For a while we’ve been hinting that we had a new project we’ve been working on. At last, it’s online and ready to go! Introducing The Gaming Rx, your source for all gaming on all platforms! Why did we create The Gaming Rx? Well, it’s easy to get burnt out on a game, now we have every game…including of course Gears of War / Gears of War 2. This site will remain up so anyone can access the wealth of information that is already here but in the future we’ll be spending most of our time posting in the new The Gaming Rx Forums.

Head over to The Gaming Rx and become a member!

Results May Vary

Each player has a stock of 600 hp when they spawn. IF you take damage you will start regaining 200 hp every second after 2 seconds. Meaning if your at 100 hp, after 2 seconds your at 300hp after 3 seconds your at 500 and after 4 seconds your at 600, so in 4 seconds of not getting shot you will regain your full hp. Granted lag can throw this off a second or two.

So now that you guys know that the hp is 600, if you do 600 damage it will down your opponent, unless a headshot is the final damage point, or if the weapon your using has the effect to gib(being blown to pieces).

Lets start with the age old question which is better the Lancer to the HammerBurst? Well mathematically speaking the numbers speak for themselves if you’re a headshot king.

Hammerburst

• Mag Size – 17
• Damage – 80
• Long Range – 48
• Reload Time – 2 seconds(1 or so Active)
• Headshot Bonus – 110%
• Fire Rate – 250
• Melee Dmg – 338

Lancer

• Mag Size – 50
• Damage – 38
• Long Range – 23
• Reload Time -  2.5 Seconds ( 1.5 or so Active)
• Headshot Bonus – 150%
• Fire Rate – 550

So there are so many ways to display this data, so I’m going to give four examples 100%, 75%, 50%, and 0% headshot Accuracy. And then all four of those at Long Range.

100%

• HB – 7(HS)*80*1.1 = 616
• L – 11(HS)*38*1.5 = 627

Notice 7 bullets from the HB and 11 from the L, the Lancer out plays the HB easily, while 7 is less than 11 counting in fire rate. The Lancer is twice as fast as the HB meaning 11/2 = 5.5 and 5.5 is less than 7, now assuming that this guide shows 250 as the fire rate for holding down the hammer, I’ll bump the Fire Rate up to 300. That puts the Lancer at 80% faster. 11/1.8 = 6.1 which is still less than 7. That’s assuming 100% headshot, which is highly unlikely.

75%

• HB – 2*80+5(HS)*80*1.1 = 600
• L – 4*38+8(HS)*38*1.5 = 608

Notice the HB still does it in 7, while the Lancer takes 12, now lets take fire rate into consideration. 12/1.8 = 6.66 which is still less than 7.

50%

• HB – 4*80+4(HS)*80*1.1 = 672
• L – 6*38+7(HS)*38*1.5 = 627

At 50% Rounded up to the next bullet, notice the HB went up to 8 Bullets. The lancer still beats out the hammer 13/1.8 = 7.2 which is still less than 8.

25%

• HB – 6*80+2(HS)*80*1.1 = 656
• L – 10*38+4(HS)*38*1.5 = 608

The Lancer moved up a bullet, however 14/1.8 = 7.77 which is still less than the HB. Making it still dominate.

0%

• HB – 8*80 = 640
• L – 16*38 = 608

Finally! Now if the L and the HB both are at 0% the HB wins, 16/1.8 = 8.8 which is more than 8.

Now Remember all of this assumes every bullet lands, and that’s a little more difficult with the lancer but if your pro with it, there are the results at medium Range. Now on to long range.

100% Long Range

• HB – 12(HS)*48*1.1 = 633.6
• L – 18(HS)*23*1.5 = 621

Again The Lancer dominates 18/1.8 = 10 and 10 is less than 12, so assuming 100% headshots the Lancer wins.

75% Long Range

• HB – 4*48+8(HS)*48*1.1 = 614.4
• L – 5*23+15(HS)*23*1.5 = 632.5

Again the Lancer barely slides under 20/1.8 = 11.1, which is less than 12.

50% Long Range

• HB – 6*48+6(HS)*48*1.1 = 604.8
• L – 10*23+11(HS)*23*1.5 = 609.5

Again the Lancer barely slides under 21/1.8 = 11.66, which is less than 12.

25% Long Range

• HB – 10*48+3(HS)*48*1.1 = 638.4
• L –  18*23+6(HS)*23*1.5 = 621

At long range the Lancer is beat at 25% 24/1.8 = 13.3 which is greater than 13.

0% Long Range

• HB – 13*48 = 624
• L – 27*23 = 621

This one is way off, 27/1.8 = 15, which is greater by 2 bullets, than the 13 the hammer needs.

Now all of this math is considered to be just that math, pure solid numbers, this assumes that you hit every bullet, and we all know how hard that is with the lag, but it does show that the Lancer shooting wise is greater when headshots are present.

Now onto the Pistols I’ll be comparing the Gorgon the Boltok and the Snub Pistol. All of which have very different properties, but lets see which one will do the most damage. As with the pistols I’ll be doing 100%,75%,50%,25%,0% at normal and long range.

Gorgon

• Mag Size- 24(4 trigger pulls of 6)
• Damage – 55
• Long Range – 33
• Reload Time – 2(1.5 if actived)
• Headshot Bonus – 300%
• Melee – 425
• Fire Rate – 1200

Snub

• Mag Size- 12
• Damage – 55
• Long Range – 33
• Reload Time – 2(1 if actived)
• Headshot Bonus – 200%
• Melee – 338
• Fire Rate – 700

Boltok

• Mag Size-
• Damage – 250
• Long Range – 200
• Reload Time – 2(1 if actived)
• Headshot Bonus – 200%
• Melee – 338
• Fire Rate – 60

100%

• S – 4(HS)*55*3 = 660
• G – 6(HS)*55*2 = 660
• B – 2(HS)*250*2 = 1000

So the Boltok will be the standard that the other two weapons are based off since it is the slowest weapon, putting the boltok at 2. Counting in Fire rate 6/12 = .5 meaning at rate of fire 700 compared to the boltoks 60 it is more efficient by far due to the rate of fire since .5 is less than 4. 4/20 = .2 Which makes the gorgon the best of all.

Now before I keep going id like to note the math used here incase I’ve rambled to fast 6(number of bullets)/12(how many times faster the weapon is than the boltok) = .5(The amount of bullets fired compared to boltoks fire rate)

75%

• S – 2*55+5(HS)*55*2 = 660
• G – 1*55+4(HS)*55*3 = 715
• B – 1*250+1(HS)*250*2 = 750

The snub is second with 7/12 = .58 and the gorgon is first with 5/20 = .25.

50%

• S – 3*55+4(HS)*55*2 = 605
• G – 2*55+3(HS)*55*3 = 605
• B – 1*250+1(HS)*250*2 = 750

The numbers don’t change at all other than overall damage, since the bullet count doesn’t change the results are the same.

The snub is second with 7/12 = .58 and the gorgon is first with 5/20 = .25

25%

• S- 7*55+2(HS)*55*2 = 605
• G- 5*55+2(HS)*55*3 = 605
• B – 1*250+1(HS)*250*2 = 750

The snub is second with 9/12 = .75 and the gorgon is first with 7/20 = .35

0%

• S – 11*55 = 605
• G – 11*55 = 605
• B – 3*250 = 750

The results do not change still putting the snub at second with 11/12 = .92 and the gorgon at first again with 11/20 = .55

Now again This is all based on 100% accuracy meaning no bullets miss, but if so much as one bullet misses it throws off all of this math.

100% Long Range

• S- 10(HS)*33*2 = 660
• G- 7(HS)*33*3 = 693
• B- 2(HS)*200*2 = 800

The snub is second with 10/12 = .83 and the gorgon at first with 7/20 = .35

75% Long Range

• S – 3*33+8(HS)*33*2 = 627
• G – 2*33+6(HS)*33*3 = 660
• B – 1*200+1(HS)*200*2 = 600

The snub at 11/12 = .92 and the Gorgon at 8/20 = .4

50% Long Range

• S – 6*33+7(HS)*33*2 = 660
• G – 4*33+5(HS)*33*3 = 627
• B – 1*200+1(HS)*200*2  = 600

The gorgon at 9/20 = .45 still lower than 2, however the snub pistol crosses its clip limit into 13, adding in a 1 second reload time, which puts it past the Boltok easily as well as the gorgon, so from now on I wont be calculating the fire rate for the snub to the boltok.

25% Long Range

• S – 11*33+4(HS)*33*2 = 627
• G – 10*33+3(HS)*33*3 = 627
• B – 1*200+1(HS)*200*2  = 600

The gorgon at 13/20 = .65 which is still better than the Boltok.

0% Long Range

• S – 19*33 = 627
• G – 19*33 = 627
• B – 3*200 = 6

Again the Snub is way out of pace, but the gorgon at 19/20 = .95 so its still twice as effective as the boltok assuming perfect aim and conditions. Now there is a slight pause between the gorgon’s fire, but not enough to cause a major problem in the math.

So Remember this is all math, this does not include normal accuracy just headshot accuracy, and it does not include active reload measures, which would change the pistols results, but not the Rifles, the rifle boost is 20% damage for them both, the results would be the same, the damage would just be higher.

Enjoy Gears Everyone!!!

Learn to Cope

So your playing your favorite Xbox Game(Gears of war 2) and your online and you just got worked. Now by worked I don’t mean it was close, and if you had another chance you would have got them! I mean this fight was one sided, you could have had a better chance smashing all of the buttons on the controller at once. Well it happens to all of us, some of us more than others, and I decided we need a method to calm down and not try and find the person and murder them.. or at least humiliate them somehow.

So lets go with why I looked into methods of chilling out and not going off. Well I consider myself somewhat savvy in gears and downright one of the best players around, however we will all meat our match, and I think I found one of them. Recently the GWA clan has turned to private matches as an alternative to the terrible online service (due to cheaters and lag) offered by EPIC. Well it was there I realized that you could analyze true skill in people. I have found that xGWAx NOOBiNATR is better than me, or atleast he was last night.

Now I’ve always given props to NOOBiNATR for his ability to snipe a fly miles away, but i thought hey it stops there right? Last night I was thoroughly worked by him. The first few times I said to myself “damn this can’t be skill, all luck!” Then on a  map i considered as a holy land for me and ShutDown (since we rarely lose on it) Well I can’t remember if we lost, but I know for damn sure just to slow NOOBiNATR down on his spree to kill everything that moves, me and Shutdown made him our focus, no matter what he was it, and it didn’t even matter. He dispatched of pretty much anything that walked into his view. On all the maps we played running into NOOBiNATR I was dealt with quickly and mercilessly. He basically showed me which way was up, then sent me there with a headshot, or a blast from the Gnasher. I had a better chance trying to chainsaw him than fight directly LOL

So NOOBiNATR you got me you worked me so hard i had to find a way to cool down(I hate to lose) or I would go off. Now Its not NOOBiNATR’s fault but I know at the moment I would have been so frustrated he would have been my target… So instead of yelling at friends for no good reason I made this list.

THINGS TO CALM YOU DOWN!!!

• Drink some caffeine and eat a tasty snack
• Deep breaths
• Remind yourself theres always next time
• Remind yourself Playing against better people will eventually make you better
• Stretch
• Take a break and watch some tv
• Make jokes about them cheating
• Make jokes about their life (apoligize)
• Blame the developers
• Take a shower
• Browse The GWA site.
• Go complain to somewho who cares
• Have your significant other massage you(happy endings rock)

THINGS NOT TO DO!!

• Yell at your friend over a game
• Hit anything
• Break your game disk
• Troll the GWA site forums
• Blame Canada
• Ensure everyone that their(the person owning you) penis is smaller because they play this game too much
• Do anything criminal
• Throw anything heavy(pillows rock, watch the fish bowl)
• Blame the Chairmen/Generals for not teaching you the secret Techniques of NOOBiNATR’s guide to Goddliness
• Use any slurs of any kind on friends
• Sell the game
• Break your console/Controller
• Resort to cheating.. especially against friends
• Remove friends for being better than you

So basically NOOBiNATR you fucked me up and I had to write an article to help people you fuck up around the world because man you have to be the cause of several wife beatings, arson attempts, and down right brutal boxing matches for anyone who plays gears.  Nah man really good job, I don’t consider many people better than me at Gears(due to pride and skill) but you my friend are above me.

Gizmoh's Style

Rundown

The eclipse style I use switches between the extremes of offense and the extremes of defense. By mastering the two extremes I can efficiently decimate units by camping or rushing.

And like black eclipses and invisible eclipses, sometimes the eclipse style utilizes stealth and sometimes it shows its true measure in an all out attack.

Special Techniques

Path of Darkness-(Ink Grenade)

• This technique utilizes the ink grenades as an offensive attack or defensive one. The offensive inks are dropping inks behind units in a firefight giving the opponents no escape route. The main defensive technique is to plant the grenade creating a wall of damage to pass through or through the ink to make that wall that is foolish to pass through.

Deplete Ammo-(Any weapon)

• This technique is simple and easy, however it has large stresses on the users ability to fight afterwards. Essentially you find a spot of cover and unload as much ammo into the enemy as possible even if you’re not hitting with every bullet. It will keep most players in cover and devour those who don’t know how to be patient or defend.

How To Use

• Since this is my technique I won’t be revealing how exactly to utilize these techniques or run the style as I do.

1 on 1

• I stay at a range I force my Hammerburst on my enemy, I try not to have to switch to my gnasher, but sometimes it cannot be avoided. I use my ranged to my advantage and will try to keep it, along with my speed.

Strengths

• Flexibility
• Long to Medium Range Combat
• Objective style games
• Observing Teams

Weaknesses

• Switching between offense and defense
• Last man Standing Games
• Herd Team styles
• Works terrible with Postulo Cruor(I don’t like to chase people for too long, you lose strategic points and risk getting killed.)

Requirements

• Speed
• Aim
• Mastery of every basic Technique in my Guide

The inscription on the handle reads "That thing is going to molest betty!" - Dizzy

This weapon is the dizzy special, or the boltok… I like the dizzy special better the whole cowboy on a rampage thing.

Details

• Ammo – 6 Rounds
• Effective Range – 5m – 60m
• Accurate Range  – 5m – 60m
• Active Reload – Double Fire Rate

This is a beastly pistol, its chance at getting a headshot seems far more likely than the longshot’s ironically enough though I doubt it actually is, but it just seems like it happens more when your just firing on wall bouncers and rollers. It really is a great weapon, but if its pressured in close range and it is not actived, its at a great disadvantage due to the slow fire rate.

Techniques

WTF shot

• By learning hit boxes, if you fire in the center of the players chest then fire again it almost always hits the head.  When they are in weird position,  you can get it too but that’s a lot harder to master.

Pray and Spray

• Just like the Hammerburst you can fire and it looks sparadict but youll be dead on by twitching just right, it makes for the perfect downing weapon from a range, 3 bullets will down an opponent, and if its warzone one bullet will finish them, and execution one bullet to the shoulder area(face first) will finish them too.

Tips

BoomShield

• Equip this weapon and walk it up firing the entire way to your opponent, if you run into trouble, press left or right on the pad, it drops the shield at the fastest rate. The meat shield can be used the same way, just monitor your head a s a weak point, or the fact that your body might fall apart on you.  Now with the BoomShield, make sure you keep it up and fire a lot, don’t try and melee your opponent if there is more than 1 or 2 it leaves you open to extreme fire.

Stopping the Bull

• For anyone charging directly at you, just aim and fire, keep it on lock and ensure your bullets hit, anyone foolish enough to keep charging will fall quickly.

Aiming for the head

• Its really easy when people are popping out of cover to fire on people, with the boltok you can use the WTF shot to hedshot people from very far away.

I’ll be happy to explain any of this further if you want to message me, my tag is Gizmoh and my email is superjunkmail71@gmail.com

• Ammo Capacity- 20 rounds
• Trigger Pulls – 4
• Effective range – 0m-40m
• Accurate Range – 0m-55m
• Active Reload – 20% Damage Increase

First of all setting up the active reload on this gun is terribly hard until you adjust to it. IT is extremely slow, it is by far the slowest Active in the game. While I’m talking about the downsides, since the active reload timer is so far back, it means the 4 trigger pulls you get are important. Because one miss, and your in trouble, that puts you so much closer to having to reload, and as we all know people are sitting ducks in fights while reloading, especially on a gun that reloads this slow.

Now on to the good stuff, this pistol is more powerful than the boltok in a fire fight, since it’s a five bullet burst, its more likely to do damage to multiple foes. Couple with a shield, some serious wall bouncing skills, or amazing accuracy this weapon is insane. Also the hip fire on the weapon is fairly accurate, it its essentially the center of your screen.  Meleeing with this weapon is just as fast as other pistols, and one melee, then one trigger pull will down people, especially actived. This weapon is simply astounding.

Techniques

The 1-2

• Its exactly what the shotgun the shotgun’s 1-2 is, melee and fire, the blind fire is just as accurate as aiming.

The Shadow Strike

• Just like the HammerBurst, a double melee, mixed with some impressive wall bouncing, and since its blind fire is extremely powerful, wall bouncing around with blind fire can be effective too.

Tips

BoomShield

• Equip this weapon and walk it up firing the entire way to your opponent, if you run into trouble, press left or right on the pad, it drops the shield at the fastest rate. The meat shield can be used the same way, just monitor your head a s a weak point, or the fact that your body might fall apart on you.  Now with the BoomShield, make sure you keep it up and fire a lot, don’t try and melee your opponent if there is more than 1 or 2 it leaves you open to extreme fire.

Cover Fire

• When you fire over obstacles without aiming its fairly on key, so if you see someone running at you and you cant afford to be open you can do this, and it works great

Stopping the Bull

• For anyone charging directly at you, just aim and fire, keep it on lock and ensure your bullets hit, anyone foolish enough to keep charging will fall quickly.

I’ll be happy to explain any of this further if you want to message me, my tag is Gizmoh and my email is superjunkmail71@gmail.com

I wasn't even CLOSE to that explosion!

Details

• Ammo- 4-5 Bursts(based on usage) to 8-10
• Charge Time – 3 seconds
• Length of Fire – 7 seconds
• Effective Range – 5m- ∞ (as long as there is no ceiling or overhead)

This weapon is extremely powerful once you get it down pat, its all about aiming it without being hit or detected. Even when detected people underestimate its explosion radius. Using this weapon in the middle of battle is difficult, its hard to hit a moving target especially close to you. Always aim behind someone close to you, if done correctly the explosion will be far enough to keep you alive but close enough to demolish your enemy.

The Trick

• The trick to using this weapon without missing, is to move the aimer slowly once your at 50% of a charge, if you move to fast it starts all over this helps give you the ability to move your initial strike, while not dropping your charge.
• You can also hip fire this weapon which allows you to be mobile, if you move at half speed and don’t move your aimer much the charge will still complete.
• Plus long ranging someone with a cocky attitude can be easy, just aim on their body sometimes using their body can help you complete an otherwise impossible shot.
• Knowing when to cut it and run, or switch weapons, knowing when to back off or stop using this weapon is part of its power, if you can make enough space between you and your enemy, you can try again.
• Oh don’t melee with this weapon, its slow making a double melee near impossible, and it doesn’t have the ability for a 1-2.
• This weapon is great for inner conflict, and wingman screams inner conflict, a well placed strike can grant you four kills… no kidding.

Stretching the fire, if I miss with the strike I will drag the blast towards my opponent, this works great on day one, and spots in jacinto. This weapon is extremely difficult to learn but after a few games of patience, and some serious caution using it, you’ll get the feel and begin tearing the enemy apart! It really is all about staying calm and playing smart. The distance a new user should be fighting is around 15m, any closer than that and you should move back or switch weapons.

I’ll be happy to explain any of this further if you want to message me, my tag is Gizmoh and my email is superjunkmail71@gmail.com

The One Stop Pwnage Shop!

This in my opinion is the overall strongest weapon in the game, and can not be overlooked at all. It has power at all ranges if used correctly. Its sheer ability to down is astounding.

So the Details

• Ammo Capacity – 35 Bullets
• Trigger Pulls – 17 (Some trigger pulls are 2 bullets)
• Effective Range – 5m – 60m
• Accurate Range – 5m – (no none limit)
• Active Reload – 20% damage boost, Decreased Recoil

This weapon is just ridiculous, its downing pour alone is amazing, and a good person can fire it extremely fast making the down time even better. If you just hold the trigger and auto fire its around 5 seconds of firing, if you tap as fast as you can its around 2.5 seconds, I’d say turbo controls achieve 2 seconds of firing time.  That’s fast, plus an active reload at 1.5 second, so you could basically dump your entire store in about 22 seconds. With a turbo control and done perfectly 20 seconds or so.  On top of all that, close range defense is pretty impressive. With a quick beat down and some quick firing, or a ninja like double beat down. If you can wall bounce around, no shotgunner will keep you down.

Techniques

The Super Trigger

• Simply aim at your targets knees, and pull the trigger as fast as possible. This only works if they are standing still your running to you or from you in a straight line, not many people can do this at a person running sidewise.

The Spray and Pray

• Aim at your target and fire fast, keep it trained on your target but when they start to move start to jump around them, it’s a hard technique to learn but you’ll get the hang of keeping a lock on your opponent, even though your aim looks completely random.

The Safe Bet

• Trying to simply do damage? Hold the right trigger, the hammer is slower but the recoil is a lot less vicious. However in turn the power itself is a lot less vicious, still higher damage than the lancer though. Since it’s the hammer keeping fire open people will stay in cover in fear.

1-2-Skip a Few

• Melee, then aim and fire as fast as you can. It actually works!!! Now don’t try and do this against a shotgun, unless your surprised. However for a ambushee kind of thing it works great. It works a lot better if you can put a little distance after the melee, using either a wall bounce or a well placed roll. Once you get the feel for this technique its pretty brutal.

The Shadow Strike

• Given the fancy name its really simple, it’s the art of double melee, but however to truly be the shadow strike you need to know how to wall bounce. Wall bouncing is a must in general, but especially for this skill.

Half Cocked

• The act of leaving your gun close to empty after a fight, then when you approach an enemy and have the opportunity to fire you active reload immediately.  This allows for the most accurate and the most powerful attacks to rain down upon your foes.

When your going toe to toe with power weapons using the hammer burst there are a few tips. The Ali effect works well, which is simply firing fast and rolling and wall bouncing after about a ¼ of a clip, to avoid taking a powerful hit. Again wall bouncing is the best, but rolling works decently.

Firing at a long range, when firing at a long range don’t fire to rapidly, you wont hit your target, especially with such a small mark, slower attacks are better, if you don’t hit you don’t do damage.

The GIANT downside of this weapon is its default ammo, it simply runs out way to fast, I go through my entire store in two or three fire fights.

I’ll be happy to explain any of this further if you want to message me, my tag is Gizmoh and my email is superjunkmail71@gmail.com

Move Out!

Yup, an article on SWAT(Special Weapons and Tactics) while this post is more on the tactics part, special weapons are mentioned. So recently players have been asking me how I make some decisions, and how I decided to fight. Well basically it’s a tactical decision if I’m thinking. Sometimes I make dumb moves in order to get things done faster, which is more risky. So I spent a week calculating a point system for how I react to things.

 So I’ve devised a point system based on weapons and other things in the game, while excessive amounts of skill makes this system a bit offset, since some people can use certain weapons with immeasurable skill.

 I’ll give a brief explanation why each thing is measured at its value. Then I’ll explain the system and how it works.

HammerBurst – 1

Simple the weapon is powerful at any range, watch for veteran users of this weapon, a skilled player with it rates a 3 easy.

Shotgun(Close Range)– 2 (Medium Range)– 1 (Long Range)- 0

Simple, the shotgun is a beast up close, but at a long range its useless and can be put aside worth no value

Sniper(Long to Medium Range) – 2 (Short Range) – 1

The sniper at short range is not very effective but some people can use it and actually land headshots that close, and if they cant do that they know how to beat down and fire. Be wary of a veteran wielding this weapon it can easily multiply their strength.

Torque Bow – 3

Theres no doubt in my mind that this weapon is devasting, 6 rounds and there is no spot it can not hit, wether its trhough bouncing or direct sticking.

BoomShot – 4

This weapon is extremely powerful and pretty much guarantees a kill every shot, assuming the user isn’t firing without thinking. These shots can be easily dodged, but I’ll overestimate a weapon before I’ll underestimate it.

Hammer of Dawn – 2

Its power is pure, but getting it to fire can be difficult especially while being fired upon so its rating stays at a 2.

Boltok – 2 (1)

This weapon is extremely powerful, just land three bullets and you will down your target. However someone not so experienced with the weapon lowers the value to 2.

Gorgon – 2 (0)

This weapon is in my opinion more powerful than the boltok, however most people cannot use this weapon to its fullest, so It really is no threat in most situations, but however safe than sorry.

Frag – 2

Explosive plants, high powered bombs, double throws.. Enough said.

Ink – 1

This weapon can be feared due to its impressive downing power and ability to cut off reinforcements or escape.

Smokes – 0

This grenade(with the update) is nothing to fear, if you move while it goes off like a roll or are covered it will not effect you. However the smoke is somewhat useful.

Cover (small) – 1 (medium) – 2 (Large) – 3

Small is a short or even possibly one man spot, and does not conceal yourself(can be shot from certain angles while covered). A medium spot is designed for more than 1 person, but still shows body parts on the person using the cover. The large pieces cover your entire body, and can be used to hide from the enemy.

Range – (short) – 1 (medium) – 2 (long) – 3

Now this is dependent on your weapon, if your using a shotgun these values are reversed, the same goes with the flamethrower. Every other weapon applies this scale.

Snub Pistol – 1

Basic weapon, but can be very deadly, keep it in mind.

Lancer – (long Range) – 0 (Close Range) – 2

If at a long range I don’t give the lancer credit to be scared of it, but if its close, watch for the chainsaw.

 Mortar – (Long Range) – 3 (Close Range) – 0

The mortar is not a threat at close range, remember that. And with good detection it can be made useless.

Mulcher – 2

This weapon is powerful, but can be easy to beat.

How this system works

You essentially quickly add up your totals vs your opponents and that’s your guidelines.  Example-

You -  shotgun 10m No Cover

Opponent – torque bow 10m small cover

You 2 + 3 = 5

Opponent – 3 + 1 + 1 = 6

Your opponent has 1 point more than you, while 1 point is not a huge deal, it can be worrisome, mainly because you can back up grab cover, and raise your chances.

You -  shotgun 10m small cover

Opponent – torque bow 10m small cover

You 2 + 3 + 1= 6

Opponent – 3 + 1 + 1 = 6

Bam your on par.

However if your facing more than one, you need to calculate the other person and add them into the equation. While this is very difficult, once you get used to analyzing your surroundings, you’ll start winning more, or doing better at least.

This guide intends to explain to you how to optimize your time/experience gain ratio in Gears of War 2’s ranking system legitimately: i.e. no boosting and no glitching.

A Basic Overview:

To go up in rank, you need to complete games and gain experience. The more experience you earn, the higher your rank. The highest points scoring games are the respawning game modes, but the quickest have little or no respawns. This leaves a dilemma of which to pick? Hopefully this guide will help explain which one choice is the best choice for YOU.

The experience gained at the end of every game depends upon three things:

1. The number of points you received in that game in total (not the number of kills, captures etc that you achieved, these do not affect the experience awarded).
2. The game mode you were playing.
3. If you quit the game before. Quitters receive a -1500 exp penalty at the end of their next completed game for every game that they have quit from.
    

The Basic Experience Formula:

Average experience awarded per game = your average points per game for that game mode

This is a list of actual game mode values:

• Warzone- 1
• Execution- 0.95
• Guardian- 0.83
• Submission- 0.47
• Annex- 0.23
• KOTH- 0.28
• Wingman- 1.09
• Horde- N/A atm

Source: [Here]

Annex has changed from 0.26 –> 0.23, Guardian 0.91 –> 0.83, Submission 0.49 –> 0.47 and Execution 0.98 –> 0.95 in updates

From this we can see that Wingman and the game modes previously grouped as ‘Elimination’ (Warzone, Execution, Guardian) are more effective at converting points into experience than the ‘Territories’ (KOTH, Annex, Submission).

It appears that the player is ‘rewarded’ for the lack of/reliant upon others spawning systems in place for the ‘Elimination’ game modes, and ‘penalized’ for the almost unlimited respawning in these other game modes. However, in these ‘Elimination’ game modes, fewer points are usually earned in comparison with ‘Territories’.

EPIC has tried to balance the new experience system so that the experience earned per game is balanced throughout all of the different game modes. Crucially, this theory ignores the average time for these games to finish…

To combat this uses YOUR answer to the Basic Experience Formula, in this formula:

Speed of Experience Gain Formula:

Speed = Average experience awarded per game (answer from Basic Experience Formula)*Game Duration

This is a list of approximate Game Duration values:

• Warzone-1
• Execution-1
• Guardian-0.8
• Submission-0.4
• Annex-0.5
• KOTH-0.5
• Wingman-1.15
• Horde-N/A (as of now)

The higher your answer, the quicker your experience gain from that game mode is. Your answer is in ‘average experience gained per arbitrary of time’, the average duration of a Warzone game is taken as 1 unit.

Using the information you have gained:

What really matters here is how good YOU are. If you have a points per match ratio of over 1000 in the ‘Elimination’ game modes, it is advisable for you to play these more than others in order to increase your rank quicker.

However if your points per match ratio in the ‘Territories’ game modes is more than 8000, it is advisable for you to play these (the 8000 comes from the use of the ‘game mode values’ and an assumption that the average ‘Territories’ game take twice as long as the ‘Elimination’ game modes).

When not in a party and the ability to fix which gametype being played is not available, you have to work out your values for each playlist not just an individual gametype. This may affect which playlist you choose.

I have found that the ‘average’ gears player feels that the Guardian-Submission playlist is their ‘playlist of choice’. Personally, as I do disproportionally well in Execution-Warzone I tend to prefer utilizing this playlist. Those skilled in territorial warfare (i.e. capturing, holding and breaking points) are obviously tended towards the Annex-KOTH playlist as they score well in these game types. Wingman is a safe bet if you have a skilled friend who allows you to win more games than you lose and therefore earn a high number of points per game.

To find your average points awarded per game either:

•  Go to http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/WebStats/default.htm and click ‘Sign in’, then enter your email and password for your gamertag and you can view all of your stats.
• View the leaderboard section of the GOW2 menu
• Press (Y) when in the multiplayer lobby after a game to view your stats for that game mode.

Hopefully you should now be able to figure out which is the quickest way for you to rank up. Any suggestions on how to improve the post are welcome, and I will try to answer any questions.