• "Tactical paranoia"

Expect enemy eyes (& crosshairs) to be on you at all times.

Never assume you are "safe."

Assume everything is a trap.

If it looks clear in front of you, expect to be attacked from behind (watch your 6).

If you're about to move around a corner, or through a doorway, or through a window, or out into an open area, expect that at least one opponent is watching that spot & waiting for you to move into their line-of-sight.

Wherever you happen to be at any given moment, try to be aware of all possible angles your position can be attacked from & be ready to return fire from those angles or evade/escape attack from those angles.

As you are moving, have your weapon already pre-aimed at a position where you think opponents are likely to be. If someone actually happens to be there, you won't lose precious time pulling your aim that direction.

If you encounter one opponent, expect that another (or even 2 or 3 others) are not far off. Be ready for them - don't walk alone & unprepared into their fortified position.

If you're attacking an opponent & they defensively move around a corner, do not give chase. They'll probably be set up & waiting for you on the other side (maybe even with other teammates) & will have the advantage over you when you follow.

• Move after scoring a kill or being spotted

When you kill an opponent (or 2, or 3, or more), you reveal your position.

Opponents might call-out your position to their teammates.

They might come back for revenge.

Somebody might soon send a grenade or rocket to that position.

If you remain in the exact same spot where you just scored the kill(s), you make yourself an easy target for retaliation. As boxers say: "stick & move."

• Call-outs

Each member of the team is the eyes & ears for the rest of the team.

Use your microphone to keep your teammates informed.

Saying something as simple as "enemy sniper in the 2-story window" can save your team from feeding more kills to that sniper by not wandering into that sniper's line-of-sight; any teammates in a position to take out that sniper now know where to assault.

Have you ever been killed & wondered "how did they know I was there?" One of your opponents (maybe one you just killed) might have alerted others to your position.

• Don't cluster too closely with teammates

Bunching up too tightly together with your teammates puts your teammates at risk & sets your opponents up for easy multi-kills.

If multiple teammates are all within the blast radius of 1 grenade (or 1 rocket, or 1 predator missile, or 1 quick burst of gunfire, etc.), your team is vulnerable to giving up a lot of points/kills to your opponents in a very short time.

If opponents have UAV/radar or air support up & you are not equipped with perks to keep you invisible from such things, your exposure puts nearby teammates at risk.

Your teammate(s) may be in a solid position to cover/defend a location/route/objective, but if you get too close to them, you make that position more visible/exposed & more likely to be spotted.

If you open fire on an opponent & the opponent returns fire, teammates that are too close to you are also put in that line-of-fire.

Two guns (or 3, or 4, or more) are better than one, so rolling in packs & backing-up your teammates are good, but keep a safe distance between you.

• Seek opportunities for flank/sneak attacks & avoid head-on confrontations

I'm usually pretty unlucky in direct face-to-face duels, so I've learned to avoid them when possible in favor of striking when & where opponents are (hopefully) not expecting me.

I like to at least try to reduce the risks that my opponents might win an encounter due to them possibly having a more powerful weapon, more accurate aim, faster reflexes, better luck, or connectivity/sync advantage ("lagvantage") over me.

I look for a positional advantage to catch my opponents unaware/unprepared before they have a chance to mount a defense.

After learning where a map's hot spots, high-traffic routes, vantage points, hiding places, & objectives are, I start to expect to find opponents in those areas (and opponents usually expect to find me in those areas too)...

...So when making my way around those areas, I sometimes try to take an approach that puts me where I think my opponents won't expect me.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is... If that location, route, objective, dog tag, or care package looks wide open & undefended, I try not to blindly rush straight in for it...

...Instead, I try to imagine where opponents might be sitting & waiting for me to walk into their trap - then I'll try to move in from their blind side & take them out first.

It doesn't always work out the way I'd hoped, but when it does, it's pretty sweet.

• Anticipate opponents' next move(s)

As the common "5 Ps" saying goes: "proper planning prevents poor performance."

...And as another saying goes: "no battle plan survives contact with the enemy."

We can't always be completely certain about what's going to happen on the battlefield, but we can try to be aware of the possibilities & have responses prepared for them.

When trying to predict opponents' probable courses of action & stay one step ahead of them, I ask myself questions like:

What openings & opportunities are currently out there for opponents to potentially target?

What openings & opportunities are currently out there for me/us to potentially target?

What are my/our current vulnerabilities that opponents may try to exploit?

What are the opponents' current vulnerabilities that I/we can try to exploit?

What would I/we do if I/we were in the opponents' position right now?

What would opponents do if they were in my/our position right now?

What patterns have I/we noticed so far in the opponents' activities?

What patterns might opponents have noticed so far in my/our activities?

If opponents do what I/we predict they'll do, how can I/we respond/defend against them?

If I/we do what opponents predict I/we will do, how might opponents respond/defend against me/us?

• Enemy dug-in? Avoid them, flank them, explode them, or double-team them

I often encounter opponents who settle in to an advantageous position & make the most of it. I have to fight the tendency to blindly keep going back for revenge after they kill me, because if I do, I'm only walking into their trap & engaging them on their terms.

So I've boiled down my options to 4 common counters:

1.) Avoid them... If an opponent is occupying a good firing spot that has no strategic significance, then there's no need for me to keep going back there & feeding them more kills. I'll just go find other targets.

2.) Flank them... If I can find a way, I'll try to approach from their blind/undefended side & take them out.

3.) Explode them... The blast radius of explosives can sometimes reach areas outside the line-of-sight where I can quickly & accurately place bullets, so sometimes I:

• toss a grenade into their location

• fire a grenade launcher into their location

• launch a rocket into their location

...etc.

4.) Double-Team them... If I can rally my teammates to approach the opponent from multiple sides, some of us draw the enemy's attention on one side while others attack the enemy's other side.