What's mines is mines: How to get the most bang for your buck.

[Redprosthetic]

Mines.


They are like your passive-aggressive friends that, when set off by way of an enemy offending it, hurt everyone around them.

Think of them as sad drunks who have short tempers but who love you dearly deep down. Sort of.

While they can equate to massive casualties on both sides by their very tempestuous nature, in order to have them do anything other than sit there when you throw one to the ground, you have to use your build tool on them after dropping them. This is why you autoshift to your drone / pliers as soon as one hits the floor.

You can manually un-build mines if you feel that you have the time to spare, but they will automatically despawn if you try to place more than your allotted three. This is generally a much better idea given the pace that a successful Engineer/Constructor needs to work in to be effective.

You can press mouse2 to deploy them as tripmines, if you wish, which mainly turns them into a 2 second psych-out for the incoming foes instead of an unaware enemy that is now dead on the ground, as they are very conspicuous when deployed in this fashion. That said, this can create a stall, which can be a very beneficial means of momentary defense if used to that end.



As Strogg, it seems beneficial to lay mines near the EMP objective, as GDF Engineers are prone to be martyrs for their cause here. You can place them on the structure just behind the objective, facing the building bordering the area, to great effect. This works very well in concert with an anti-infantry turret facing towards the Southwest entrance to the area, as the units trying to dash madly to the objective become suppressed by the turret and then scramble to the objective seeking shelter from the fire.

Then the exploding happens.

During the 2nd objective, it can be very beneficial to take the Northern ladder from the Strogg base to get behind the sewer grates themselves. Once there, mine the heck out of the back side of the grates. It's fairly tricky to try and get just the right amount of force behind a grenade that could disable them, and if you have been doing your job right, the GDF should be pressed for time at this stage in the game.

The 3rd objective can be handled multiple ways, but I usually find myself putting 2 mines near the controls and then 1 mine outside of the immediate control room area. There are a few pillars in this area, and mines work to great effect when put on the side that the GDF can't get a good view of when trying to enter the control room.

If the rear door is blown in the above situation, you might want to put something in the blind corner leading from the newly-made door to the rear corner of the control room as a little surprise for the sneaky GDF who go to the trouble of dealing with that mission in the first place.



As GDF, it would be wise to use mines to guard the first forward spawn location, as this area is often under harassment from tertiary Strogg forces during the first objective.

You can also make use of them to help secure the second forward spawn location after the EMP is built, and if you don't, the Strogg sure will.

During the 2nd and 3rd objectives, if you are feeling especially adventurous, you can try and mine up the hallways that the Strogg reinforcements will be pouring through. They usually catch on pretty quick but then have to sacrifice a few grenades on their way to try and defend the controls.

Keep in mind that GDF mines are fairly hard to read in the dark sewer tunnels, which is a distinct advantage that they hold over Strogg mines in this situation.

If you can manage to get to the control room without a steady deluge of Strogg nipping at your heels, you might find it useful to use the above Strogg method of defending this objective, at least as a means of holding out until backup arrives.

It should be noted that Strogg can arrive earlier to the last objective than GDF can, so keep that in mind when considering laying mines near the controls. A Strogg can blow himself, you and your Spec Ops up if you are careless in your placement strategy.

Above all, As Engineers/Constructors, try and spread the wealth around in terms of placement. One grenade can pop a fair amount of crowded mines, so if you are able to communicate to the other E/C's on your team as to where you are going to set up, please do so.

Friendlies who will be running crazily around said objectives: It was not the idea of the E/C on your team to cause you to get all kinds of blown up, so either have a forgiving heart or try and keep your eyes open when navigating these areas. Or both.



Special Tricks for the Conniving and Unscrupulous Engineer/Constructor.


When armed, mines blindly regard things that are under the direct control of an enemy player to be hostile. To use this to further the cause of the GDF, a skilled (or not so skilled) Engineer can start the match out with a bang by loading his mines on an ATV and charging blindly into the fray. This tactic can essentially be used to transform the Husky into a single-use Hog and can give pause for thought to a blindsided Cyclops.

Just remember, if the mines are armed, bail a few seconds prior to the crash and resulting explosion, which gets the added damage of the vehicle exploding with it.

If you fancy the idea of surreptitiously making a bomb out of a vehicle, and if the first forward spawn is teeming with Strogg defenders, leaving a few armed mines on a soon-to-be abandoned Husky can work to your advantage in some circumstances. An unaware Strogg can easily fall prey to this if they happen to wander too closely to your seemingly non-threatening ATV while they are caught up in the fight.

The beauty of this kind of mine usage is that it is mobile, and most players are used to the idea of mines being stationary and only seen around fixed positions on the map.



As Strogg, this usage of mines does not always work to a distinct advantage since your vehicles are all well equipped for directly dealing with the enemy. The one vehicle that could possibly see the most use out of this tactic is the Icarus, which can be readily abandoned at various locations to create a blockade that must be dealt with by the GDF before they can pass through these locations.

The Icarus is just the right size and shape to cordon off a doorway from immediate GDF access, and I have seen a few matches involving the placement of an Icarus to blockade the entrance to the first forward spawn point, as well as the doors of the power station at the first objective.

This creates a situation where the GDF can either try and jump through a limited space surrounding the door, or dispose of the Icarus from a distance. If they opt to go the first route, boom.

I could see some possible use out of mining up a Hog, but it is far too useful of a vehicle to send it to the flaming scrapheap in Stroggos' sky as a mere possible-suicide bombing mechanism.



The usage of mines in regards to vehicles has some other interesting connotations beyond that of making big, moving bombs that you control, as armed mines don't care about abandoned vehicles, period.

You can be sneaky and drop a mine or two near an enemy vehicle when it spawns, but a perfectly armed mine is completely apathetic to vehicles that do not have players in them.

When they do, however, it's a completely different story.

This is most easily made a viable tactic for the Strogg Constructor that remain around the first objective immediately upon the GDF completeing it, and it is likely to be overlooked for the notion of trying to mine the second forward spawn or the sewer grates just beyond it. This is an excellent place to hinder any kind of armored advancement from the GDF if handled properly.

An unarmed mine tossed onto a freshly-spawned GDF vehicle can easily be set off by a Cyclops or Desecrator blast and makes for a nasty surprise to the GDF. The luxury of arming your mines in this location fluctuates if the second forward spawn is captured, but generally isn't needed to get the full effect of the mine.

If you are feeling like being a bad, bad person, you can create a very unfriendly atmosphere at the now-occupied GDF spawn point at the first objective by a combined method of mine placement and shooting the wheels off of the Armadillo and Trojan in the wake of a long spawn wave.

The wheels themselves take 6 shots to disable, and both the Trojan and Armadillo spawns will stay active with all wheels removed, thus creating a situation where an engineer needs to be present in order for them to be operational.

Your mileage will vary depending on how the map is playing out by the time this activity is available to pursue, and vehicles that have been disabled in such a way are very quick to repair if an observant Engineer takes notice.

[reyalp]

In a pinch, you can use mines to disable vehicles and deployables. Simply drop a few unarmed mines on the ground, and then throw a nade on top.

Prox mines beep. Trip mines do not.

Prox mines have a trigger delay, trip mines do not.

Placing mines high up makes them harder to grenade.

[Hakuryu]

You can place mines on vehicles and even deployables. Near a Cyclops that doesn't notice you? Throw your mines on the legs and then a grenade. Covert Op's hacking your deployables? Place a mine on one to catch them.

Even unarmed mines can make the enemy pause. If your on Strogg and the GDF are rushing inside, just throw a mine or two in highly visible areas to make them slow down.

Self Arming Mines (lvl 4) rules, but is next to impossible to get. Just toss and they are ready.

Ceiling mines are often not noticed. Over the GDF capturable spawns, arm a mine on the ceiling instead of the more noticeable places right on the cap area. Getting creative with mine placement is crucial to catch the enemy unaware.

[space]

LOL I put 3 mines on a kneeling cyclops, then some poor fool on an incarus flew by him and BOOM!

[Jammydodger]

Great post Redprosthetic, I have quoted you on my site, hope you don't mind.

[Redprosthetic]

Updated to include data gained from vehicles exploding, exploding, EXPLODING!

Homework assignment: To see if you can put mines onto an Infiltrator's remote drone for anti-vehicle purposes.

I can see this working in my head, but I have never attempted this in-game.

Team up with a buddy and see if this is viable!

[Nagromme]

Question: can a grenade blow up a NON-armed mine? (Like in the Cyclops example above, do you have to arm the mine AND then toss a grenade on it?)

[Scorge]

Yes it can, no you don't

[problem_causer]

Originally Posted by Redprosthetic

Just remember, if the mines are armed, bail a few seconds prior to the crash and resulting explosion, which gets the added damage of the vehicle exploding with it.

For the XP-obsessed, this technique may not yield any XP. After you bail from a vehicle, it can run over teammates or the enemy for a kill without attributing it to the person who was last driving the vehicle. If the mines are on the vehicle, you might get XP for the damage inflicted by the mines, but not the vehicle explosion.

I wish Splash Damage would change this because I've encountered people bailing from armadillos to have them run over the engineer right before the bridge is completed so they can then finish the build and take the credit.

Problem Causer

[Deprave]

Good post, Although, in the introduction part you come off like tripmines are only good as a distraction or as a way to slow the enemy down, when in fact, a well placed trip mine will give you a guaranteed kill because it blows up instantly, quite often people are able to get away from prox mines without a death.