. Don't send them unnecessarily into harm's way, use the basic tenants of cover and teamwork, and you'll soon restore order in Zekistan and head home to that posh TV gig.

Article by Jad Recklaw