Guide to MAG
Jan. 31, 2010It has been a while since I last authored the original, "Newbie's Guide to MAG" which has since been reposted on the official MAG forum. I will rewrite the guide using new information I have developed since writing the original guide several months ago.
Table of Contents
Mission concepts
+ Sabotage
Character build guides
+ All purpose
+ CAMP
Tip of the day
+ Tip of the day
Understanding damage and armor in MAG
+ Concepts
+ Weapon damage
+ Armor
+ Hitbox
Mission concepts
SABOTAGE
As the attacking PMC your goal in this mission is to control objectives A, B, then finally C. Objective C is not available as an objective until both objectives A and B are under the attacking team's control. Objective C is completed when a bomb is planted and is successfully detonated at objective C. The current bomb timer is roughly 45 seconds to a minute long. The mission overview that I just mentioned is the bottom line requirement in order to win as the attacking PMC.
If you do anything that isn't directly contributing to the capture and control of either objectives A or B you are not assisting your team at all. If you are out in the outskirts of either objective and are preoccupied fighting players on the defending team that are also in the outskirts, neither of you would be contributing anything to the team with your actions no matter how grand they may seem to you.
The best way to successfully complete this mission as the attacking PMC is to attack the objective as a squad. You need to use your mic and request your squad members to follow your lead towards the objective and over run the defending team. If you attempt to do this single handedly or with anything less than a squad your results will be mixed. Obviously, there are strength in numbers and using an entire squad to overtake an objective is the most effecient way to get it done. This is most certainly the case if the defending PMC is unable to organize their squads to remain near their objectives.
As the attacking PMC there are many different paths to use when approaching the objective. No single path will prevail everytime. Players will adjust to vulnerabilities over time and will compensate by adjusting their defenses as needed. However, there is no way that a defending team can cover every entry path and successfully stop an entire squad or even two squads from overtaking the objective. This is the attackers advantage and must be used or success will come only through extremely hard work and many casualties.
As the defending PMC you will need to gather your squad members near the objectives and have them watch their own entry. If you have players constantly shifting positions in an attempt to watch every entry you will end up being over run more often than not. The reason for this is that there is not a proper amount of attention at any single entry but a very low amount of attention on every entry. An attentive defender will be able to shoot the attacking players before they are even able to fire back. Another reason for defenses falling apart is the lack of trust that the squad members have for one another to cover their backs and their own entries. It is required to have faith in your fellow squad members to cover entry points that are assigned to them. If the defenses still fail then you can always work on it and make improvements, but the foundation of a good defense is to have the ability to trust your squad members to do their job.
There is also another tactically sound strategy that works very often and is a subject of great debate by the tactically unsound players. If you are on the attacking team and have just taken an objective and see that the other objective is also being captured by the other members of the platoon you could ask them how secure their hold is on the objective. If they respond that the objective will be secured then you should quickly assess your hold on your objective. If it seems apparent that both objectives will be captured under your platoon's control then you should announce a rush towards objective C leaving behind a handful of troops to ensure no last minute upsets occur. Once you are at objective C you may quickly plant the demolition charge at the objective after both A and B has been turned over to your side.
The above strategy has a few fine points to consider. Yes, it would be possible for a last minute upset by the defending team which results in either A or B or perhaps both objectives being taken back by the defending team. However, this would mean that less defending players could intercept your pre-emptive attack on C. It is also a foregone conclusion if the defending team is unable to reach objectives A or B within 15 seconds, I am not talking about taking it back in 15 seconds but actually getting to the location within 15 seconds. This makes the pre-emptive strike strategy a relatively low risk manuever.
This isn't at all biased towards the attacking team. The defending team is not without tricks of their own as well. A strategy that I have created and employed in several games with mixed success is abandoning one of the two objectives and focusing the entire defending platoons attention on ONE objective. What does this do? Well if you read the mission requirements you know that both A and B has to be under the attacking PMC's control before objective C can be available. This defensive strategy ONLY works if the defending team cooperates with the player(s) who call for this strategy to be employed. If the majority does not listen then the game will carry on no diferently than usual. However, if the strategy is adopted by the majority of the defending team then the attacking team will almost always fail to take both objectives. There is a 20 minute time limit in Sabotage and this move will cause the attacking team to occupy the abandoned objective with several players for several minutes. These players will eventually get restless and do other things, there is usually a 50% chance that they will either do something productive, like attack the other objective, or do something unproductive like go into the non mission areas and play "team death match" instead of completing the mission. In either case the defending team's victory condition is to retain objective C by the time the mission time expires.
As with any mission the ability to revive is paramount to success for both the attacking and defending PMCs. Without reviving you are wasting more time traveling from the spawn point to the mission area. Without reviving you are more likely to fail completing the mission regardless of how good of a player you may be. The ability to revive (resuscitate) is required in this game mode as with any others.
If you enjoy playing the role of the sniper, take a moment before the mission starts and come up with a game plan to contribute towards the mission using your specialty. Think about high traffic areas and the common routes that the enemy takes to get to the positions they need to be. Use your extreme range capabilities to cut off the enemy and discourage them from using that path. If you can suppress the enemy properly then your team can use the newly paved path to achieve victory.
I'll have more to write on AQU and DOM missions when they are made available again. I hope you guys enjoyed the long read.
Character build guides
All purpose
This all purpose build is made for nearly ever situation in MAG. When reading through this build list please pay careful attention to the order in which skills are unlocked. This build will provide you with the ability to revive and heal in addition to increased awareness with the motion sensorUnderstanding the reasoning behind the order of unlocks will help you with your own custom build down the road. Remember NOT to spend your starting skill point on anything. This build works for any PMC.
| Level | Cost | Unlock |
| Medical Kit | ||
| Resuscitation | ||
| Improved Sprint Recovery | ||
| Improved Shot Detection | ||
| Increased Endurance | ||
| Explosive Resistance | ||
| Increased Health | ||
| Acoustic Locator | ||
| Explosives Detector | ||
| Sensor Jammer | ||
| Motion Sensor | ||
| SMG | ||
| CQC Improved Stability | ||
| SMG Suppressor | ||
| CQC Reload Speed | ||
| Side-arm Swap Speed | ||
| Side-arm Reload Speed | ||
| PDW | ||
| Knives Improved Swipe Speed | ||
| Knives Expanded Reach | ||
| Anti-personnel Mine | ||
| Advanced Explosives | ||
| Improved Stealth | ||
| Advanced Paratrooper | ||
| Repurchase everything except Resuscitate | ||
| Improved Healing | ||
| Improved Resuscitation |
| Load out | ||
|---|---|---|
| COST | SLOT | INFO |
| 400c | Primary | SMG |
| 200c | Primary | SMG Suppressor |
| 300c | Backup | PDW |
| 1,000c | Gear 1 | Medical Kit |
| 800c | Gear 2 | Motion Detector |
| 400c | Heavy | Sensor Jammer |
| 200c | Armor | Light Armor |
| 3,300c | Total | |
Alternatively, you can replace the SMG, SMG Suppressor, and PDW with either an Assault Rifle or Machine gun unlocks. You will have 18 points to spend if you take back all of the points from Personal Defense skill line as well. This will also free up 900c from the SMG w/suppressor and PDW and you still have 100c left over so that makes your total available points 1,000 for either the Assault Rifle or Machinegun. I recommend following my build as it is written if you are a starting player. This way you have the best of most aspect of the game.
CAMP
I have come to the conclusion that the machinegun w/bipod is the best all round weapon on MAG. When you use the bipod you have next to no recoil while firing constantly. Running and gunning will not be as accurate but the machinegun isn't at its full potential unless you are prone with the bipod deployed. Several CAMP members prone with the bipod deployed firing the machinegun will make it difficult for the enemy to get by. Distance shooting while using the bipod is extremely accurate.
You will notice that I had left out Improved Stability because I would like to focus on using the bipod (you also have "cover" while you are prone, more so than when you are crouching or standing.).
Do not simply write off the ability to move and fire, I used this build and it was still easy enough to shoot players while in the crouched or standing position.
| Level | Cost | Unlock |
| Medical Kit | ||
| Resuscitation | ||
| Improved Sprint Recovery | ||
| Improved Shot Detection | ||
| Increased Endurance | ||
| Explosive Resistance | ||
| Increased Health | ||
| Acoustic Locator | ||
| Explosives Detector | ||
| Sensor Jammer | ||
| Motion Detector | ||
| Anti-personnel Mine | ||
| Reflex Sight (Machinegun) | ||
| Bipod (Machinegun) | ||
| Grip (Machinegun) | ||
| 2nd Machinegun | ||
| Reload Speed (Machinegun) | ||
| Chemical Resistance | ||
| Anti-vehicle Mine | ||
| Gas Grenades | ||
| Advanced Explosives | ||
| Advanced Grenades | ||
| Repurchase everything except Resuscitate | ||
| Improved Healing | ||
| Improved Resuscitation |
| Load out 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| COST | SLOT | INFO |
| 800c | Primary | 2nd Machinegun |
| 100c | Primary | Reflex Sight |
| 200c | Primary | Bipod |
| 100c | Backup | Handgun |
| 1,000c | Gear 1 | Medical Kit |
| 800c | Gear 2 | Motion Detector |
| 200c | Armor | Light Armor |
| 3,200c | Total |
| Load out 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| COST | SLOT | INFO |
| 800c | Primary | 2nd Machinegun |
| 100c | Primary | Reflex Sight |
| 200c | Primary | Bipod |
| 100c | Backup | Handgun |
| 1,000c | Gear 1 | Medical Kit |
| x00c | Gear 2 | Gas Grenades |
| 400c | Gear 2 | Smoke Grenades |
| 200c | Armor | Light Armor |
| 3,x00c | Total |
| Load out 3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| COST | SLOT | INFO |
| 800c | Primary | 2nd Machinegun |
| 100c | Primary | Reflex Sight |
| 200c | Primary | Bipod |
| 100c | Backup | Handgun |
| 1,000c | Gear 1 | Medical Kit |
| 800c | Gear 2 | Anti-personnel Mine |
| 200c | Armor | Light Armor |
| 3,200c | Total |
Only 2-3 players in the squad need to use load out 1 during either attack or defense missions. Load out 2 is to be used to retake an objective you were defending or to flush out the enemy from an objective you need to seize. Load out 3 is optimal when your PMC is defending. For example, in a squad of 8 players using this build, if you are on defense you should have 2-3 players with load out 1 and the rest should be load out 3. This would provide 10-12 claymores at the location you are defending. This would most certainly give the enemy something to worry about when mounting an offense. Load out 3 is very useful to make life miserable for the enemy that is defending an objective.
Tip of the day
Tip of the day
2/5/10 SABO : You cannot heal more than 10 life per medical kit application while you are being gassed. If you are having a hard time getting through an enemy defense be sure to use gas grenades to flush them out or kill everybody inside slowly. On the flip side, if you are the one being gassed, save your medical kit application for resuscitation only.
2/4/10 AQU & DOM : If you are platoon leader and spawn with an APC as the attacker, you must insist on either driving it or being the gunner. On defense, as the platoon leader you need to quickly get an APC in the back of the base to maximize the benefits of being platoon leader.
2/3/10 SABO,AQU, & DOM : Not near a supply depot? No problem. Simply pick up a fallen enemy's weapon and pick your weapon up again for a full ammo reload.
2/2/10 AQU & DOM : The platoon leader should ALWAYS be in an APC either as the driver or gunner.
2/1/10 SABO : While on defense, if both A & B are switching to enemy control quickly check your map by pressing select. If you notice that your teammates on either objective are not moving they are probably dead and you should quickly head towards C.
1/31/10 AQU & DOM : As a sniper position yourself to shoot at rear of your bunker, where the demolition charge is planted.
1/30/10 SABO : Heal before you shoot your gun! Go for chain revives!
1/29/10 AQU & DOM : When issuing a guided strike (aka sensor shell) to destroy an enemy APC, target rooftops or other elevated locations to prevent the APC driver from seeing the smoke as often.
Understanding damage and armor in MAG
Concepts
Damage does not degrade over distance when you fire a weapon, meaning you will get the same damage results regardless of whether it is a point blank or extreme range shot.
Weapon damage
Knife frontal attack
100 HP vs light armor
86 HP vs heavy armor
Knife rear attack
Instant death regardless of armor or maximum health.
Raven
Pistol
30 HP vs light armor
27 HP vs normal armor
24 HP vs heavy armor
1st Assault rifle
20 HP vs light armor
18 HP vs normal armor
16 HP vs heavy armor
2nd Assault rifle
PENDING
3rd Assault rifle
PENDING
1st LMG
25 HP vs light armor
22.5 HP vs normal armor
20 HP vs heavy armor
2nd LMG
29 HP vs light armor
26 HP vs normal armor
24 HP vs heavy armor
1st Sniper rifle
55 HP vs light armor
49 HP vs normal armor
44 HP vs heavy armor
2nd Sniper rifle
PENDING
3rd Sniper rifle
PENDING
SMG
PENDING
Shotgun
PENDING
Armor
The base line for damage reduction is while using light armor for all the information I post here in the guide.
Light armor: 0% damage reduction
Normal armor: 10% damage reduction
Heavy armor: 20% damage reduction
Hitbox
Lower hitbox: 20% damage reduction
Middle hitbox: 0% damage reduction
Upper hitbox: 300% additional damage received
A single headshot will not always kill if you have full health depending on the weapon. Weapon damage is multiplied by 3 then reduced depending on the armor you are wearing. For example a pistol to the head while wearing light armor will leave inflict 90 points of damage.