Strategies for the loner player

[Twilight]

A while back I found a set of videos online displaying a bunch of nice little strategies/techniques for playing paintball.

I found them to be extremely informative and thought "Paintball Talk" could use a few threads to cover this kind of topic.

While I don't have any to offer right now, I do have a situation that you guys might be able help with.


My local woodsball field basically has walk-on games every Sunday. Once everyone has paid, geared up, chrono'ed, and the "welcome"-speech and rules have been announced, the refs start assembling two teams.

Now if you show up w/ a few friends, you'll likely end up on the same team.
I, however, don't have too many friends who play paintball, so I show up alone.

Although I have a blast almost every time I play, the teamwork and many offensive/defensive strategies become non-existent. In general, a lot of the people just stick with their little groups and you never really get the feeling of being in a large team.

On several occasions, I have tried to take a more leader-type role to organize the team (this is the complete opposite of my personality) and once the whistle blows, I'm almost ignored. I get a few kids that will listen to me for a little while, but once they start taking fire or see a swarm of the opposite team advancing, they kind of freak out and stop listening. :rofl2:

Now it's really not entirely bad. There are many cases where a few of us can manage to do something organized in the middle of a small skirmish.


If any of you have attended walk-on games alone, how do you usually play? Do you try to be a leader and formulate plans of attack/defend? Are you a follower and just see where the mini-groups are going and just cling to one of them?
When you are under fire or trying to advance but cannot necessarily rely on a teammate to back you up, how does your style of play change?

[Jade_Monkey07]

i almost always have friends that i can easily coordinate with. we all work well with eachother or on our own. I do play lonewolf quite often though. thats def my style of play. In that case i usually judge the team im on and see weather or not its worth trying to command them.

If i think they can follow orders i keep it pretty simple. I only plan the break and very loosly at that. i just tell them where im going and usually ask a few guys to follow and the rest to flank or something like that.

but if i'm with a group of noobs, ill take on the true lonewolf. sit back at the break see where everyone goes and then make my choices depending on that and the other team. i move fast and quiet. i use the rest of the game as a distraction so i can come in from the side or something.

in either scenario i win alot more then i lose :D

[punkncat]

I tried for a long time to organize the group into a cohesive unit, but after many years and games experiancing what you did I pretty much gave up. One thing you can count on with most walk ons is that they will do what they want, and don't listen to good advice.
I tend to play alone more, or at least did when I last played. It's really nice when you can find at least another player to team up with to watch your six, but as that isn't always possible, I found another strategy.
Often I would stalk players on the other team and draw them along into other groups on my team. I liked to lay low wait for them to come close, hammer a few and then retreat into the brush to flank and do it again. After a time or two they become resolved to come and get you. That is when you use a tactical retreat towards your own teams line to draw them into a big fight and then creep away and do it again.
Another favored tactic of mine is to rely on my own ability vs. the ability of the average player and just go toe to toe with them. This doesn't always work out as some players are as good or even better than yourself and aren't afraid of direct assault or lots of incoming fire. On your average player though you can shoot a few balls in their direction and almost move on them at will. Gain a superior position and pick them off.

I am actually going to have to find some new tricks as my limited mobility will not allow me to rely on speed to get away. I guess I am going to have to go sniper...lol

[bryceeden]

Punkncat dont give up and decide you're going to be slow, my partner for SWAT medic school is missing one leg from a motercycle crash and it doesn't slow him down or limit him at all.

Anyway, I find when by my self it works best to go up the middle of the field to where the majority cluster of the other team is just in range and rip as fast as possible at them to get thier attention then run away as fast as possible while staying behind cover and out of sight. then run up one of the tape lines while they are still raining on your old possition and try to get behind them or atleast in easy range. Then shoot them out as fast as possible befor they spin around and light you up bad.

[Desega]

The best lone player strategy I've ever used is DON'T BACK DOWN! If you are afraid of being the lone guy, then you'll go down alone. If you aren't, you can take the other team with you.

[RogueFactor]

If I want to play with a crew that day, I spend the first few games watching who does what. Then I work my way into working with that group every game.

If I want to play solo, I do the same thing. But work on my own piggy-backing on their teamwork.

If neither of those work, there is usually at least 1 other loner out there that is looking to pick up 1 or 2.

[Z-man]

This is a (rare) occasion I shall relate play style in paintball to WoW. The analogy:

recball solo play = pubby Battle Grounds

When you are alone in a sea of random people who know nothing about you and most of whom are new to the sport (or in the case of WoW, just don't play much and don't know HOW to play the map that well) only 2 things really get people to take notice (and even these are only 50-70% effective)

-Gear (paintball or WoW)
-Performance (how many people you can eliminate before being eliminated)

I don't bother saying anything to anyone, I just go in and play. I let people ask ME questions and initiate the teamwork. That way if no one asks, I don't waste my breath and still have fun, and if they do, I'll be more than happy to work with you.

This I have found leaves you the least frustrated at the end of the day no matter the results. Hands down though playing with friends is better (permagroups for 14 hours is amazing too)

ok I'm done.

[CKY_Alliance]

Seems like the strats are geared more towards woods play....I have been out to play by myself one time. It was actually my first time playing in FL since I moved down here. I was in a new state, new field, new crowd. I knew no one..just saw the speedball crowd went over and tried to figure out what the deal was. The crowd was composed of about 4 teams/groups of people who play together..

The first game I got on one of the teams only had 4 people on the field on of there guys was doing something so I jumped on..I played decent and showed I wasn't super noob (at this time I hadn't played in like 4 months...bit rusty).

So after that someone would walk on the field and I would follow...I think I kept some people from playing with a teamate, but I wasnt paying all that money to play one game.


So that my stratgie for speedball.. as I said this was my first time playing walk on without at least one friend and boy does it suck..people don't hesitate to leave you high and dry...then blame you for them gettin shot out.

[Twilight]

Thanks for the replies!

Going to a field alone isn't all that bad. Yeah, it can really suck in between games when you have no one to chat with but I've also met a few cool people along the way. No one that I've become friends with, but at least there are faces I recognize for the next time I go.

Some of the ideas mentioned were pretty interesting. I particularly like the idea of luring opponents towards your teammates.

Keep posting your own experiences. I'm curious to see how more of you adjust your game when you don't have some of your own buddies to watch your back.

On a similar note, I'd like to see a few more paintball strategies discussed in Paintball Talk. Maybe more detailed discussions on how to handle key situations, etc. This kind of strategy discussion could definitely help my game and hopefully a few others. :cheers: