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| The Hardcore Gamer's Rainbow Six Vegas Guide
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Survival guides are for the hardcore gamer who wants some general tips on improving their skill without spoiling the story or being spoon-fed the details. A ton of readers and hardcore gamers loved our survival guides for Dead Rising and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, so without further ado we present to you... The Hardcore Gamer's Rainbow Six: Vegas Survival Guide.
Rainbow Six: Vegas has an extremely deep multiplayer component, and jumping in for the first time can be extremely daunting. Hopefully, these tips will help make you feel less like a n00b. Frankly, most of the methodologies and tips in this guide, (just like our MUA guide), can be applied to other games in the same genre.
 
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Rainbow Six Vegas features Ubisoft's brilliant multiplayer component; P.E.C or Persistent Elite Creation. What the P.E.C does is it allows you, as a player, to have a completely unique identity when playing online against or with other players. You can never go down in rank, so even if you lose you will still gain at least some experience. There are numerous unlockables associated with each rank and while some ranks only unlock camo colors, others unlock new armor types and even weapons. The problem with the system is that there is no way to acurately tell just how much progress you have made within your current level versus the next level. In fact, it doesn't even tell you what your next rank will unlock.
Luckily, The Hardcore Gamer has taken all of the guess work out for you by creating our Rainbow Six Vegas Rank Calculator. All you need to do is select your current rank from the dropdown, input your estimated number of experience bars filled, (it even takes percentages, ie. "3.8"), and click "Calculate My Rank."
Once you click the button, you can see not only what your next unlockable will be, but also the time and experience needed for your next rank and for Elite. Generally, fair and balanced servers and players will swtich from Attackers to Defenders once they have succefully completed the objective. Therefore, The Hardcore Gamer Rainbow Six Vegas Rank Calculator assumes that the each 20 minute match of Attack and Defend will net you an average of 750 points every 2 games. (1200 possible for Attackers and 300 possible for Defenders)
Leave your Ego at The Door
Feel that sting? That's pride fuckin with you. There is no shame in getting your ass handed to you. At least not in the beginning. Remember we all started somewhere, and shit rolls downhill, so someone did it to the good players when they were n00bs and now they are doing it to you. Know the Board(s)
Strategy is almost the biggest factor in this game. Trying to anticipate what your opponents will do and how to dupe them into thinking that you are going to do something will win more matches than just about anything else. However, you can't form a strategy if you don't know the boards, which isn't an issue since you can get your ass kicked on your own time by playing Terrorist Hunt on single player (and get the achievement) to learn the boards and not be embarrassed. Play Player Matches First:
Also a no-brainer for any Xbox Live title. But here, this is extremely important. Your all-important rank in R6:V is based on the amount of experience you have gained by playing the different types of games. Unlike the over-rated Halo 2 scheme, you do not lose experience by losing a match or not coming in first. No matter what you do, win or lose, you will gain experience towards your next rank. Maximizine Your Experience Points:
There are many factors that contribute to the amount of experience given for each match. Those factors are: Total Time on the Board:
Ever wonder why no one scores the package, they just hold up in front of the helipad? This is why. If you are playing a 20-minute match and someone scores in the first 10 minutes, you get less than the total number of points available to the winning team. For example, if you score with 11:00 left (9 minutes have passed), you only receive 90% of the pro-rated total amount. Balanced Teams:
RB6V will auto balance the score, pro-rated based on uneven teams. This is why 14/14 matches are so much better than, say, 11/14 matches. If you score the package with less than 10 seconds left, the attacking (winning) team can receive 1199 points out of a possible 1200 points. In Attack and Defend, the amount of kills you have has no bearing on the experience points received. This is why Player matches are so important for increasing your rank and power-leveling. If you can find a server where everyone communicates and the teams are full, fair, and balanced, you can stay in that server indefinitely, where as Ranked matches only allow 1 match per server. You get booted after every match. Why Ranks Are Important:
Ranks, especially in the first few ranks, are extremely important. When you start your online RB6V career, you start out as a Private. This lowly form of grunt only has certain weapons and certain camo available. While I believe that camo does make a difference, a lot of people don't. So let's focus on the weapons. Privates do not have access to (argueably) the most important weapons in the game; the M7A1 and the Raging Bull. A ton of people love the AK-47, but to me it is far too inaccurate and has way too much recoil to be effective for my style of play. But there is merit to the AK. Sadly you won't be unlocking this for quite sometime, roughly 20-30 hours of play. (Actual play, not boosting.) Luckily the M7A1 is available to Specialists (2 ranks from the n00b Private rank) and should only take a few hours to achieve. Once you do, the game really opens up for you. Why Ranks Are Not Important:
Ranks after you unlock Specialist are pracitically useless, and other than the Master Sergeant rank which unlocks the Freedom Fighter weapons; AK47, Raging Bull (one-shot, one-kill handgun), SV-98. Other than that, you are looking at nothing more than character customization, and if you don't buy into the fact that camo is useful, coupled with the fact that your boosters have destroyed the true meaning of Elites and ranks. Privates start with 0 experience (duh, you n00b) and you need 82,500 experience points to make it to Master Sergeant. If you are like me and play only Attack and Defend (and don't power-level using T-hunts or boost) you are looking at 20 minutes per 1199 points per win. The operative word there is "win." Otherwise you are looking at 400 max. So assuming you win every match in the last 10 seconds and the room is full and balanced, you are looking at 3597 points per hour. Which means 23 hours of online play to get to the AK and Raging Bull. And most importantly, since you gain experience every time you play, win or lose and your number of kills has no bearing on your experience points. Skill does not equal Rank. Rank equals time. Armor:
The other big thing is armor. You have 10 points of protection and 10 points of mobility, and you have almost a dozen armor choices in each of the 3 areas: legs, arms, shoulders, chest, and each piece can be worn complete or just left or right side. Plus each one has almost 20 different color choices, but when you reach the max level cap, you can create your own camo from scratch. I've never seen two people look the same because the customization is so deep. I currently run with black chest, mask, swat blue chest and legs, and urban (bluegray) camp shoulders. My goal is to make the most badass GI JOE guy ever. My uniform works well against most backdrops and on the roof on the casino, but I have a second layout for brown boards. You start with 10 mobility points and 0 protection points, so clearly you are a runner. Every point you put into protection sucks a point from mobility. I like to tank up, (you can take 3 shots, center-mass and not die with level 7 armor, which is plenty of time to headshot a n00b or take cover and regen) but the secret is that there are only 3 TOTAL levels of protection, not 10. Level 1 - 0-3 (no armor)
Level 2 - 4-6 (mid armor)
Level 3 - 7-10 (full armor)
 So if you load up to 10 you actually sacrifice your customization options. So just stick with 7 and you'll get the full armor bonus plus more camo options due to the extra slots available. Also helmets do not add protection at all. In fact they make your head bigger, meaning headshot. Armor: Camo
Camo and strategy is underrated. I saw a clan where everyone wore all black except for their chest which was completely white, and they wore the unlockable raven armor which has kind of a backpack on it. We were defending the case against them, and when they stormed the vault and picked up the WHITE case, they all split. Did I mention that the white case straps to your back... You can see where this strategy is going. Last but not least: Communication:
When I run servers, I boot anyone without a mic and so do most people who take b6v seriously. Communicating is simple; just tell us where you die and how many people you saw. This information is invaluable to your team. Of course it also is coupled with "Knowing the Board". If you were to say, "I died over there and someone was behind me.," it is ZERO help to your team. But, "I died on the escalators, there are 3 coming down" is perfect communication, and the moment you start doing this simple little thing, you'll see your friends list fill up as fast as your experience does. People like to play with other people who communicate. In fact, I'll take a n00b who communicates well over a veteran who plays Rambo any day. Alot of people on the Xbox forums and on Xbox Live have made the comment that Attack & Defend cannot be won once the package has gone up the stairs. Bullshit. I'm only a Sergeant, and I've lead multiple teams that have successfully defended the Casino with the package sitting less than a foot away from the drop point. All it takes is communication. If the attackers have the package and have dropped it for the experience points (like they should as I said above) the time left on the clock doesn't mean a damn thing. At least until 3:00. Between the drop and 3:00 have fun, learn the board, try different weapons. None of it matters in the long run since kills do not equal experience. At 3:00 I start asking people who spawn at the 2:00 mark to split off into to 2 teams of 3 and 1 team of 1. With everyone in place and communicating, two teams will either create a diversion for the lone man or successfully make it to the top and hold them off for the last 60 seconds or so. The final ronin can play swing man and take the rappels as a surprise while the two other teams take the elevator and the stairs. It works almost every time. Okay, not "almost every time" but it does work. Occasionally. A final thought: Gadgets and Creativity
The good thing about gadgets is that the right gadget at the right time can swing a game. However, many people who get pawned time and time again ban everything, even though they have access to them too. This is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. Most of the gadgets are self-explanatory except for 1; C4. C4 can be used and will be used in very ingenious ways when you play. Most players, especially new ones don't even know that you can stick the C4 to practically anything. So think outside of the norm and look up at the ceiling or the door jamb the next time you throw your charge. To me, smoke is a waste, especially if friendly fire is turned off because everyone has thermals anyway. So unless there is a sniper problem on the roof, there is no reason to waste an inventory spot. If you are looking for kills, go with Frags and Incendiary. If you are looking for team-play go, with Frags and C4, or Frags and Tear Gas. If you decide to go with Teargas, make sure you call fire in the hole first, because most of your team won't have the masks needed to remain unaffected. Be creative with your frags. Don't just throw them and hope for the best; bounce them off of walls to help them cook before they land. If you are being chased, look up and throw them off the wall above you to bounce down ON your enemy. Creative tactics will take you from good to great in no time. *All of the examples are based on Attack and Defend.
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