Hello my friends! Since I've had plenty of time playing by myself due to unforseen circumstances afflicting some of you, I've been carefully taking note of how to better your APB experience, namely in action districts.

You guys know how much I was raging during our last session in KttC, and I wanna make sure that doesn't happen again. So here's some helpful tips...

1) Weapons.
If you want to get better quality weapons as quickly as possible, I suggest taking a moment to look at the basic list between the two organizations and see which guns they offer that you want more. Check them out in social so you don't waste game time. Once you figure out what you want to shoot for, it's simple: PLEDGE TO YOUR MAXED OUT CONTACT. Do not pledge to new contacts in hopes of getting new shinies. When you do missions for contacts you're already maxed with 100% of the standing points goes to the organization, which means you're getting new guns about 3 times faster than leveling new contacts. Once you get a gun/guns you're happy with you can think about leveling new contacts to get their clothes, cars, etc faster.

2) Cover and aiming.
In this game only two things really matter in a fight. Keeping yourself behind good cover and scoring hits on the enemy. No amount of fancy footwork or jumping will help you dodge bullets, because more than likely your opponent will have a better framerate than you. If they don't, lucky you, you landed yourself a fair match.
But seriously, utilize cover and take it easy. Play it like a coward as much as possible. If you need to run away to regen, do so. Consider the fact that the alternative is death, respawn timers, and the dreaded sprint back to the fight. If you absolutely know that one or two more shots will kill them, then go for it. Just remember a well-tossed grenade will probably do a better job, without the risk of you sticking your next out.

3) Know your weapons and your opponent's weapons.
Killed by that cheap bastard with the SMG? Take note of it. Every weapon has an ideal range that can be exploited. I'm finding the STAR is really not that bad if you stick to mid-long range shooting. If your opponents are mostly sniping you, fight fire with fire. But if they're going for shotguns/SMGs, outrange them. Those weapons do ♥♥♥♥ damage at anywhere farther than 35-50m. Conversely though, if they're a sniper you can try to sneak up and blast them with close ranges weapons. Just be very aware of the layout of their defensive position. Getting lost midway to the flank is a good way to eat grenades.

4) Catch them with their pants down.
The best way to take out an opponent with a better gun than you is simple; make them reload that ♥♥♥♥♥! If you can draw some of their fire to your car and hop out midway through their clip, the time they spend reloading will be a tremendous advantage. Just practice judging how many shots your target is wasting, while being careful not to let them blow up your car in the process.
During standard firefights without cars involved, if you notice they went through a whole clip and you've only taken a shot or two, use it to your advantage. It means their aim is probably not that great. Try to observe when they're reloading and plan to strafe in while closing the distance to them with a sprint. Chances are their aim will suffer even worse from the surprise closer you just pulled, they'll waste more ammo and you'll be able to get them halfway through their clip. Just remember to have YOUR gun fully loaded beforehand!

So, these are some good things to consider when you're on your own. Once you're in a group dynamic though it's a whole different ball game. Keep that in mind once we start grouping up regularly, as the same tactics won't work as effectively. Of course the thing about cover and aim is pretty much always a given. Good luck!

A quick reminder to help y'all out; don't forget to start up your APB launcher sometime tonight to keep it up to date. I downloaded a medium sized patch today, but I can only expect it would take a million times longer if I did it tomorrow.

They'll probably put out one more patch tomorrow morning ANYWAY, but better to download as little as possible come launch time. Good luck!

Another pre-launch issue we'll have is a similar one to the Key to the City event. We need to know which server to choose when we make our first character. In a perfect world we'll all play together the first time. Too bad there's no such thing as a perfect world.

So a simple solution I thought of is this: When you start up your computers on that magical day (this Saturday morning if you forgot), check our group page on Steam first. If you're the first to play, congratulations! You have the honor of choosing which world we'll be playing on together. Post the server name exactly as it appears in the game either as a general comment to this group page at the bottom OR create a new announcement using the toolbar on the right.

When the rest of us log in we'll be able to see which world to choose and no one will be left out. Yay!
Oh, and, it's not mandatory, but posting your character's name will help us get friended up in-game faster too. But this is assuming some douchebags will get to the names we want before we do... which seems highly unlikely.

Aloha friends. When APB is finally up and running, we're going to want to start a clan. From what I hear, being in one is all pros and no cons. Of course we're going to need a suitable name for us!

I've been trying to think of something that fits the four of us nicely, but I'm having trouble coming up with anything that doesn't sound retarded. So I want to hear from you guys. Let me know if you have any ideas for names. They don't have to be original, but that's always a plus.