Unlock path for noobs revealed!

There will always be a debate over what unlocks are good and what unlocks are bad in BF2142.  Some unlocks will prove over time to be fairly useless.  Unless you are like me, with nothing better to do, you need an unlock strategy which maximizes effectiveness early on.

Different people have very different opinions, so you cannot really choose wrong.  But it is helpful to have a basic understanding of which unlocks are good and which ones can “wait”.  Hopefully, this guide will give you at least that much of an idea.

To begin with, I advise that you purchase Northern Strike, because the ability to get unlocks faster will be greatly increased.  The Northern Strike booster pack contains some very simple badges for getting unlocks much faster.  Therefore, I recommend spending $10 on this simple upgrade- it will reduce the time it takes you to advance ranks.

Here is a basic outline for an unlock guide for casual players.

The recon and assault kits tend to be better in the conquest mode.  I tend to use support and engineer kits in titan mode.

Here are my favorite kit combinations in no particular order:

 Recon, camo, apm, lambert. (RDX when on titan assault or when I need to blow up an enemy asset/vehicle).

 Assault, defib, rockets.  (Sometimes, on Camp G, I switch to shotgun).

 Support, shotgun, sentry, IDS personal detector.  (RDX shotgun after placing sonar detector on titan assault.  I routinely  use the RDX shotgun on titan assault until consoles 1 & 2 are blown).

 Engineer, Pilum, Mines, Emp Mines.  (On Highway Tampa, I might use motion mine bait, but I feel it is counterproductive  if the other team just steals my kit and gets rid of the mines I placed.  I like the emp mines because they sticky vehicles  near my mines.)

 Global: Squad leader beacon. 

I probably play those combinations 95% of the time.

 

Starting out.

The first few unlocks are key.  I recommend right track assault for the first two unlocks.  This will give you a defibrillator and the advanced medical hub.  In the beginning, you should join squads and support them.  Using these two unlocks will make you a benefit to the teams you play with while you learn the game.

The next unlocks I recommend are the first three global unlocks.  It is very important to have grenades, extra speed, and extra stamina.  Now you have a basic assault character and you can play the game with greater ease. 

Evaluating your options from here.

I usually begin developing a good recon profile from here.  But you may not wish too- because after 1.4, the support kit is much more well rounded.  Let me explain my strategy.  The recon kit is one of the most flexible kits you can get early on.  It is not as team oriented as the other kits.  In fact, recon’s best team attribute is to ghost behind enemy lines and drop a beacon, but you do not have a beacon.  So going recon is probably not the best team choice at this point.  However, the Recon kit has costs only 5 upgrades to become highly functional (only 4 is you do not count the NS advanced camo upgrade).  Recons are prime for collecting dog tags and wreaking havoc. 

Normally, I unlock APM mines, then switch tracks.  I unlock RDX, netbat followed by Camo unit, and finally Lambert.  The Lambert is a great gun.  A recon armed with apm mines, camo, and a Lambert is very lethal.  I like to get the advanced camo unlock as well.  I avoid the tree with the stabilizers and advanced rifle).  Even though I like sniping, I tend to find that other unlock paths should be pursued next.  (If you really want to snipe early, you only need to unlock the scope.)

The recon kit is great for knifing.  The APM’s are insurance against bad K/D ratios, and the RDX can help on Titan assaults.  Also, you are eligible for explosives badges by using APM’s and RDX for kills. 

[You may wish to upgrade and get a squad leader beacon.  You can now heal your team and ghost for great beacon placement.]

The best kit for playing in titan mode is the engineer kit.  Without a doubt, I love having an engineer kit when I try to take silos.  The problem is that the engineer tree is divided in a way that means you have to spend a lot of upgrades to get a well rounded engineer. 

In working on the engineer kit, I tend to get the emp mines, the dystek repair, and the motion mines.  I do not waste time unlocking the SAAW.  This is a crude weapon.  At this point, you have a functional engineer.  The engineer will be complete when you finally unlock the Pilum- but that requires 4 more unlocks on the other tree.  The unlocks below Pilum are not as useful as one would hope, meaning that getting a solid engineer kit requires nearly 7 unlocks!

The situation for the support is not much better.  Essentially, I like to use the shotgun when playing Camp Gibraltar and on Titan defense or assault.  Unfortunately, one of the most helpful unlocks is three unlocks up on the other side.  The sentry gun!  To get a well rounded support kit will require 7 unlocks.  The GANZ is a great HMG, but I usually don’t unlock it early on because I prefer the shotgun.  However, as is explained below, the support kit is much stronger after 1.4. 

That covers the first 24 or so unlocks.  Which unlocks you choose from here is entirely up to your own decision.

Final thoughts

You've got your cake, but what about the icing?

On the assault side, both the shotgun and rocket unlocks are very helpful.  The rockets are much more helpful though.  It takes 3 unlocks to get both, because you have to get the infantry netbat id.  Surprisingly, neither the Voss nor Bauer are all that much better than the stock assault gun.  This is why I often ignore the assault kit unlocks after I get the defib and the advanced medical hub.  The Bauer is lethal, but only has 20 bullets in the chamber.  With 40 bullets in the chamber, the Voss is a much better choice because you have to reload less.  Neither of the smoke grenades is very helpful.  I have tried to use the smoke grenades to breed confusion on titan assaults with limited success, but I cannot recommend these unlocks.  The advanced ammo is great, especially when using rockets.

On the support kit, I highly recommend the IDS infantry sonar as well as the Clark RDX shotgun.  The Clark RDX shotgun was made highly functional after the 1.4 patch.  It can be used to clear away enemy APM mines, and it takes about 12 rdx shots to blow a console.  I use the RDX shotgun on titan assaults and prefer the support kit on titan assaults to the RECON kit after 1.4.  The IDS infantry sonar is extremely helpful in titan mode because it can light up the titan cargo bays.  I also use it in conquest modes around flags (especially central camp in Camp Gibraltar).  The shield is of very limited value.  Sometimes I place a shield simply to draw the enemies attention away from me.  People tend to focus on the shiny red shield.  The Dystek pulse meter is also of very limited value.  I've used it on some occasions with the Ganz HMG on silo defense to see through walls, but I think the infantry sonar is a better overall pick.

On the recon side, I like the Dystek hi-scope.  Even without one of the advanced guns, the zoom feature is great.  I am not such a big fan of the decoy beacon or the stabilizer.  The Zellar-H is a great gun, but I’ve used the stock sniper rifle with a scope to get plenty of sniper shots.  Still the Zellar-H sounds cool.

On the engineer side, I never use the defuser.  After the motion mine bait came out, the defuser seems pointless.  The clark RDX shotgun can also clear APM’s and RDX, so support gets the upper hand on deactivating those barriers.  As I stated before the SAAW is almost useless.  (In my opinion, a pilum is better for taking out transports and gunships).  The extra clip of ammo for the light machine gun that the engineer carries is highly useful!  I love the extra ammo.  That unlock really does make a huge difference.

On the global side of things.

My last unlocks are always the squad leader unlocks.  Once you have unlocked the basic SL beacon, I would not unlock the other SL features until my final unlocks. 

There is nothing terrible to be said about the remaining global unlocks.  The boots are a dream- reducing the all too frequent and annoying fall damage.  The extra nade is very helpful.  Do not even try to get your pistol badges before you get a larger pistol clip. 

If you want more information, try here: 

CHEERS!