While this may seem like a simple tip and basic common sense you need to understand why it’s important to not just shoot continuously. Yes I know it takes about 2 seconds for the gun to warm up and hit it’s continuous firing speed but when you constantly hold down the trigger to let the lead fly you are doing two things. First you are
immediately letting everyone know in the vicinity where you are. While this may not seem like a big deal, believe it or not you can actually sneak up on people with the Hog. The best scenario with this is knowing where the laser guy is and taking him out before he knows your there. This tactic also works great when you want to drop someone off at the other team’s base to either grab the flag or the bomb carrier. And I can’t stress enough how well this tactic works against the guy with the Missle Pod.

Now the second reason you don’t want to spray and pray constantly is for your own vital protection. While you are firing (at any time) it makes it difficult for your driver to make turns. No turning for the Hog spells certain doom for both driver AND gunner. I CAN’T STRESS THIS ENOUGH...while gunning always realize that it’s harder for your driver to maneuver so let off the gun when no target is in sight, while attempting evasive maneuvers, and when passing a target that’s too close and/or out of range.

Gunners get most of the glory. They get the kills, the sprees, the multi-kills, the better K/D spread...the whole 9 yards, but without the skills of a GOOD driver the gunner is absolutely useless. A good driver and a mediocre gunner can accomplish a lot and truly hurt the opposition but a good gunner with mediocre driver will not go near as far. Anybody can pull a trigger but being a good driver takes hard work, dedication and the ability to deal with a lot of crap. So what you need to do as a driver is learn your vehicle, your limitations, and of course all the terrain in the various maps with vehicles. Learn areas on the maps that can cause you to roll unexpected when turning. Woe to any Hog Team that passes that little dip, bump or change in the terrain that pops up unexpectedly because you don’t know the map. You go rolling and both of you become instant targets at best....at worst you become a flaming ball of crispy Spartans/Elites before you can completely hop back in your vehicle. (More on defensive driving to avoid these situations later) Just remember that the gunner’s life is in your hands. IMHO I feel that anyone can gun but it takes true skill and dedication to be driver and all such drivers deserve everyone’s respect.

Most of the time you are practically driving blind so it is extremely important to have constant communication between Gunner and Driver. Come up with a system of short words that’s easy to call out and for you both to recognize on the battlefield. This will help you make those crucial turns, get to your objectives, avoid obstacles and incoming fire, etc by having your gunner yell them out when necessary because your Gunner has a better field of view than the driver. As the Driver you need to know the difference when your Gunner is shooting targets or covering your escape. Learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Make constant call outs and you will both survive longer, rack up the medals and help bring your team to victory.

OK everybody has been Hijacked at some point in their Hog escapades either as a Driver, Gunner or both. Nothing irritates you (and me) more than to suddenly be thrown from the Hog and not realize it until it’s too late. So here’s a handy little tip...Drivers prepare to drool over this one! If you are in the middle of being Hijacked (as a driver) what you need to do is to look immediately to your right side. Basically stare into the passenger seat as if there is a naked person there holding the winning lotter ticket. Once you get Hijacked obviously your shields are down and you move very slowly. However when the person Hijacks you and throws you out of the vehicle you are thrown BEHIND them. Now by looking to the right (the passenger seat) while being hurled out you will be automatically be facing the back of your attacker. Hit the “B” button and WHAM! Instant assassination! BUT IT’S ONLY IF YOU ARE FACING TO THE RIGHT WHILE BEING HIJACKED. Otherwise in most cases, you can’t turn right fast enough once you’ve already been tossed out to accomplish the melee to the back.

OK Gunners, I’m sorry to say we can’t assassinate anybody like the drivers. But what we can do is this. If you or your Driver notice that you are about to be Hijacked the first thing you must immediately do is STOP SHOOTING. You can turn your turret faster by not firing it. Then quickly whip the turret around as fast as you can and point the gun behind the Hog, look at the ground and fire to your little hearts content. Basically act like your trying to shoot the back bumper off the Hog. Now while this may look like your accomplishing absolutely nothing like spraying a water hose to fend off a herd of elephants, here is what actually happens. When the Hijacker reaches up to throw you out, his head, at the last second mind you, comes within the direct line of fire of your turret. The end result: quickly reducing your Hijackers head to swiss cheese letting you and your driver to go on your merry way slaughtering people again. (FOR AN EXAMPLE OF THIS TECHNIQUE GO TO MY FILESHARE AND LOOK AT BOMB STOPPER - IT HAPPENS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CLIP)

*SPECIAL NOTE FOR GUNNERS: It is also possible while your Driver is being Hijacked to shoot the would be jacker down before they can accomplish their deadly task. When you see your Driver being jacked simply aim a little to the left and down of your Driver. As the would be Hijacker goes to fling out your precious manual device for acceleration (because you certainly don’t have an automated Hog) you will reduce them to, with a little luck and some good aiming, to a bloody pulp.

While obviously this is not Hijacking, but people who hop in the passenger seat from the opposing team can easily spell certain doom for any driver so this is what we do. Both Gunner and Driver immediately leave the vehicle. The Driver should shoot the vehicle and the Gunner can beat down/shoot the passenger. Between the two of you the free-loader should be bruised, battered & beaten down like a red headed step child (meaning no insult to anyone here). Once your task is complete you hop into your Driver’s seat/Hog turret and take off into the wild blue yonder.

OK boys and girls who loves getting hit with the vehicle stopping, shield draining, OMG you stopped my killing spree, power drain? Truly frustrating. I do have a tip but as with most of my tips you must pick and choose which strategy works best and easiest for you. OK, once you are in a vehicle and get grazed or hit full on with the power drain your vehicle stops. To be honest I don’t know how long the power drain lasts (any input here from others would be helpful on the time frame) but nobody wants to be a sitting duck out in the open whether it’s for 2 seconds or 15 seconds so here is what you do. Immediately upon the vehicle stopping the Gunner must shoot the Power Drain. Once the Power Drain is destroyed the vehicle can resume moving again. It doesn’t matter if you are in the Power Drain directly or if it hit you flying through the air and lands several feet away. Once the Power Drain is destroyed, power will return immediately to your Hog. Now if you want, the driver can get out too and help shoot the Power Drain or you can both get out and shoot the Power Drain but that also leaves your Hog defenseless once the power is back on so leave your Hog at your own discretion. But I would recommend leaving the Hog if the Power Drain is very close or on top of it if your Hog is damaged or the turret guard is missing because once they Power Drain gets destroyed it blows up and most likely your Hog will go up in flames like your ex-girlfriend’s picture of her in bed with another man.

Let’s just jump right into this and say YES, your sensitivity settings make a huge difference while in the Hog. This is regardless whether you are a Driver or a Gunner. Just as with your gun the lower the sensitivity setting the easier is to aim or drive. You will have more control over your Hog, easier time making turns as well as controlling your slides with ultimate ease. The downside is every turn becomes painstakingly slower and when you need to a sharp turn you MUST rely on the E-brake. So if you need to make a quick turn at the last minute to avoid something you might as well cross your fingers and pray....better yet, just tuck your head between your legs and kiss your butt good-bye. Now with a higher sensitivity setting you can roll through any obstacle course with the greatest of ease, dodge incoming grenades (and teammates) not to mention make that necessary quick turn whenever you want as long as you have the reflexes and you won’t have to rely on the E-brake as much. Now the downside to this one is that the slightest touch on the joystick can send you turning unexpectedly. So if you are the type of driver that has great skills go for it but if your the kind of driver that cuts close corners and squeezes into tight spots between teammates this is not for you unless you want to have one of your teammates as a new hood ornament.

The same goes for you Gunners. If you want to have smooth aiming capability and snipe womp rats out in the desert then low sensitivity is your friend. Just remember that turning your turret on a lower setting will be like running in molasses with marshmallow shoes but anything in your line of sight will be instant rice pudding. Now the Gunner with a higher sensitivity setting will spin their turret so fast that you’ll be able to do a full 360 turn quicker than a prostitute will sweat in church will the preacher is preaching on prostitution. Be forewarned though because keeping your sites steadily on your target will be difficult at best and if there are any bumps in the road then it’s near impossible.

One more quick reminder about changing your settings for Hog use. While you may enjoy a very low or high setting don’t forget that once out of the Hog you will be stuck with that setting while on foot. So if you can handle a high sensitivity on the turret only because of the limitless bullets and you don’t care about aiming as much then you’ll be lucky to the broad side of a barn with any weapon you wield on foot. And drivers just because you adjust your sensitivity to one so you can drive like Mario Andretti or Jeff Gordon don’t forget that your turning ability is reduced significantly. This means slower time to try and get an assassination while being Hijacked and easier assassinations on you while on foot.

I would highly recommend that you try various settings to see what works best for you. Most people won’t want to change them at all and in most cases it really is unnecessary.

And before anybody else asks. My setting is on 4-5 depending on how I’m shooting that day. =)

Take care, enjoy yourself and Keep on Hoggin’!

But more importantly just have fun!