GEARS OF WAR 2 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND

GEARS 2 8X XP WEEKEND: DUCK AND COVER

The latest GOW2 news from the official Gears of War website says…

“As you may have noticed, the Gears team loves to blow stuff up. Like, a lot. So with Independence Day and Canada Day rapidly approaching, there was really no question as to how we’d bring the party to Gears of War 2. From 9 AM Thursday, July 1, through 9 AM Tuesday, July 6, we’re lighting up Horde with one hell of a fireworks display—nine solid waves of Tickers followed by a single wave of pure Boomer action. Best of all, we’re capping it off with eight times the experience across all multiplayer modes. It’s insane! It’s pyrotechnic! It’s this weekend!” – Source http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/Templates/Secondary.aspx?id=1910

This seems like a serious opportunity to get some major points.  Especially on maps like Avalanche, Day One, Ruins and Pavillion.  These maps have shields that spawn almost every wave.  Since there are only tickers and boomers there are no creatures that can knock down shields.  Find a nice hiding place with some good shield defenses and it might be possible to go all 50 waves without having to restart!  Should be bananas!

Horde on Fuel Depot

So last Friday we made it all the way to wave 49 before our entire team was killed.  We hadn’t restarted until that point.  We were ranked 261 at that point (I see we’ve dropped a few spots since then).  I’m pretty sure we couldn’t have beaten all 50 waves on the Fuel Depot map without restarted, we just had some bad luck. We used the strategy I outlined in my previous blog post and it worked really well.  I actually was blown up with my own grenade that I had stuck to a wall inside of the quonset 10 rounds earlier.  Our shields were kicked down by a sire and the sire ran right up next to me and blew up my grenade which I happened to be standing next to (not smart).  Anywho, once the shields were kicked down we didn’t have much of a chance because everything flooded inside of the quonset and we were overrun at that point.  I think it was just bad luck and I’m confident we could beat the horde with the exact same strategy.  Hopefully tonight we can beat the horde (all 50 waves without restarting).  We were able to beat all 50 waves after restarting a few times, but it just isn’t the same as beating it straight through without restarting.  We’ve never beaten all 50 straight through.  The map below shows our positioning.  The people further back will be snipers or torque bows, everyone else will probably use whatever they feel like.  The people closest to the front will need to replant shields and grab grenades.  We’ll probably need to alternate who stands in the back so everyone has a chance to get ammo every few rounds.

horde fuel depot

The moons are aligning

Tonight the moons have aligned for the first great chance we have ever had at beating all 50 waves of the horde without restarting.  We have a 5 man team that is very dependable.  We found a new map which we haven’t played before that is called Fuel Depot.  The first time we played it was on 4/24/2010 and we made it to wave 40 I believe.  I just checked and I am ranked 621 out of 417,090 players on that map.  That puts me in the top 99.9985% on that map!  I’m thinking we can do better tonight.  The startegy is to hide in the large quonset at the end of the map.  Since that map is so large one person needs to hide behind the boxes towards the back middle of the quonset otherwise the horde spawns inside of the building.  6 shields will seal off the entrance to the shed.  2 behind each bank of sandbags and two in the opening.  Two players on each side of the doors will pie the entrance to take out enemies while reducing the chance of taking fire.  Out of the building to the right grenades spawn and grenades should be picked up at every opportunity that isn’t too risky.  Also straight outside of the building there is an ammo box.  This can be grabbed safetly during each wave if you time your ammo run right.  We failed last Friday when we were rushed by a large group of the enemy in wave 40 I think.  We were not back far enough from the door and we did not have grenades planted strategically outside of the shields on the ground.  We should always plant grenades on the ground outside of the shields.  Each player can plan two grenades and carry four more.  That means there can be 30 grenades in play at the start of wave 40.  10 planted and 20 being carried if everyone saves them up for the tough waves.   That is pretty devastating to the horde.  If we get breached, that means all 10 of our planted grenades should have blown.  That means we have 20 more we can throw or plant inside of the building.  Because that building is sooooo large, you can plant them on the ground as you run to the back of the building.  This should take out a lot of the horde if they get through the shields.  It should also give us time to get to the back of the shed so we can turn and take fire on the horde to clean up the rest.  I think we have a very good chance tonight.

GEARS OF WAR 3!

Gears of War 3 is set to come out in April of 2011!  That means I have less than a year to beat all 50 waves of horde (without restarting!).  I’m tired of the random punks that I play with that all say they have beaten all 50 waves of horde in a public match without restarting.  No you haven’t.  I’ve checked.

More about Gears of War 3!  http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/Templates/Secondary.aspx?id=1852

New Horde Shield Planting Strategy

I’ve found a very fast way to plant shields that allows me to replant about 4 shields every wave on my own.  Towards the end of each wave try to group the shields in relatively close proximity.  Pick one shield up before the end of the wave and have the others either planted near you or laying on the ground near you.  At the begining of the next wave switch weapons from your handgun to your lancer and that will cause you to drop the shield you were carrying.  Pick up the next shield (which will switch you to use your handgun again) and switch back to your lancer.  Continue doing this until you have picked up and dropped as many shields as you can (YOU DO NOT NEED TO PLANT THE SHIELDS, JUST DROP THEM).  Doing this will usually allow you to pick up and drop about 4 shields before the shields disappear.  The shields which you have picked up and dropped will not disappear like the shields normally do if left untouched.  This will give you extra time to go back and replant the shields at your leisure.  If 2 or 3 people on your team do this every wave it will free up the other members of your team to get ammo and grenades and they can help replant the shields you dropped when they return to your base.  This will allow you to plant 8-12 shields per team.  If everyone would do it each wave you could theoretically replant 20 shields each wave.  This strategy works much better than planting every shield after you pick it up.

Wave 47 on River

Made it to wave 47 on river last night before we all died.  We split up between the two buildings on either end of the bridge.  We tried to grab the mortar between each wave and fire off all three rounds before retreating to the buildings.  At the end of each wave we grabbed the grenades which spawn in the houses halfway down the roads next to the river.  We planted the grenades in areas where the enemies typically spawns or take shelter.  We had two people switching between sniping and using the torque bow from the spawn point of those weapons in the buildings.  We also made sure everyone was aware of the callouts on the map such as upstream-near, upstream-far, upstream-ramp (going down to the river), downstream-near, downstream-far, downstream-ramp.  Also, one house is covered in ivy and the other house isn’t so we used that as a way to call out enemies and ask for assistance when needed.  I’m pretty sure we could have beaten it through all 50 waves, we just had some really bad luck at the end.  When we lost we had all 5 players in one building.  2 upstairs sniping, 2 guarding the door, one on the walkway in the back of the building.  We had a couple grinders make there way to the doorway which kept us pinned down.  A kantus kicked down the shield and we were overwhelmed after that.  We restarted on wave 47 (without shields or our preferred weapons) and beat the horde without any problems through wave 50.  We made sure to let maulers get close enough to use so that we could grab their shields after they went down.  We built up our defenses and took the enemies weapons when we had a chance.  We all had microphones and we all called out enemy positions.  We made sure we didn’t waste sniper ammo by calling which locust we were shooting at.  I’m pretty sure we could have beat all 50 waves without restarting,  just had some bad luck.  That was our highest ranking game on River according to the leaderboards.  I am ranked 6257 out of 2,944,758.  That puts us in the top 0.2%.

How do you check the horde leaderboards?

You can check the horde leaderboards at http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/Leaderboards/Gearsofwar2.htm

N3RDI3 (me) is currently ranked 6,877 out of 2,413,256 on Security!

Wave 49 on Horde – Day One

Three friends and I teamed up with a random player to get to Wave 49 on horde on the Day One map before we were all killed last Friday.  We made it that far without restarting.  We dominated the entire game until we all were taken out by ink above the regency balcony.  We were doing fine until we all 5 ended up over regency due to the two players over the arcade being taken out and spawning on our side at the start of the next wave.  This allowed the horde to focus their fire on one side and take us out.  We restarted at wave 49 and split up between the balcony over regency and the balcony over the arcade.  Three over the arcade and two at regency.  We quickly beat waves 49 and 50.  The key is to keep people on both sides (regency balcony and arcade balcony).  One person always needs to run the heavy weapons on the regency side.  Another person always needs to guard the base of the stairs on the regency side.  The remaining three players better be using sniper rifles and torque bows nonstop.  I’m pretty confident we could have beaten all 50 waves without restarting if we could have stay split up between the two sides all 50 waves.  Its only a matter of time before we beat it start to finish without restarting!  Currently ranked 6,066 out of 2,760,842 in horde on Day One.  That is the top .22%.

Strategy to Beat River in Horde – GOW2

Here is my latest strategy for beating all 50 waves of horde on the River Map on GOW2. This strategy should highlight a proposed strategy that changes between rounds and repeats every 10 waves.

Waves x1 – x5 (like 1-5, 11-15, 21-25…) should have a sniper in each sniper/torque bow spawn location. The fronts of their buildings should be defended by two more players using the lancer as their primary weapon and whatever weapons they want as secondary weapons. I suggest using the default weapons since the ammo automatically reloads after each round. The final player should be using the mortar. While the mortar is respawning, this player should also be helping to defend the two snipers. The person with the mortar on the bridge and the two players defending the buildings are responsible for healing everyone. The snipers should keep busy sniping the incoming horde. At the end of every wave everyone should try to get more ammo. The mortaree should be picking up a fresh mortar, and the two building defenders should be picking up the grenades in the nade spawn buildings. Below is the map highlighting this stategy.

River Strategy Waves x1 - x5

The next phase of this strategy requires the group to start migrating to one of the two sniper buildings during waves x6 – x8 (6-8, 16-18, 26-28, etc). The mortar should be picked up and moved closer to the building being defended at the end of each wave. The two snipers should now be up in the top level of the building sniping down field and across the river. The other two players should be defending the mortar and the house. The snipers should revive each other and the mortaree and the defenders should revive each other when necessary. There should also be a focus on collecting shields. The shields will be a necessity in waves x9 – x0 to keep the bloodmounts at bay. Snipers defend the bridge and front side, defenders defend bridge and front side, mortar shoots at largest group of enemies and fights closest enemy when without the mortar. Same as before, everyone tries to get ammo at the end of each wave and two people try to get the grenades and the mortaree gets a fresh mortar.

River Strategy Waves x6 - x8

The final phase of this strategy applies to waves x9-x0 (9-10, 19-20, 29-30, etc.). During these waves, the entire group sticks to the one building which is being defended. Do not worry about the mortar during these waves unless it is wide open to go get the mortar. You should have a minimum of 4 shields by now. Two in the doorway to the building, one on the ramp going upstairs and one in front of the most vulnerables sniper. Two snipers should be upstairs trying to take out the horde while crossing the bridge and coming from straight ahead of the building. Its more important to take quick shots than accurate shots at this point as the grinders and boomers will take out the snipers very fast. A third person should hide behind the columns on the second floor straight back from the door and should help defend the doorway. The final two players should be defending the doorway. If a shield is kicked down, those players are responsible for picking them up and holding them in the doorway. Everyone should help defend the doorway if this happens. The only thing that can hurt you from the other side of the shiled is a mauler so they should be taken out when they get too close. There should also be an emphasis on taking out the kantus right away because their ink will down you very fast in the higher rounds. Nobody should ever go for ammo, go for the mortar, or leave the building for any reason during these rounds. You will not make it back. Someone will usually go to save you and they will not make it back either. That leaves three people and they will not beat the horde. Stay in the building.

River Strategy Waves x9 - x0

I drew my strategy on the over head map of River which I borrowed from http://www.infektedmedia.com/gears_of_war_2_overhead_multiplayer_maps/gears_of_war_maps.php which has awesome maps.

Can you play the arcade games on day one?

I didn’t know this, but apparently you can play the arcade games on day one. Or you can at least according to this youtube video. Maybe you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the internets.

Marcus Fenix goes to the Arcade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dcOZbdaoIM&fmt=18