The Recon kit is a playable kit in Battlefield 2142, Battlefield: Bad Company and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It is the same as the Sniper kit from Battlefield 2, but combines some aspects from the Special Forces kit featured in Battlefield 2, such as a presence of a Carbine and C4 Explosives.
Russian Recon with a sniper rifle
Battlefield: Bad Company
The Recon kit is the base marksman's class, and the only class capable of taking down enemies at safe and extreme distances thanks to the sniper rifle, and laser designator. In ways of self the defense the player is also equipped with motion sensors and a pistol, changing depending on the faction.
The Bad Company Recon patch.
Sniper rifles allow the player to take down enemies accurately at long distances in a small number of shots. At long range, sniper rifles are at their best, although leading your target is necessary if the it is moving, and semi-automatic rifles can lose their accuracy at across-map distances, especially the VSS. At close range, snipers deal more damage, bolt-action snipers (M24, M95...) can kill in 1 shot, but tracking moving targets can be difficult, and point blank hip fire is extremely unreliable.
To take out vehicles, the Recon kit is given the laser designator as an unlockable. These binoculars lase in on a target and after the target has been locked onto, it sends in a remote controlled missile controlled by the player to be guided down to destroy the target. The missile has large splash damage and can destroy any vehicle on impact instantly. Although, it can only be used effectively against extremely slow vehicles like heavy tanks, and when being locked onto, a warning siren will go off in the targeted vehicle warning a missile is incoming, allowing the player int the vehicle to escape relatively easily. The binoculars can be difficult to use at close range as well, considering it would be harder to track a moving target and it takes time for the binoculars to lock onto the vehicle.
For self defense, the player is given a side arm and motion sensors. The motion sensors when activated, will show enemy positions within about a 20 meter radius, so when an enemy is in the vicinity, the player will know and be ready. The Russian and American side arms (MP-443 Grach and M9 Beretta respectively) are weak semi-automatic pistols, taking 6-7 rounds to kill, half the magazine capacity, but are relatively reliable when in a sticky situation. The MP412 REX is the MEC side arm, being a revolver with 6 bullet capacity taking 2-3 bullets to kill, being slightly better than the other pistols if the player uses it accurately.
Sniper rifles
Semi-Automatic:
A semi automatic rifle is a weapon that allows the player to shoot multiple bullets off in quick succession by continuously pressing the fire button. Although this in general is more practical especially against moving targets, their accuracy deteriorates at extreme ranges, and their damage is sub-par to bolt-action sniper rifles. The semi-automatic sniper rifles of Bad Company are:
- SVU
- VSS
- QBU 88
Bolt-Action:
A bolt action rifle is a weapon that requires the player to exit the sniping scope and manually cycle the bolt after every shot. This quality drastically lowers the rate of fire of bolt-action rifles, and makes taking down moving infantry all the more difficult as a target can take 2 hits from a bolt-action rifle apart from headshots. In spite of these draw-backs, bolt-action rifles are more accurate, tend to have better scopes, and generally deal more damage than their semi-automatic counterparts. These qualities make bolt-action sniper rifles ideal for taking out stationary targets with headshots, preferably from extreme across-map ranges. The bolt-action sniper rifles of Bad Company 2 are:
- M24
- SV-98
- GOL
- M95
Tactics
Combat:
Long range:
At long range, try finding a a good camping spot. A good camping spot is area where the player can look over a large open area of the map, normally on an area of high relief, like a hill, with good camouflage, such as a bush or fallen tree, even shadow can work. After having found a good spot, remember to throw a motion sensor every now and then; one sensor does not last forever, they eventually disappear. When trying to take down a moving target, the player must first lead the target by the necessary amount. This means aiming and firing in front of the target as it takes time for bullets to reach their target. Semi-automatic sniper rifles are better used in these situations as that can easily pop off one shot after the next, so it does not matter if you miss. If your target is stationary, aim for the head as it is an easy 1 hit kill with any sniper, although a bolt-action is almost a necessity at across-map ranges. Laser Designators can be used most effectively at long range as well, considering you can be left to control the missile with safety.
Close range:
Close range should only be a problem when switching camping positions. Avoid entering close range at all costs when playing recon, as this is the recon class's major problem. You can do this by staying away from being in houses and when urban combat is necessary, staying on a rooftop far from the real combat, picking off enemies at range. When not camping, always have the pistol equipped so that if an enemy comes along you won't be stuck trying to swap weapons. When advancing, and in an active enemy area, throw a motion sensor every now and then to check for enemy positions. If an enemy shows up on the map, see if you can take him from behind. If you can avoid combat completely when trying to reach a new camping spot, all the better.
Anti-Vehicle:
The recon class is generally purely anti-infantry based. The only effective anti-vehicle weapon the kit has against vehicles is the laser designator where as most other classes have multiple explosives. The laser designator can only be used effectively at long range as well considering it takes time to lock on and leaves the player vulnerable to any form of harm while guiding the missile.
Long range:
Always use the laser Designator at least 40-50 meters away from your target, This way you can track your target more easily and will have less chance of being noticed and killed while guiding the missile down to destroy the enemy vehicle. It is best to target an enemy vehicle which is stationary and even better to target a vehicle that has few ways to escape, because the missile has very bad steering.
Close range:
When trying to take down a vehicle at close range with the recon kit, it is probably a better idea to try and coax the enemy driver out of his vehicle and take him down that way. If you would rather not take a risk like that, make sure you have not been spotted and wait for them to pass by so you can effectively use the laser designator.
For more information on the laser designator's use see this page: Laser designator
Inventory
Battlefield 2142
- Combat Knife
- Sniper Rifle (faction default or unlockable Zeller) or Light Carbine (Lambert Carbine)
- Pistol (faction default)
- Frag Grenades (when unlocked for all kits)
- Choice of 2 unlockables
- 'RDX Demopacks' (futuristic C-4) - Anti-Personnel Mines (futuristic claymore) - 'Cloaking Device' - Sight Stablilizer - 'Decoy' (makes a false infantry signature)
Battlefield: Bad Company
- Combat Knife
- Sniper Rifle (faction default or unlockable)
- Pistol (faction default)
- Three (3x) Motion Sensors
- Laser Designator (unlockable)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
- Combat Knife
- Sniper Rifle (of choice when unlocked, can be swapped for unlocked weapons for all kits)
- Pistol/Tracer Dart Gun (of choice when unlocked)
- One (1x) Frag Grenade (can be increased with specializations)
- C4 explosive or Mortar (of choice when unlocked)
- Two (3x) Motion Sensors
- Can customize your sniper rifle with 4x/12x/Spotter Scopes