Guide Layout:

Introduction



This is an in-depth guide on how to use Anti-tank mines to their fullest.

It is not a guide on how to play the Engineer class in general, it is geared specifically towards gameplay involved when you are using mines as Engineer.



Hopefully everybody will be able to learn something from this guide and improve their Anti-Armour techniques with mines. To the best of my current knowledge the technical information in this guide is correct. It will be updated if any information is incorrect, or specs of mines / vehicles change.





Basic Kit Load-out:



Primary Weapon: UMP



Secondary Weapon: M 1911 .45



AT Equipment:AT mines



Spec 1: Extra Explosives Specialization



Spec 2: Magnum Ammo



Vehicle Spec: Vehicle Sensor Package





*Essentially your kit must contain Mines (ofc), and the Extra Explosives specialization. I personally suggest Magnum Ammo to help with infantry, the Extra Explosives Power specialization is NOT needed for mines, trust me. Obviously your tastes in primary and secondary weapon may differ, these are simply suggested ones that I use regularly to good effect. Vehicle Spec is whatever you feel will be most useful on the level you are currently on, for tight levels and avoiding mines yourself, the Vehicle Sensor Package is a great choice if you are unsure what to use.





Basic Gameplay Pointers

• Drop mines on heavily used routes for enemy vehicles.

• Drop mines in pairs, spaced apart a couple of meters where possible.

• You should not need to lay more than 2 in the right area to kill any vehicle.

• Re-lay mines that have detonated.

• Don’t waste your time baby-sitting mines, go support your team!

• Mines have a 3 second arming time, a vehicle can back over one thrown by it and survive!

Differentiating Enemy and Friendly mines



As I'm sure you already know, mines are not marked freind or foe.



There are a few ways to tell though to make sure you dont end up getting killed, or destroying friendly mines:

• Hover your crosshair over them, if it disappears, they belong to your team.

• Spot them with the Socialize button (default Q) if they are enemy mines the in-game voice-over's *should* say "enemy mines here!" or something to that effect. *This doesn't always work*

• Recon class Motion sensors will light up enemy mines on the mini-map within its radius once thrown. The Vehicle Sensor Package will also do this, but drive carefully!

• If your still not sure you can always shoot them to be 100% sure. Fire ONE bullet directly at the mine, the in-game voice-over's will tell you if they are enemy mines. TRY not to accident blow up your teams mines using this method

Technical information about AT mines:



Number carried: 3x, or 6x with Extra Explosives Specialization.



Reload time: 6 seconds per mine via ammo pack.



Arming timer: 3 seconds.



Mine Hit Points: Not > 50hp

(2x UMP rounds with mag ammo @25dmg each will destroy a mine).



Damage- Vehicles: 865.



Damage- Infantry: 290 within 1meter radius, Lethal @ 2m, reducing to 0 Damage @ 8m.



Detonation method: Proximity sensor detonation @ 0.5 meters.



*Alternate detonation: Direct small arms fire, direct & indirect explosions.







Mine damage VS vehicle HP:



(Without the Explosive Damage Specialization)



1 mine: 865

2 mines: 1730



(With the Explosive Damage Specialization)



1 mine: 1081

2 mines: 2162









Quad Bike / Jet-Ski: HP = 250



Cobra / Humvee / Vodnik: HP = 500



Bradley / BMD3-APC / BMD3-AA: HP = 1250



M1A1 Abrams / T-90 MBT: HP = 1250



*APC / Tank with Vehicle Armour Enhancement: HP = 1563





Thus, any one mine will totally destroy any light transport, and 2 mines is sufficient to destroy any light or heavy armour.



*Even with the Vehicle Armour Enhancement 2 mines will almost always destroy the armour in question if placed correctly, Very rarely does enemy armour survive a 2 mine detonation, perhaps 1 in 30 at worst. Mine placement is key for maximum damage from 2 mines.



Exceptions:

On rare occasions 1 mine will kill an APC or tank, with / without the Explosive Damage Specialization.

However this is not reliable enough to destroy enemy Armour at 100% Health consistently.







Main Gameplay Tactics



When playing Engineer and laying mines you must remember to be careful, most of the areas you will be mining are often flat and open such as roads, ramps and river crossings, these areas offer no protection from enemy fire, and you will be spotted very quickly by anyone in the area who has eyes.



Always, always, always check the area is safe before laying your mines, even if it is a quick look around. If you are mining areas near enemy flags etc, its highly likely you will be spotted if not careful. Remember you can’t lay mines when you’re dead!



When laying mines in danger areas be quick! Drop your mines in the best spot you can, as fast as you can, and get to cover. On larger servers this can be very important.



When your mines have detonated, re-lay them when possible to keep denying enemy Armour access through that area.



Stick with your squad, or your Armoured vehicle if you or your squad have one.

Cap flags, assist your squad, and repair your teams Armour. Your mines will do their job sooner or later.



When you have dropped all your mines, forget about them, you are now effectively a light assault class. And an SMG with magnum ammo is very effective in the right hands!



Try not to go it alone, you simply don’t have the firepower to take on multiple enemy assault / medics in a head-on fight.



Once you die, if your mines are still active switch roles! Equip an RPG, CG or AT4. Try to stick with magnum ammo to help you neutralize enemy infantry. (If your mines are still active, and in good locations you may not need to use your Rockets on enemy Armour at all!)



Personally I would go with the AT4, as it is multi-purpose, and does not rely on the Explosive Damage Specialization to take out Armour unlike the CG. This is just a suggestion, but has been working out well so it is suggested here.



You can even play a different class entirely! but If you are concentrating on neutralizing the enemy's Armour its best to stick to engineer in general.





Mine Placement



~The most successful kill locations for Mines are the areas most traversed by the enemy vehicles and Armour.



Good locations include:



Roads, ramps, blind side of hills, blind corners, river crossings, entrances to flag areas on CQ mode and base entrances on Rush mode.



Use the terrain to your advantage, placing mines on the tightest part of a route between flags / bases will make it impossible to avoid.



Lay your mines in sets of 2. Two mines placed correctly will kill anything, as if one is set off it will trigger the other.





Example #1: Panama Canal, road to Flag-D from Russian Base.









Example #2: Panama Canal, route from Flag-D to Flag-C.







Both of these mine placements will be hard to see because they are on the blind-side of the humps in the road, and difficult to avoid because of the spacing.





Example #3: Panama Canal, ramp near Flag-B leading to Flag-C.







::::::::::::: Continued Below ::::::::::::::

Example #4: Laguna Alta, River crossing from the Russian Base to Flag-A.







Mines Placed in this river are impossible to see with the naked eye, and require a Vehicle Sensor Package to detect. If you are the APC, pre-fire into the water first to test if its safe.





Example #5: Laguna Alta, direct river route from US base to Flag-C.







Again, no chance of the APC driver seeing these bad boys. They also get a fair few quad bike kills too. Can be dangerous to plant these at times however.





Example #6: Laguna Preza, Narrow route from the US base in the shallows to Flag-A.







Deadly, deadly mine spot here, zero chance to avoid, very difficult to spot. Driver has no chance.





Example #7: Laguna Preza, route from Flag-C to Flag-A via shallows.







Again, great mine spot, difficult to spot or avoid.





Advanced Mine Placement



Advanced mine placement is really just making your mines more unexpected, harder to see or destroy, thinking outside the box a little...



Mines in water as I outlined above are technically more advanced in placement, but as its widely known I included it in the standard placement section.





Mine pits / Mine craters:



This is so simple, but not enough people do this. Find or make a crater in the terrain. drop 2x mines in it. Enjoy.



In a route where there is a nice pinch point you can make your own crater by sacrificing 2x mines, drop them both where you want your pit to be, back up, shoot them, then let the dust settle and place 2x more mines inside the pit, preferably on the side sloping up towards where the enemy will be coming from, this can make it harder to see them until its too late.





Example #8: Laguna Alta, road from Russian Base to Flag-A.









Water filled craters:



This is similar to dropping mines in craters except that they are submerged and its not possible to tell if there is actually any mines in the crater without actively checking.



Around low lying areas near water you can do the same mine sacrificing technique to 'dig' a pit filled with water to hid mines in, sometimes they require more mines sacrificed to make the hole deep enough to hide the mines in. Once it is deep enough though mines will drop in and disappear from view.



Ive had a lot of success with this tactic and hope others can gank APC's in the same way too.



Example #9: Laguna Alta, road out to the left of the Russian Base.







They're there....but you wouldn't know it!





Manual mine detonation



This can be very handy indeed, as stated in the technical information, mines have a 3 second arming time. so, if you are caught in close proximity to an enemy apc, that is, or may move away at any time, you can't reley on the fuse to kick in to destroy it in time.



1. Drop 2x mines next to the APC / Tank. One mine if it is already damaged usually works.



2. Back up to the minimum safe distance. (or not if you don't care)



3. Spam the mines with your SMG (or throw a Grenade at the mines).



4. BOOM, laugh.



Example Video: YouTube - manual Det AT-mines.avi



You can if you want, opt for throwing a nade at the mines too if you want to just be able to leg it out of there, but the APC / Tank may move before the nade goes off.









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*This concludes the Advanced Placement section for the time being, I will add more to it as and when I can. Any good suggestions will be added to the guide in future too!*

AT-mine FAQ



Q: What is the maximum number of mines you can lay?



A: 6 max. If you lay a 7th, the 1st mine you lay originally will disappear.





Q: Do mines persist when you die?



A: Yes, mines will stay on the map until they detonate, you lay more than the maximum number or the round ends.





Q: How many mines will destroy a tank?



A: 2 mines will very consistently destroy an APC or tank.





Q: Would one mine with the increased explosives perk destroy an APC/tank?



A: No, not consistently enough to rely upon.





Q: If I lay mines with the increased explosives perk, then change class, do they keep the increased power?



A: No, mine damage is calculated at time of detonation. You would need to keep it equipped.





Q: Mines are not marked, how do I tell if they are dangerous?



A: Spot them with the socialize button (Q), the in-game characters voices will say if they are enemy mines. If in doubt, shoot them from a safe distance.





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This concludes the Guide and the FAQ until further updates, please give feedback to help me add to and improve apon it, thanks in advance,