Tearing my hair at difficulty
 

I'm just really frustrated at this game. I'm playing as smart as I can, but it feels like the enemies have near perfect aim while my guy is just eating up ammo without any hits.

Currently using Blue Sun mod, "arbitrary" difficulty with no crits | low energy | eagerness | quick repair | show hit | last enemy

It took me more than an hour to finish the Army Base (accepted Cyrus Lond's mission), and now, even at lowest speed, I keep getting ambushed by 10 soldiers.

What are the optimal difficulty settings?

so you got the army base right? and you got the UMP from the safe?
For some ammo go to the next bartender sell him the mags and then buy them back, with full ammo (just nescessary if the bartender havent got some .45 cal crates) and from now on, best way to survive go to prone and hide until it is dark and then kill them silently... BUT just kill max. 2 enemys OR fire max. 4-6 shots and then change your position otherwise the enemys will fire at your position and maybe one bullet hit you or you get flanked or naded. :-x

on the other hand you can just try to run to the next exit area wait 7 seconds and then leave. :rolleyes:

maybe another good difficult setting may e "easy money" so you get more money for selling weapons ;)

Try the "low adrenaline" setting : your mercs will shoot straight and won't be shocked by the number of enemies they see (even the rookies). But after a while, you'll find the game too easy! (unless you stack your troops standing in the open in a firefight against a bigger number of adversaries with better weapons, heavier armour, ....)

I remember fondly how I found Brigade E5 ridiculously difficult, that first battle with a broken M16 and a pistol, and possibly a second guy. Then around 4 enemies came at you.

I found it nearly impossible, although at one point I managed to shoot three guys in the head around 50 meters.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but eventually you'll figure out how the AI works and what tactics are suitable. More often than not you are completely outnumbered and outgunned and you can not confront the enemy directly. Only against bandits or small isolated groups you can go head to head and survive without a scratch.

It usually comes down to have one of your guys with high stamina skirmishing the enemy, getting close, firing off a few bursts or some well aimed shots, maybe a grenade and killing a few .. and running the hell away again. They'll probably pursue your scout, and they'll run into a deadly crossfire of a high caliber rifle and an automatic weapon.

I like to compare the enemies to random mooks from some evil overlord that doesn't care that they get blown up or have 20 of em die in a single burst. It's all about knowing when you re about to be overrun and when you can still hold the line.

Don't hesitate to use consumables, like grenades, rifle grenades, rocket launchers and very important: smoke grenades. They'll save your life. Even if a grenade doesn't kill or severely injure an enemy, it will shock him, canceling his action, and he needs to aim all over again.

AI guesses things!
 

Also remember that the enemies will try to guess where you are shooting from even if they can't see you! The AI WILL fire at your general direction upon being shot at, sometimes even at a completely random direction. But the point is the AI tries to guess where your mercs are, so they try to flush them (you) out. If you have silencers, you can fire a shot or two at the enemies during night, stop, maybe move to another spot, and repeat. They'll have much more difficulty tracking you down.

I took out the entire rebel camp with just one merc at night with a silenced 6.8mm H&K DMR rifle. I fired one shot every 30 seconds maybe. They were just running around like scared sheep, some of them firing at my general direction, but they never could pinpoint the location of the merc.

Also, early in the game, use shotguns - you're much more likely to hit something with them. And don't be afraid to empty an entire clip from an SMG.

Some general tips
 

I was incredibly frustrated with BE5 back when I first got it, you might say I had a love/hate-relationship with the game (I loved BE5, and BE5 hated me). The first few hours of the game were just painful. A bandit ambush was a death sentence. However, I found these tips to helpful with both games;

1. Solo=dead. Hire a merc ASAP. By doing so you've effectively doubled the firepower at your disposal.

2. Weapon at ready. By default, you should have your weapon prepared. Shaves a second or two that might prove fatal.

3. Use aimed shots. Whenever there's a bit of range between you and your target, you'll be far more likely to hit with the carefully aimed shots. Maximum amount of lead in the air is not always the best solution.

4. Shotguns and SMGs. In the beginning, you should try to get a decent shotgun before you leave the first town. (I do play with "Easy Money" switched on, though, so it might be quite a bit more difficult to accomplish.)

5. Crouched is the stance to use. A good compromise between mobility and safety. Standing up you're a bullet magnet, and while prone you turn slower than a snail in a tar pit.

6. Eyes on your back. The big adjustment I had to make going from BE5 to 7.62 was the fact that enemies, more often than not, come at you from many directions. It's a good idea to use a merc as a spotter/rearguard so you won't get flanked.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I have most of the easy options selected, aside from dumb enemies and low adrenaline. And sometimes the critical hit-thing. I can't imagine what kind of a strategy genius makes it on the hardest difficulty setting.

I would add some things to this tips list, like:
1. Look for boxes. At leas some guns, bags, vests, ammo pouches and similar junk for usage/vendoring is always there. Although why this is the case - beats me :)
2. Use grenades. Preferably from your pockets. You can activate (via right click pop out menu) them and throw them WITHOUT switching weapons (just drag them as if you would like to throw them on the ground, just remember to HOLD that mouse button ;) ). This is perfect, if you need to just make a quick run away from a squad of baddies, who are facing you. Lob a grenade and while they are shocked - run to a safe spot. Also - insta-activating-and-throwing work both ways, so do not expect mercy from AI if you stick in a bunch.
3. Use house corners with double level firepower, i.e. prepare an ambush at the corner, with two mercs waiting around it: first - crouched and aimed at the corner. Another standing right behind him aiming at the same spot. Something like musketters :)
4. Use alt+cursor to make a quick turn around the corners. Take a shot or two from hip, then get back to cover in the same manner via alt+cursor.
5. When you run sideways - you are a hard target. Use that do distract AI AND lure them to a nicely prepared fire zone :)
6. Save often =)

The basic rule in combat in real life can be broken down to 'no fire without movement, no movement without fire'.

This means: Split your squad into at least 2 fireteams who cover each other. one moves, the other shoots.

Next point: A machine gun is useless in dynamic combat. place it somewhere (preferably flanking the enemy), let it fire some bursts and let it change position and repeat that (also here can be use 2 mg in a squad, covering each other, if there are enough men available).

Another (pretty elegant but also difficult) technique is sometimes called 'guerilla tango'. It's a special kind of hit and run: try catching the enemy's flank, firing a few bursts. when the enemy starts to regroup, you regroup yout team to get into the enemies flank again, and so on... Maybe I draw a sketch later ;)

Oh, forgot about the boxes. There are a lot of different type containers to be found in the game, and at least in the vanilla you can find shotguns and assault rifles in some of them.

I've been playing the game for years now, and I never knew you didn't have to equip grenades. Better late than never I guess.

I agree with all of this. Definitely get a buddy, and always keep the weapon ready. Going off 4&5 I find accuracy is far and away the most important thing. Aimed shot will beat bursting or pot shotting if you're more than two feet from someone. This is especially true since hitting them keeps them from firing back, due to both shock and them having to reaim.
In BE5 I usually used prone, since the enemy generally did the same, and came at you from one direction only. Now I only ever use fast crawl, since like you said it's a good compromise: you're almost as fast as standing, but a bit more accurate and a bit smaller.

I have to disagree with SMGs though. Shotguns are incredible at mid-short range (I think ~20-30m is where I like them), since they are very accurate (well, they may not be accurate, but the whole "loads of shot" thing means they hit a lot, at least). Past that I love rifles for the 1st few CGLs. They are so very accurate, especially compared to other early game guns, that a slightly slower speed is more than made up for by the fact that you will hit them. Sure, the enemy SMG gets off three shots to your one, but yours hits and all three of theirs are liable to miss. The mosin is the exception to this, since it is simply too slow: by the time they can shoot a hundred shots to your one it's a lost cause. SMGs are good for in-your-face fighting, but I'd usually like a shotgun or SKS instead.

I kind of use The Brain's strategy, of generally trying to use two teams. Instead of having two equal teams though, I usually like to have a bigger team (4-5 members) with long range, accurate guns, and a small flanking squad armed with something close range and silenced to sneak around back. They try and come close enough to the enemy to have a good chance to hit, but far enough away that they aren't immediately found and can run if needed. The VAL was king of this in BE5 due to it's nutty range curve (basically 100% accurate out to 50m, 0% further), silencer, and strong 9x39 ammo. This also means it's one "maneuver" team and one "flanking" team, not two "fire and maneuver" teams. Are you usually leapfrogging, or trying to have one pin and one flank?

I don't think I've ever thrown a grenade though. Most of that is not wanting to spend the time to switch away from my gun, so knowing you can do it from the vest is awesome. Still though, how close are you usually when you do use them? Do the AI not just run away from them?

Of course they'll not stay around for long if you throw a grenade at their feet. You can arm a grenade before you throw it; cooking it before throwing it. You can also throw RGO grenades which detonate on impact; even less chance of survival.

You can quickly throw grenades from the pockets. Mind you, you get no experience to agility and the throwing skill if you don't throw it from the weapon slot.

Grenades can be thrown pretty far, but I use it to dislodge enemies from a position. If they're hiding behind cover I throw a grenade over. Even if it doesn't kill them, they're injured or shocked. Then I move in and shoot them in the nads. If they're in a building, I throw a grenade through the window. Grenades make your 7.62 life a lot easier, especially smoke grenades. The flash bangs just don't seem that effective, though.

If it wasn't for well placed grenades, some missions would be a pain in the ass :) Like the "get mah gold" series from BSM, where you spawn against a bunch of banditos and then have to kill them. Problem is - if the enemy squad get a chance to fire at you before you get to cover - it gets messy... SOOoooo... use a grenade or grenade launcher, enemy get shocked, you get your 3-4 seconds to retreat to cover :)

Also - I'm quite dissapointed about the no gain to skill via such throwing, but I guess game has no way to distinguish between item dropped on ground and grenade thrown somewhere. Pitty. Good news is - BSM allows for some point spending via level system :)

I just had a government soldier, who was holding a drago and bipod standing up and at ease, out-draw my guy holding a pistol straight out. My guy did a fast turn and before I even gave a fire order this guy put the drago to the hip and fired instantly. I was expecting the clock to stop and I would at least get to issue the order.

So I completely understand the OP's frustration. There are some strange uber enemies.

No mod involved.

The described situation is no cheat, bug or uber-KI. It´s the same thing your men doing when aiming at an enemy but cancel the shooting so the shooter stays at the "ready to shoot" state. It´s the same state as if you aim to a specific point. If one of your merc pops out of the cover directly into the sight of the enemy it costs him only 0.05 seconds to shoot.

OK I've done that before. Credit to the AI being more sophisticated than I thought. If he would have been holding a smaller weapon I would not have thought this unusual. I see now, makes me like this game even more.

That is when they actually aim at a point and totally acceptable. However, I've seen the AI do some really weird stuff with Fast Corners, where they're walking around, take a fast corner and immediately fire an accurate shot. It's really odd and frustrating.

I've noticed this too. A lot of the time they do the whole stupid peakaboo thing, where they just fast-corner towards you, then fast-corner back behind the wall. When the do just fast-corner then shoot it seems like they fire way quicker than they otherwise could.

After fast corner Ai/your mercs are already prepared and aiming, I've been able to land shots from hip in 0.05 secs after doing the fast corner multiple times, so this is "working as intended" IIRC.