Terror Birds Taming and Using in Ark Survival Evolved

Terror Birds are flightless predatory birds with huge heads and an appetite to match in Ark Survival Evolved.  Terror Birds by themselves are not too dangerous to the advanced player in Ark, but they can be a real menace in groups, which is usually the way that you find them.  Terror Birds are a lot like raptors.  They have similar base stats, and attack with speed, this can make them a real problem when there are three or four of them.  I have a fear of Terror Birds in game, and I can’t imagine what it might be like to meet a real one.  This is one species I am thankful is extinct. 

On my island in the Center map a group of four or so Terror Birds spawns in now and again and it is interesting to watch the AI at work.  Within a half-hour or so they are all dead because they take on something that is too big for them to handle.  Most of the predators in Ark Survival with the Dilos seem to last longer than even high-level Terror Birds.  I guess Terror Birds have an even more aggressive or perhaps dumber AI. 

Terror Birds don’t have very good weight, but they can run and attack fast, which can make them somewhat useful.  They have one distinct advantage over Raptors, and that is the ability to flap their tiny wings and slow the decent from any high point, so you don’t have to worry about fall damage.  Other than that, the creatures are pretty much a horse apiece

Easy Way to Train a Terror Bird

In the accompanying video, I tame a level 150 Terror Bird.  It was an ugly creature I picked up with my Argentavis and prepared to kill, but I saw it was a level 150 so I carried it over to my T-Rex Taming pen, and eventually, I got around to trapping it with a bola, and shooting it with tranq darts.  Even on foot in the wild, it is easy to take down a Terror Bird with a bola.  Then it is just a matter of knocking it out, a low-level one will go down easy with your fists for anything else tranq arrows or darts will work just fine. 

Terror Birds taking out a T-Rex in Ark Survival Evolved. 

The Terror Birds preferred kibble is Gallimimus Egg and is made with Savoroot and regular cooked meat jerky with the always required water, fiber, and mejoberries.  It is always worth making kibble if you have the eggs on a high-level dino because it greatly shortens the taming time and increases taming effectiveness.  If you don’t have the Galli kibble then prime meat is the next best thing. 

The level 150 male I tamed joined a high-level female I already had.  This mate-boosted pair made quick work of everything on my little home island, even a level 115 T-rex.  Like most of the creatures in Ark Survival Evolved, Terror Birds are fun to have around, but you will find there are lots of other dinos with better utility.  

T-Rex Taming Pen Video

Diplocaulus an Early Friend in Ark Survival Evolved

One of the dinos recently released in Ark Survival Evolved is the Diplocaulus, which is an amphibian and not a dino.  This creature is of limited use to the high-level player who has learned to craft scuba gear, but for a player that has not reached a high enough layer to craft scuba gear, or wants to keep it primitive, the Diplocaulus is a great friend.  The reason it is great, it is a good swimmer, does not require a saddle and most importantly you can use it like a living oxygen tank.  It will allow you to dive deep to harvest oil nodes, silica pearls and other resources, without having to worry about running out of oxygen.  There is a limit to the oxygen of the Diplocaulus and so eventually you and your tame can suffocate and drown.

 

The Diplocaulus resembles a giant newt and lives in the swamps of the Island and Center maps.  This is the biggest problem for a low-level player, because the swamps are probably the most dangerous place next to caves.  Expect to encounter: Sarcosuchus, Kaprosuchus, mega-piranha, leeches, Titian Boas, and clouds of Meganeura. Not to mention there are plenty of friendly creatures that will also kill you if your swings or shots go astray.  If you are going to be chasing the Diplocaulus it would be a good idea to bring friends, whether they are tribe members, or tames.  It is said that you can use the bola to stop them in their tracks, but I have not tested this.

I tamed my Diplocaulus by picking it up with a Quetzal and dropping it into a taming pen.  This option seems easy, but on my second attempt I was attacked by a Kaprosuchus, nocked of the Quetzal and died in the swamp. 

Since my Ark survivor is a high level one, and I have learned the scuba gear engrams, I really don’t have much use for the Diplocaulus, so it will just be another tamed creature in my collection.  It would be a little different if these giant newts were great fighters, but they are not. 

Where are the Oil, Silica Pearls and Obsidian on the Center? Ark Survival Evovled

It can be a little difficult to find some of the resources (oil, silica pearls, and obsidian) at first on the Center Map DLC of Ark Survival Evolved.  Oil and silica pearls can be found most anywhere in low amounts in trilobites, those weird crustatitions found on beaches and the bottom of the sea.  The amount you get in trilobites is pretty low and they are surprisingly difficult to kill.  The amounts are suitable for a couple of gallons of gas or a couple of electronics, but if need more than that, you are going to need a better source.  Oil and silica pearls can also be found on the bottom of the ocean, usually very deep.  This article and video will show you where to find resources you don't have to dive very deep to get. 

Updated Articles and Videos

Metal, Crystal

Obsidian

Oil Rock

Silica Pearls

Beaver Dams

Skull, Batman or Devil Island

Batman Island is a really cool feature of the center map.  It looks cool and has the best obsidian deposits on the map. In addition to the obsidian there is also a ton of metal and a good amount of crystal.  Those two resources are pretty easy to come by in other places though.  In order to get some obsidian you are going to need at least a raft to get there. The bottom tier of the island can be walked up from the raft and into the mouth.  There is a small amount of obsidian their for the taking.  I've only encountered a few bats there, so it is relatively safe.  I believe the next tier of the island is only accessible with a flyer and it as well as the very top holds the most obsidian.  It is easy to weigh down and Argentavis with the amount found on the top two tiers.  There are a few more bad guys to deal with there, so be prepared for Titian Boas, Arthropluera, Spiders, Scorpions etc., but it isn't too terrible.

Lava Island

At the top of the volcanoes, there is some obsidian and lots of metal, but it is a dangerous place.  The few ponds on the island have quite a lot of silica pearls and some oil but are filled with Mega Piranha.  The shore of the pond also has pretty much every terrible creature waiting to gobble you up.  If you have friends with you or just want the challenge, it can be a good place to get pearls and oil.  I tried it and lived, but I won't ever do it again.

Penguin Pond/Iceberg Lake

Way on the eastern side of the map, below the snowy mountain and right next to the obelisk, is a lake with a river flowing out of it.   In the middle of that lake is a big iceberg.  The iceberg has a small population of, Kairuku (penguins), which are a good source of organic polymer.  The iceberg is also dotted with oil and metal nodes.  The iceberg is a fairly peaceful place most of the time, but Spinos can and do visit the levels, even with the lake. 

Snowy Mountain North and South

The snowy mountain tops are loaded with oil and metal nodes for the taking.  These are probably the only nodes that can be reached without swimming and flying.  If you chase oil resources here bring your fur armor to protect you from the cold.  There are also plenty of dire wolves to ruin your day, so keep your eyes peeled; this is still Ark Survival Evolved. 

 More Center Map Dino and Resource Locations

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My gaming PC and recording gear

Solo Taming a High Level Giga! Giganotosaurus on Ark Survival Evolved

I ran across a level 140 female giga while traveling across the center map of Ark Survival Evolved.  Now I never really had the intention of solo taming a giga, but suddenly seeing such a high level giga in an area where I might be able to trap it, made me think I could do it solo.  A 140 giga might be fun to have, and since it was a female I might get an egg or two for making kibble. 

Giga Tame Preparation

Looking at the taming calculator I could see it was going to take hundreds of tranq darts to bring the beast down, and then thousands of narcotic to keep it under while I fed it.  In addition to the darts and the narcotic I was going to need to make a metal behemoth gate to trap the sucker in the canyons and ruins of the center map.  In order to cover my butt and not run out of materials I made a lot of extra materials

750 tranq darts (2,250 narcotic, 4,500 metal 4,500 gunpowder)

 6 rifles

900 additional narcotic (if taming rates were set to defult I would have needed about 3,000 to be safe)

12 Quetz kibble

I think I only ended up using about 400 darts and it took about 25 minutes to bring down.  I started with my apprentice longneck rifle, and broke that, and nearly broke my ramshackle longneck rifle.

 Torpor of Gigas drops like a stone, and it will wake up in a matter of minutes if you don’t feed it a nearly constant stream of narcotics.  After spending hours prepping for the giga tame,  felt like it was reasonable to crank up the taming multiplier and avoid the four plus hours it was going to take to tame, not to mention the thousands of narcotic.  So with the taming rate on super speed I tamed it in four feedings of Quetz kibble. 

Giga Results

Playing PVE and in single player in Ark Survival Evovled I found the giga fun for a short time.  It can pretty much one hit 2/3 of dinos and bring the others down with 2-10 hits.  I think I’m going to use the giga for killing alpha dinos and getting some good items from them (hopefully).  I’ll probably park the giga on half burnt island and take it for a spin now and then.  I don’t need it back at base.  If it got agroed by a dilo it would probably destroy the place trying to kill it.  Would I solo tame a giga again, sure why not, it’s worth it  for the challenge. 

Electrical Generator, Lights and Refrigerator Crafting In Ark Survival Evolved

Today in Ark Survival Evolved we craft an electrical generator and a refrigerator and lights to go with it to organize and light the barn at night.  We also take our now dead Ichthy out for its finial swim, poor guy. 

To craft an electrical generator is actually not that expensive.  You will need:

25 Metal Ingot
10 Electronics

In order to get power to your equipment you will need electric cables and an outlet.  The outlet has a pretty generous range.  Just place a light or whatever within that range, and it automatically send out a cord to power it.  The generator runs on gas, but seems to sip fuel, at least in single player.  On a server it will have to use gas even while you are not there if you want to keep your refrigerators running.   The lighting I put in really lights up the barn, compared to standing torches, which look cool, but require a lot of maintenance. 

Electrical generator: Ark Survival

The second part of the video shows my cool Ichthyisoraus and its untimely death after being swarmed by angler fish and other nasties.  And that is all I want to say about that.   In the next episode I put together an underwater army of megladons and Ichthies. 

My Poor Ichthy: Ark Survival Evolved

What is Harvest Health and How to Harvest More Resources in Ark Survival Evolved

While looking at the various game settings in Ark Survival Evolved single player I noticed something called harvest health and that it could be set from 0 to 3.  I wasn't sure what it was, but I figured it out.  I had looked on the internet, and mostly what I found was people saying it didn't do anything, but it was probably a bug they would fix. 

How to Get more Resources Faster Single Player Settings

Harvest amount - 3
Harvest Health - 0
Resource Respawn Period - 0

I still haven't found on oficial definitioin, but my experiments showed that the higher the health the longer it takes for a specific resource to be harvested.  If you want to have less effort to collect resouces set harvest health to a low setting.  One is the defult setting and I tested it out hitting palm trees with a primitive metal hatchet.  It took about 7 hits with a hatchet to bring down a tree and I was harvesting somewhere around 20 wood.  With harvest health set to zero and harvest amount set to 3 it only took one hit and I got around 200 wood!  That is a real time saver.  It only takes one hit to harvest metal, rock, wood, thatch etc.  It also increases the amount of hide, meat, chitin, silk, etc. from corpses. 

Kill All the Dinos in Ark Suvival Evolved - Single Player?

In the single player Ark Survival Evolved, on PC, I had a situation where hundreds and hundreds of Titian Boas, spiders, and centipedes were pouring out of the cave, so it is time to do a dino wipe.  All these creatures caused severe lag and low fps (about 5), and the game sometimes crashed.  The only real solution was to use the "destroywilddinos" command. The game froze for a few minutes as it had to spawn in all new dinos, but this command did work and killed everything on the entire map.  Finally, I can go into the area of the cave and not have crazy fps.

Reasons to destroy wild dinos
1) Lag and low fps because there are too many wild dinos in an area
2) There was an update with dino species and you want them to spawn in quickly
3) You've got something very dangerous like a giga near your base and you need a safe way to get rid of it. 

Before you try to kill everything I recommend backing up your game just in case something goes wrong.  You also don't want to be in the middle of taming something. To enter the command in single player

How to Kill all the Dinos I Ark Survival Evolved single player

1) Hit the tab key to bring up the console

2) Type enablecheats then hit enter

3) Hit the tab key to bring up the console again

4) Type destroywilddinos and hit enter

On Xbox and Playstation

PlayStation L1 + R1 + Square + Triangle (hit the buttons at the same time)

Xbox LB + RB + X + Y (hit the buttons at the same time)

The game could lag very badly, or freeze for a few minutes like it did on my PC.  Then all the creatures should be brand new. 

I have this same problem, but with fish, near our base on the Xbox one version, and will have to give it a try.   

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Double Barrel Shotgun in Ark Survial Evolved

The Double Barrel Shotgun in Ark Survival Evolved and its dlc's is one of the coolest weapons in the game, but not necessarily the most useful.  I like to use it for its fun factor rather than its utility.  The utility comes into play though in close quarters combat, even at medium range its power fades to poor.  However, when it's in your enemy's face it is the most powerful gun in the game.  It does 630 damage if all the 10 pellets land on target, truly devastating.  The two barrels fire in rapid succession, but the reload is long.  If your target is very dangerous make sure you can take it out in two shots, or you've got room to run after. 

The double barrel shotgun is crafted in the smithy and requires:

• 80 metal ingots
• 20 wood
• 25 hide

It's not too expensive at all.  However, the shotgun shells really start to add up if you use it a lot.  They require

• 3 -  simple bullets
• 1 - metal ingot
• 3 - gun powder

The double barrel shotgun is a lot of fun in Ark Survival Evolved and Ark Scorched Earth, it might save your life.

How to Make a Mortar and Pestle: Ark Survival Game

The mortar and pestle is on of the most important items to craft in Ark Survival Evolved, because it allows you to make narcotic.  Narcotic is going to let make tranq arrows, and later darts that are going to make it so much easier to tame creatures.  I don't think anyone is going to tame a Rex with a sling shot!  Other great stuff to craft in the mortar and pestle are: spark powder, cementing paste, and stimulant.  

To craft a mortar & pestle in Ark Survival Evolved is easy and inexpensive.  All you need are:

65 - Stone
15 - Hide


Although the materials are simple you will need to place it on a foundation.  I like to put my mortar and pestles on a table, just because they look a lot nicer and more natural than thrown on the floor of the workshop. 

Tapejara and Archaeopteryx: New Dinos Ark Survival Evolved

New dinos, Tapejara and Archaeopteryx dropped this week with the latest Ark Survival Evolved update.  Both of these creatures fly, well sort or.  I play on single player, and I looked for these guys, but I couldn't find them after a few hours, going afk, and restarting the game.  Eventually I resorted to spawning some in to test them out and make the video. 

Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx is an early bird-like dinosaur that may have flown, or may have just been a glider.  In Ark Survival players, can hang in the air by holding the feet of the animal.  You can control direction of the glide, while slowly, I mean painfully slowly descending.  On PC hit the R key and you'll drop like a stone while still holding on to the bird, probably to your death.  This tame is a lot of fun, but I'm not sure it has any real utility. 

Tapejara

The Tapejara is the big brother of the Pteranodon in Ark Survival Evolved.  The coolest thing about this flying reptile is that three people can ride at the same time.  The two passengers can equip ranged weapons, so they can attack others in PVP, or tame dinos with tranq arrows and darts. 

Ark Survival Evolved Graphic Card Crash Fix

For me Ark Survival Evolved crashes due to a graphic card error every time it updates, but I found a fix for it.  Ark is a great game, but it is  still in its early release form, and can be a bit buggy.  I have had this same issue with Ark Survival of the Fittest.  It was really, really annoying when I didn't know what was wrong, and it still is annoying.  At least the fix is easy.

Ark Survival Evolved Graphic Card Crash Fix

1. In your steam account look at your list of games
2. right click on Ark Survival Evolved
3. go down the pop up menu and select properties
4. Click the Local Files tab
5. on that menu click verify integrity of game cache

The program will then go through its file validating process.  For me it takes 20-30 minutes.   It will then find there are two missing files and fix the issue.  All is well until the next time steam updates.  Its gotten to the point when I see that steam is updating I just go straight and do this process to fix the problem before it crashes again.  It is stupid that I have to do this, but at least the fix is easy, even if it is inconvenient. 

If you have problems with frequent crashes in Ark single player mode you might want to save the game more frequently than it automatically does.  Click this link: how to have Ark Survival save manually to learn more

Ark Survival Evolved Spyglass - The Most Useful Item

I think the most useful non-weapon gadget in Ark Survival Evolved is the spyglass.  The spyglass is a small telescope that magnifies the world at a distance of course, but it also gives you valuable information.  Point it at a dino and it will tell you what it is, its level and whether or not it is mate boosted.  If you’re riding a low level 10 Rex and spot a level 5 and 10 carno in the distance you can take them easy.  If you spot a mate boosted level 50 and 110, both you and your dino are probably going down.  The only drawback of the spyglass telescope is that it can be difficult to use, due to its high magnification.  It takes some getting used to especially when riding on a flyer. 

To craft a spyglass you will need these materials:

5 – wood

10 – Hide

10 – fiber

2 – crystal

Crystal can be hard to get early in the game.  I believe it may require a metal pick to harvest, or the chance of getting crystal is very, very low with a stone pick.  No equipment such as a smithy is required to craft the spyglass in the game. 

I hope you found this short review helpful if you have you can follow the blog and see: Ark Survival how to, review, tip videos playlist on YouTube.

How to Craft the Simple Pistol and Review in Ark Survival Evolved

Is the Simple Pistol in Ark Survival Evolved worth it?  In my opinion, it’s a fun little gun probably better suited to PVP than PVE.  It is patterned after an 1850’s colt cap and ball revolver.  These guns were very popular in the American Civil War.  In the game, the simple pistol has a removable cylinder, and while the real guns do have a removal cylinder, it really can’t be considered a quick reload.  In the game, the pistols appear to be about three times the size of the real-life gun, and least compared to my survivor. 

The simple pistol isn’t really that expensive to craft.  It only requires 60 metal ingots, 5 wood and 15 hide.  It must be crafted in the smithy.  The gun only does 63 damage per shot, but you can fire 6 shots in rapid succession to deal 378 damage before reloading, not too bad.

The only thing that I would say is not really worth it, is the scope on this gun since it is a close-range fast-firing weapon.  Some of the pistol attachments, like the scope or flashlight can be handy. The scope on the long rifle is great, but on the pistol, it is not very useful.  However, there is little reason not to equip it if you just happen to have an extra lying around since it only adds a weight of 0.1.  I liked playing around with the pistol in PVE, but I have to admit that it really isn’t very useful in most day-to-day game situations.  Maybe if I was trying to get through a cave it might be nice to deal some quick damage to titan boa or another creature as it closes the distance and then switch to a sword.   

The longneck rifle is probably the best firearm in the game, see video below.  

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How to Save Game in Ark Survival Evolved Single Player?

If you have problems with crashes due to graphics driver crashes, or whatever you might want to force Ark Survival Evolved to save your game progress.  Saving is particularly helpful after you have had some epic moment like defeating a Giga, taming a super high level Argentavis etc.  The game atomically saves at certain intervals, but it might miss your epic moment. 

To save in the single player is very easy on PC.  I assume this also works on the Xbox, it’s just annoying using the keyboard on console. 

Open the console in game by hitting the tab key

Type:  “enablecheats” hit enter

Re-open the console in game by hitting the tab key

Type: “saveworld’ hit enter

You should notice the game pause for a moment while it saves, then you are good to go.  I wish I knew how to avoid crashing the game.  Sometimes I go for days without any problems, and then it will crash three times in one day. 

Ark Survival Evolved Split Screen on Xbox One

Hurray!  I can play Ark Survival Evolved with my kids via the split screen on Xbox One.   Well sort of, only in Non Dedicated Multiplayer Sessions .  There are several draw backs to playing split screen.  Keep in mind I’m writing about this in the early access version of the game.  The first thing you’ll notice is the graphics are much lower than the regular version.  It does have some effect on gameplay because it is harder to make out objects in the distance, which can mean you don’t see resources, or the T-Rex headed your way.  You’ll still have time to avoid the rex, but you probably would have taken a different route had you seen it, so it will add to your walking time.  There is also increased, but not game breaking lag.  The very wide view of the split screen makes it hard to read menus that are not optimized for that view.  If someone has never played the game before they are going to have a very hard time navigating the menu.  The last problem is the second player must stay close to the host.  If they stray too far they will be teleported back to the host.  It’s pretty annoying. 

Split Screen Drawbacks

-          Reduced graphics

-          Increased lag

-          Very wide and narrow view

-          Hard to impossible to read text in menus

-          Second player must stay close to the host

    

How to Play Ark Survival Evolved Split Screen

It isn’t obvious at first on how to play split screen, but it is easy to do.

-          At the Ark main menu select Host/Local

-          At the bottom of the next menu select Host Non Dedicated Multiplayer Sessions

-          Once the host is playing the second player hits the menu button on the controller

-          Second player signs in creates new character or downloads an old one.

The Xbox just doesn’t have the processing power to deliver a smooth split screen experience, but it is playable.  It’s fun to be able to share the Ark Survival Evolved experience with family and friends so it’s worth giving it a go just keep in mind that you are going to have to start completely over in XP, stats etc.

Ark Survival Evolved: Xbox One Early Access

Currently you can only get Ark Survival Evolved for one console, the Xbox One, but there are plans to make it available for PS4 in the not so distant future.  I would much rather play a game like Ark Survival Evolved on the PC, but my computer is in the crapper, and I currently don’t have the funds to upgrade or replace it, so Ark Survival Evolved Early Access on the Xbox for me.  The main reason for me to play on PC vs. console is the interface is much easier to navigate with a mouse than move through each option in the menu with a controller.  It is still worth playing on console if you can’t on PC.

The menus of Ark Survival Evolved are slow to navigate on Xbox One.

Ark Survival Evolved Xbox One Glitches

There are a few glitches and bugs on the Xbox One for this early access version.  Most of the bugs I have encountered in single player so far are just a bit annoying, but not game breaking.  There is one however that is both a blessing and a curse.  I’m not sure if it’s only in single player or if it also occurs in multiplayer.  Quite often animals get stuck on, or in rocks and trees.  This is a gift from the gods of Ark, especially if you are starting out, because you basically get free raw meat and hide, or the ability to tame some tough beasts on day one.  The tame dinos, and kills will get you lots of XP you couldn’t get otherwise in the first few hours on the island. 

For example, within one small area of the beach I found two Dilophosaur (Dilos) stuck in driftwood, and a Triceratops stuck in a tree.  The dilos I could just punch out and then tame.  The Trike took some more work to knock out because it can still strike you, even in its compromised position, so be careful to avoid the front end of the trike if you don’t want to get Triceratops horns in your gut.  After the tame begins you can free the animals by destroying the wood or rock they are stuck in, but occasionally the act of knocking it out is enough to free them.  Be very careful when taking down the trees they are stuck in because you can harm the dino if you hit it by accident.  I use my fists to hit the tree because they are more precise and will do less damage to the animal in case you hit it by accident.  I even encountered a Brontosaurs stuck in some rocks, but I wasn’t ready to deal with an animal that size. 

Building a dock for my raft in Ark Survival Evolved

The tree glitch in the early access version is like getting mana from heaven, but it is also a real pain when traveling with your new friends, because the large ones such as the trikes and Parasaur get stuck frequently.  This is can be fatal for you and your tame animals if you have to flee from a dangerous dinosaur.  I lost my first Parasaur when it got stuck in tree while we were fleeing a Spinosaur.  I also lost my highest level dilo at the time, which was a bummer.  I assume the developers will get this fixed before the full version is launched, but in the meantime tame some animals and get some food and hide. 

Game Breaking Bug

After writing the rest of this post a few days ago I have encountered a very big problem that is going to halt my progress with this game.  Every time I use my engram points and learn a new skill, that skill does not show up in my craftables tab. In my current game I am stuck on  nice little stretch of beach with few major problems, but not too far down on each side are some major dinos that I can't deal with without upgrading my weapons, armor etc., and I can't do that right now.  I'm pretty much stuck walking down the beach collecting wood etc. and when I get to a certain point I have to look at the spino and the glowing alpha raptor, and head back home to build up my base.  That will get boring pretty soon.  Hopefully this bug gets fixed soon.  

The other main glitch is more annoying than anything is the lag I experienced.  On one of the multiplayer servers it was pretty bad, but even on the single player it stutters occasionally, but only for a brief period of time.  There are also some minor rendering bugs, but they are no big deal. 

Hopefully by the time you read this, these early access bugs will have been fixed.I’m finding Ark Survival Evolved to be very addicting.  Currently I am playing the single player, and have the Ark world all to myself, but sooner or later I’ll probably be renting a server and playing with a few friends PvE.  I really have no desire to play PvP right now.      

M39 EMR DMR: Battlefield 4

Long range kill with the M39 EMR

The M39 EMR DMR in Battlefield 4 is based off of the M14, or M1A battle rifle which shoots the 7.62x51 NATO cartridge.   The M14 is a direct descendant of the M1 Garand, so this gun essentially dates back to the 1930’s, but it still works today, and is still in limited use in the arms forces.  

The DMR’s are an interesting group of weapons, and the differences between them are not huge because of the way they are used in the game.  DMR’s are usually not used on the front lines where close quarters combat takes place.  Therefore, things like reload speed, recoil and rpm are less important than it is for assault rifles, carbines, and lmg’s.  There are a lot of you that probably disagree with that statement and that’s fine with me. 

The M39 EMR has no real advantage over other DMR’s in Battlefield 4.  Its biggest drawbacks are its higher recoil and longer reload times in the DMR weapon class. In my opinion its major advantage are superb iron sights, and the nostalgia of its M1 Garand heritage.  I think the M39 is outclassed by SCAR-H SV and my favorite the MK 11 MOD 0.  For those who want to spam bullets downrange as fast as possible the SKS is great.  All that said you’re really not at that much of a disadvantage with the M39 in Battlefield 4, so if you like it keep it and have fun. 

Running with the M39 EMR DMR on Silk Road - Battlefield 4

CS5 Sniper Rifle Unlock – Aggressive Recon Battlefield 4

Fast reload for the CS5 sniper rifle in Battlefield 4

It’s time to use the CS5 Sniper Rifle in Battlefield 4.  Are you ready to put on your try hard pants as the aggressive recon?  This rifle looks unique in the game and the fast firing rate (53 rpm) of the sniper rifles.  It also has one of the slowest bullet travel time of 400 m/s, but it is tied with the FY-JS and SRR-62 for lowest bullet drop of 6 m/s.  It also has the shortest maximum range of 2,000 m, but really how many shots are you going to take beyond 2,000m?  For full stats check symthic.com.  Nearly all the stats for this gun are very good, but it is the slow bullet travel time that makes this weapon a try hard rifle. 

I think few hate the CS5, but most recons will leave it at home when heading into battle.  The average recon wants the ability to take targets out at long range, and it is difficult to do with the CS5 with its slow bullet speed.  I’ve killed several enemies at more than 500m, but they were very cooperative opponents, lying prone, thinking they were hidden.  A moving target is very tricky to hit with this weapon.  However, the aggressive recon should take a good look at this rifle.  When you unlock the gun you immediately get the suppressor, which allows you to stay off the mini-map while firing.  For most sniper rifles it takes 80 kills to unlock a suppressor, which can feel like forever with the bolt actions.

First you need to unlock this rifle by completing The “I” in Team Assignment

How to Unlock the CS5 Sniper Rifle:

• Reach rank 10

• Play a Dragon’s Teeth Map (so you must have the dlc)

• 2 Sniper Rifle Ribbons

• 10 Radio beacon spawns

• 10 Spot assists

There are a lot of tasks to check off with The “I” in Team Assignment, but it isn’t very difficult if you play the recon class fequently.  I unlocked the CS5 without really even thinking about it, and that is probably the case for most players. 

Aggressive Recon – Recon that plays the object, putting them in the thick of the fighting rather than at the edge where recons typically play.

CS5 sniper rifle kill seen through 3.4x M145 scope

CS5 Loadout for the Aggressive Recon

1)      Let’s start with the scope.  If your point is to work at close to medium range, and to be stealthy they you have to use a 4x or a 3.4x scope.  The main reason for this is to avoid the scope glint in Battlefield 4.  It will be much harder for the enemy to spot you when there isn’t the tell-tale shine from the rifle.  The second reason it is easier to follow targets at close range with low magnification.  Also in the game, you can see around the scope making it easier to find new targets, and see if someone is targeting you.   Depending on your playstyle you may want to run with a red dot sight. 

2)      The most important accessory for the CS5 is the suppressor, and luckily it comes with the gun from the start.  Take advantage of the suppressor by staying off the mini-map. 

3)      Use the straight pull bolt to take full advantage of the rifle’s rpm.  With the low power scope, you can keep aiming down sights while not having to worry about scope glint or losing your peripheral vision. 

4)      Good pistol.  If find yourself with multiple enemies at close range you are going to want to switch to your secondary.  Even though it is the fastest firing sniper rifle it still can’t out damage any other primary weapon in the game.  It is a good idea to use something with a suppressor to match your stealthiness, but use whatever you are most effective with, because it is more important to stay alive.  I run with either the G18 or the Deagle (Desert Eagle). 

1. 5)      Optional- you can add laser sight to the loadout, but it will increase your chances of being seen, Canted iron sights aren’t a bad idea, but I don’t use them personally.  A rangefinder might come in handy for those times when you see someone at long range, and they aren’t moving.  Right now I just leave this accessory slot empty.

6)      For the kit I always have a spawn beacon.  You can really help your team, by placing it close to the M-COM in Rush, or close to an objective in Conquest.   The second tool in the kit will depend on the map, C4 if there are lots of vehicles, tugs if I’m defending a M-COM. 

If you can give the CS5 sniper rifle a try, it fills a niche in BF4 not filled by the other bolt action rifles.  It and the SR338 are the most unique of the otherwise similar sniper rifles in Battlefield 4.

Weird M26 Shotguns: Battlefield 4

The cray bulky M26 Shotgun attached

to the C-805 assault rifle in Battlefield 4.

The under barrel M26 Mass and the resto of the M26 shotguns are a ridiculous set of stand alone, or under barrel assault rifle attachments for the assault class.  In Battlefield 4 they may have some advantages, but real life I can’t imagine the use of these things, but this is a video game, so let’s take a look at their usage in game.  I think these weapons are silly, but that doesn’t mean they can be used to good effect in the game if you use them wisely.

The M26 can be attached to the bottom of an assault rifle.  The main advantage of this is switching from primary to shotgun takes less time.  The disadvantage of having the M26 attached to the gun it takes the place of a grip on the assault rifle, not having a grip may make you less accurate.  A lot of people with just run with the M26 as a separate weapon.  Either way this shotgun takes up one of your toolkit slots.

As a straight up shotgun the M26 has its draw backs.  There are a lack of barrel options.  There is no option to have modified, full chokes.  There are no grip options for the shotgun either.  This lack of accessories makes the M26 shotgun less functional than regular BF4 shotguns. 

M26 kill shot

M26 Mass

The M26 Mass fires buckshot just like any other shotgun can in Battlefield 4. This shotgun seems to be as effective as the average BF4 shotgun.

M26 Dart

This shoots flechette rounds, which are small darts.  In game the M26 Dart will do more damage at range than buckshot.  I prefer the buckshot, but the darts are very effective. 

M26 Frag

This shotgun shoots exploding frag rounds.  Essentially a frag round is a tiny grenade.  Frag rounds are useful to do splash damage against enemies that are behind cover.  Shoot the frag rounds on the ground next to them and they will get splash damage.  It will take several rounds to kill most opponents, depending on weather they have already taken damage.  I think this is the most useful version of the M26 shotgun.  Having the ability to kill hiding enemies is a great asset to any soldier.  In real life frag rounds are probably useless and inhumane. 

Exploding frag round - M26 Frag

M26 Slug

Why would you use this unless you ran out of ammo in your primary weapon?  Any assault rifle is better at any range when compared to a shotgun slug.  Sure the slug has more damage potential at close range, but I’ll take the ability to spit bullets down range over the slow pump action shotgun any day.  I don’t like shotgun slugs in real life either, although they are devastating at close range, they lose velocity quickly and drop like a stone. 

Real World Uselessness

The M26 shotguns are incredibly bulky and would be a huge pain in the ass to carry around.  It would also add a lot of weight which slows down how fast you can move a gun up to your shoulder and acquire a target.  To a real soldier I think this gun would be a major liability.  I don’t think anyone would use these shotguns by themselves either.  There are just so many better standalone pump action shotguns like the 870.  On the gun range it would be kind of a neat and expensive “toy.”  I suppose for the hunter it could open up your options for the quarry your after just like combination guns do, but the bulkiness and weight would make using it a chore, and the weapons they attach to aren’t really used for hunting anyway. 

M26 Mass shotgun killing the enemy.