Spies and disguises
 

Currently, I believe it's too easy to spot a spy disguised. Simply hit 1(or whatever hotkey your melee weapon is) and wack someone and if they grunt, it's a spy. It really should be harder to spot one. Against any good player, you won't be able to knife them more than once before they start hitting every person they see, checking if they're a spy or not. If they do find you, you'll be dead within a few seconds.

Thoughts?

Learn to be sneaky, and you won't have this problem.
:rolleyes:

Except you can't when everyone is running around hitting everyone they see, checking if they're a spy or not. >_>

Costs you nothing. Costs the person you're hitting nothing. Can save your life. There's no reason for you to not hit everyone wearing your team color checking if they're a spy or not.(I play on no FF servers)

Unless there are confirmed enemies around to be hit instead. Don't expect to get into an enemy base every time while disguised alone.

use cloaks more. wait for people to clear out of a high traffic area before running in there. confuse the enemy. read this guide

Oh I know how to play a spy very well. I understand all the mechanics of the class. Simply saying, versus most good players, there's usually someone like say a med, running around trying to heal people and ends up infecting you and thus screwing you. I've found it impossible to play a spy when there's a good med in their base.

Possibly making you immune to infections when disguised might help a bit.

hate to sound like a dick, but obviously you dont know how to play spy really well if you are the only person complaining that spy is too hard to play. you shouldnt be running in all gung ho through the front door if you expect them not to shoot you. if a medic is chasing you with the medkit out, tranq him, bhop to somehwere safe, cloak, and redisguise. that guide gives a lot of good tips, and if you are having trouble with spy, it might help you learn some things.

and when threads like this one exist, it reinforces that these 'problems' arent balance issues but differences in skill levels...

Unless you are playing on a pub w/ a bunch of idiots, your teammates are your best friends. Everyone is going to be spychecking when the action is slow, but when enemies roll up, people pay less attention. Sometimes you just need to cloak and wait until the time is right. Being an effective spy takes lots of patience.

I made a similiar thread not long ago (the one Skanky linked to), but then I adapted to the gameplay changes of FF. It's still possible to infiltrate the enemy and even pose as a defender. Getting inside the enemy base is basically a non-issue now, thanks to the cloaking device.

A really excellent strategy is to wait until an engineer leaves his sentry gun, and then enter the room. It's very likely that any defenders in the room will think you're the very same engineer who just left. I've done this on well by cloaking in the attic and then going up to the flag room when the engineer comes down.

I managed to spend quite a long time posing as a defender in shutdown2. I just stood on the ramp in the flag room disguised as a soldier and tried my best to look like I was guarding the area. I sabotaged a sentry gun about two or three times before I left.

Spying becomes easier when you learn how to use cloaking. I often prefer to be cloaked in the enemy base rather than walking around in a disguise all the time (of course I also have a disguise active while I'm cloaked). Sometimes you have to approach the game like it's Splinter Cell.

Don't cloak and then run through the big open main doorway of your base, unless you like being sniper bait. And also use/keep an eye out for classes using weapons not actually owned by them (Heavy with a Nailgun for a simple example).

Snipers are very rare in FF, and even if there are any you're not very likely to be shot while cloaked.

If you equip your nailgun while disguised as hwguy, you'll appear to be equipped with a minigun.

old splinter cells, not double agent and up. those are all made for poeple who want to go all guns blazing.... dont even speak to me about conviction. thats not even close to splinter cell.

I did not say playing a spy was hard. I said it was too easy to find a disguised spy.

That's called spychecking. Most pubs have friendly fire off, and they do this to see who a Spy is.

Well, I can fool the bad players quite easily. If I see someone standing there in the base or running around, I simply hit them and if they grunt, I take out my shotgun/minigun/whatever and kill them due to the little health they have. Of course, since they most likely have a nailgun out, they're usually screwed since by the time they get their shotgun out/nade/knife/tranq, they'd be at half health.

Good engineers will always be near their SG/watching it closely. If another person if standing next to it and not moving, it's a clear sign that it's a spy. Plus, it's rather hard to cloak into a base in a map like well or aardvark when there's people actively running around and an SG right infront of your face as you enter.

Any aware defender will easily take out a spy.

Right, which is why I am saying finding a disguised spy is too easy.

WTF with all these spy is too easy to spot threads. When SGs stop being sabotaged and people stop getting stabbed, that's when you know its too easy to spot spies.

That's why a good spy tries to look like he belongs. He doesn't run around randomly, and he doesn't stay too long (unless he gets into a really good position).

Engineers need to resupply, and that's when you slip into the room and act like you're the sentry gun's rightful owner.

Getting inside is the easiest part of spying. I almost never have any problems. Even if it's World War III in front of the enemy base in well, I can still get inside without anyone knowing I was there.

A grenade spam kamikaze attack usually works when all else fails.

Yes, once again, I have no problem getting inside a base. I have a problem staying inside. An engineer will almost always build his SG near a backpack so he doesn't have to move far away and can always see who's near it. Since you can get interrupted while trying to sabotage, you will most likely never get it off when there's a good and aware engineer there. Not to mention, there's usually another person there with the engineer guarding his sg.

I have no problem staying with a group of people defending for a long period of time, but when one of them gets bored or wants to have fun, 1 wack of a crowbar and they'll figure I'm a spy. From there, the chances of you ever fooling them again is very slim. I've been playing both an engineer and a spy extensively. I've yet to be fooled by a spy much longer than a few seconds and I've yet to see one sabotage my SG as it is way too obvious they're doing it.

I mean, the spy has little health, his knife has a small hitbox and it can be very hard to hit a fast moving target and his shotgun/nade is his only real defense when all else fails. I don't see a reason why the grunt sound should not be removed when a spy is disguised along with making them immune to infections(maybe).

I know how to fool people, I know how to enter a base, I know how to act like one of the enemy. That is not the issue. The issue is it is too easy to find a disguised spy. 1 hit from anything and they've found you.

Well, I don't know what to tell you. I've sabotaged many, many sentry guns, and I'm more than capable of escaping hairy situations, killing enemies in combat and avoiding detection. You're doing something wrong.