Hello, readers! This guide is intended to help newer players who are just getting started playing Alley type VIP. In writing this guide, I'm going to assume that you've done the weapon and medic trainings before joining a game. If not, go back and do them! Please trust me on this; your teammates will thank you.

Before getting into the gameplay, let me point out a few big no-no’s that will make you very unpopular if you play with the regulars on Alley VIP servers:

1. Not doing your training. Nothing is more annoying to experienced players than a new player that either (a) kills teammates because they don't know the difference between a friendly and an enemy, or (b) doesn't medic because they don't know how. Take 30 minutes and do the trainings.

2. Playing as VIP when you (a) don’t have a mic, or (b) don’t know how to do it.

3. Intentionally teamkilling. This should be obvious. Don’t do it. If you do, I hope you get banned for it (you very well might).

4. Using scripts/cheats/exploits etc. You WILL get banned for it.

5. Being disrespectful. This is not Call of Duty. Many adults and real-life vets from around the world play this game. We're nice people.

That being said, welcome to a community of happy-go-lucky, nade-wielding, VIP-killing Alley gamers! We like to be ridiculous while having fun.

In the VIP game type, there are two mission types: Escort and Ambush. When you first join a game, you’ll get to pick a team, for which the mission type swaps every three rounds. In between rounds, you’ll be able to choose your class/loadout. Escort team has one special player called the VIP. The VIP’s job is to get from the spawn at the top of the map to the extraction point (a flare) at the bottom of the map. If you play as VIP and you die, the round is automatically over and your whole team loses that round. Which leads me back to point #2 above; don’t play as VIP until you know how.

Players frequently use mics when playing VIP mode, so when you hear people referring to specific areas, it helps to know where they are!

Alley is broken into three main zones: East Alley, West Alley, and the street. Within each zone, there are a number of buildings and areas that have their own names (italics refer to common nicknames). I've included some pictures to help you see where these are. Yes, they were made in Powerpoint - don't judge. :P


Let’s look at West alley first:


(a) Spawn roof

• A popular place for the VIP to hide. Can see the Iron Gates, main street, and southern spawn roof from here.

(b) Laundromat (Laundry)

• A popular place for the VIP to hide. Accessible from the street or a back door. Has a separate room in the back.

(c) Construction

• Often a hot-spot for fighting. Provides access to west alley, main street, and basement. Two sides are surrounded by an upper level that can be accessed by leaping over the balcony of the apartment.

(d) Basement

• VIP sometimes likes to hide in here, by the furnace in the dark corner furthest from the stairs. Vulnerable to grenades.

(e) Convenience Store (Convenience)

• Three ways in: through the front window, via the door to the apartment stairs, or via the back door. Has a small, separate room in the back that leads to west alley or basement stairs. A popular hiding spot is in the corner next to the freezer.

(f) Apartment

• A frequent place for the VIP to hide. Typically one team will capture it early in the round. The only way in is via the front stairs. However, you can get OUT by going to the roof and going down the fire escape on the back side. Note that once you leap over the concrete to the fire escape, you can't get back onto the roof!

(g) Deli

• Typically, at least one person on Ambush team will be around here, guarding the west mouth.

(h) Notable landmarks:

• Fire escape
  
  • A less-frequented spot; provides a vantage point for west alley.
• White truck
  
  • Provides cover after running out of west mouth. Watch out for shooters on the southern spawn roof if you plan on hanging out here.

Now let’s look at East alley:


(a) Iron Gates

• A portal into Fountain Park. There is a van adjacent to the hotel wall behind which a person can hide.

(b) Fountain Park

• Watch out for nades coming from the back alley! VIP sometimes hangs out along the northernmost wall.

(c) Hotel

• Front desk
  
  • There's room to crouch or go prone behind it. Excellent for guarding the front door.
• Conference room
  
  • VIP occasionally hides here.
• Front/back stairs
  
  • Access to floors 1, 2, and 3.
• 2nd floor rooms x2
  
  • Corner room overlooking loading dock area
    
    • VIP sometimes hangs out here. The window allows you to shoot down into the loading dock area.
  • Side room overlooking fountain park
    
    • A window allows you to shoot down into Fountain Park.
• Sniper window (3rd floor room looking south)
  
  • VIP occasionally hides here, but it's more likely that someone else will be shooting from here.
• Dark spot (top of front stairs, toward nonexistent 4th floor hotel)
  
  • VIP sometimes hides here.

(d) Boiler room

• You WILL die a lot in here/around here.

(e) Back alley

• Arguably the easiest place to die in the first 45 seconds if playing Escort. See section on Death Zones.

(f) Far East

• There's a side crevice with a box to hide behind that gives you some space to safely reload.

(g) Mid-East

• Near the back door to Buckets, you'll find the Stairs to Nowhere. Beware enemies shooting from the stairs if you're on Ambush team.

(h) Buckets

• Provides a viewpoint of the street. Take cover behind the counter. Has a front entrance and a back door into the loading dock.

(i) Buckets alley

• An easy place to get killed in the first minute of a round. Watch out for enemies shooting at you from the Apartment or Convenience Store at any point in the game.

(j) Loading dock

• A place where you can die in so many different ways. Boom headshot, boom nade, boom teamkill, you name it. On the dock itself is a garbage pail, behind which you can shoot down east alley. Vulnerable to M320 fire from mid-east and shooters on 2nd floor Apartment.

(k) Fire escape

• An excellent vantage point for guarding west mouth. Note that two people can't pass each other on the fire escape - use the very top or bottom if you need to pass a teammate.

(l) Spawn roof

• A strong defensive position for Ambush team. Provides a vantage point for the main street, Apartment, northern spawn roof, etc. A favorite spot for the SDM.

(m) Cat alley

• If the VIP makes it here, he's pretty close to extracting. Listen for the sound of the meowing cat, which indicates that someone is walking through it.

Last, let’s look at the Street:


(a) Truck (Semi, 16-wheeler)

• VIP occasionally hides in here, but it's more likely that an SDM will be in here.

(b) Laundry van

• A popular spot for the SDM.

(c) White truck

• This is roughly the center point of the map. A decent spot for taking short-term cover.

(d) Tree

• The tree is on the street, adjacent to the southern spawn roof. It IS possible to get on top of it. I won't tell you how.

(e) Red car

• A boring landmark. But it's red and awesome!

(f) Fruit van

• A common hangout spot for the Ambush SDM. M320 nades often blow up around here in the first minute.

There are a few places on the map that are especially dangerous, particularly in the first 20-60 seconds of a round.

(a) The “front lines” spots
These are the places where the first shots are usually fired. Grenades will be spammed liberally here in the first minute, so unless you’re rushing and know what you’re doing, avoid them early in the round if you want to have a life expectancy greater than 10 seconds. Remember, no respawns!

• Loading dock area/boiler room
  
• West mouth
  
• Fruit van
  
• Apartment front door/white truck

(b) The “you-shouldn’t-be-standing-still-here” spots

• Deli corner
  
• The street in general, unless behind a car or truck

If you're playing Escort, it's important to make sure that you are always protecting the VIP! Typically, the team tries to secure the apartment and/or the hotel in the first minute.

TIPS:

• If you're trying to secure the hotel, then as a team, try to make sure all three entrances are covered (front door to street, back door to Fountain Park, and boiler room).
  
• Your team's sniper will often be somewhere in the area around the 16-wheeler. If you run in front of him without saying that you're going to do so, it's not his/her fault for accidentally TK'ing you.
  
• Typically, the VIP chooses a light loadout so he'll run faster (meaning less ammo, but minimal or no grenades). There are several places on the map where you can find additional ammo (as of the current game version), so if you see some, let the VIP know! See the collectable items section.

I personally don't play VIP too much, so I won't address tips for that here.

If you're playing Ambush, you have one goal: kill the VIP. So, naturally, one of the most important things is to establish where the VIP is going at the beginning of the round. Typically what happens is someone will spot him and call it out via mic chat.

Spotting the VIP

There are two ways you can quickly spot the VIP, aside from running up to the northern end of the map and seeing him.

(a) Rushing the fruit van.

If you look down the east side sidewalk, you may be able to spot the VIP running through the Iron Gates and heading east. Look for the VIP's unique profile with the cap on his head.

(b) Crossing the street.

If you rush West Alley or the Apartment, glance towards Iron Gates and near Construction around the point when you reach the red car. You might be able to spot him.


Places to Guard

The VIP has to either come through West Mouth, the Street, or the junction near the top of Cat Alley. Here are some good guarding positions for each location:

For West Mouth:

• Deli
  
• White van (near west mouth)
  
• Fire escape
  
• Southern spawn roof
  
• Tree

For the street:

• Any of the West Mouth guard spots
  
• Fruit van area
  
• The extraction point, or anywhere near the flare
  
• Note that if you guard from the spawn roof, you may miss the VIP if he runs down the East sidewalk

For east alley there are a number of routes the VIP can take, so good guarding spots are

• Fire escape
  
• Ambush team spawn
  
• Extraction point
  
• Far east crevice
  
• Southern spawn roof

Always watch the street! The skilled VIP is known to run across and come from the other side when you least expect it.

Every Alley player has their own preferred style of gameplay. Some people enjoy rushing into the "death zones" as quickly as possible, with the goal of getting early kills for their team (and sometimes even nabbing the VIP). Others prefer to play more passively and instead hang back until the initial grenade spam in these zones has passed. It's important to understand how to choose your squad based on your preferred play style.

When you open the Battle Planner, you’ll notice that there are three numbers at your team’s spawn location, which are color-coded green, red, and blue. These three points correspond to Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie team, respectively. The squad you select determines the position at which you spawn.

Let’s look at Ambush team first:



From the numbers, we can see that Point 1 (Alpha squad) is closest to the other team. Therefore, if you want to rush, you’ll be able to get to the other side of the map a little faster if you select a slot in this squad. If you’re planning on hanging back, choose Bravo or Charlie squad instead.

Now let’s look at Escort team:



As with Ambush team, it is best to pick your slot based on where you intend to go. Selecting point 4 (Charlie squad) provides quickest access to East Alley or to the front door of the Apartment (if you want to run straight down the west sidewalk). Selecting point 5 will allow you to get into the Apartment quickly and safely, either through Construction or by going through the Convenience store. Note that the VIP will always spawn at point 5.

Refer to the map in the next section.

1. Places where you can sometimes find ammo (it's semi-random):

• Fountain park, on top of the trash can (northernmost area, M4/M16 mags only)
  
• Front desk of hotel (can be M4/M16 or SAW ammo)
  
• Apartment 2nd floor, on the counter in the left-hand room (M4/M16 mags only)
  
• Southern spawn roof (I believe this is only SAW ammo)

2. Places to find additional IFAKs (med packs):

• Far east alley, on top of a crate

3. Places to find M320 explosive grenades:

• West alley, next to the archway into Construction (by the benches)
  
• West alley, on the upper level of Construction

Key:

A - Red suitcase (Fountain Park)
B - Grey container (Fountain Park)
C - Red suitcase (Fountain Park)
D - Documents (Table near entrance to Boiler Room)
E - Documents (Conference Room)
F - Documents (Conference Room)
G - Red suitcase/laptop (2nd floor side room)
H - Red suitcase (2nd floor corner room)
I - Cardboard box (Boiler Room)
J - Grey container (outside table)
K - Grey container (Office)
L - Cell phone (Spawn Roof)
M - Grey container (Spawn Roof)
N - Grey container (Construction)
O - Grey container (Basement)
P - Red suitcase (Back of Convenience)
Q - Grey container (Front of Convenience)
R - Laptop (Front of Convenience)
S - Laptop (Deli)

Just thought I'd throw this section in based on my own experience.

A lot of players avoid the grenadier slot like the plague. Personally, I don't really understand why, as the launcher is an almost guaranteed incap (and likely a kill) if well-aimed. The challenging part about playing as grenadier is knowing when to use the launcher and when not to.

If you've never played as Grenadier, here's the deal. You have two options for using your weapon. You can either shoot it like a regular M16, or you can use the launcher. You can only do ONE AT A TIME, and it takes a few seconds to switch between the two modes. What does this mean? You will likely die on many occasions because you got caught with your pants down... aka you have the leaf up, an enemy comes at you close range, and you can't kill him.

What does this mean in terms of playing Grenadier for Alley VIP? The launcher is a wonderful tool especially if you're on Ambush team. The nice thing about using it on Alley is that for most shots that you're realistically going to take with it (and by that I mean 9 out of 10), the 25m setting (shortest distance) is adequate. Here are some spots that you can hit with the 25m:

(a) Far east alley: Fire from the southernmost end to the bend in the middle, or vice versa. Requires very little angle to hit the shot.

(b) Mid east alley: Sit next to the base of the fire escape, and fire towards loading dock. Depending on the angle, you can hit the back door of buckets or have the grenade land directly on the loading dock.

(c) Southern Spawn roof: From the front ledge (next to the street), you can hit anywhere within vision. Hitting the area near the white truck (west mouth) may require the 50m, but can usually be accomplished with the 25. If the VIP is about to extract, hitting the flare (extraction) will require the 50m.

(d) Fruit van area: I'm still experimenting with this, but hitting the front door of the hotel from the fruit van is about 50m with proper angle. For the reverse direction, you can shoot from the laundry van and hit the fruit van with the 50.

(e) Apartment: Use the 25 to hit just about everything, either from the roof or the 2nd floor room/balcony. Use the 50 to hit spots near the flare.

(f) Fountain park to loading dock: This one is tricky because it can require either the 25 or the 50 depending on positioning. The nade may not go off if it doesn't actually hit anything, like a wall. The other tricky aspect is the scaffolding by the door to boiler room, which can obscure your view with the launcher (if you hit the scaffolding, the nade may not go off).

Golden tips:
(a) Always run heavy loadout with this class so you get 3 shots from the launcher.
(b) Save your shots until you need them/can use them.
(c) Grab the extra 320 ammo in West alley if you're on Extract team.
(d) You will almost never require settings over 50m.
(e) As far as I know, you can't shoot the M320 through any window of the Hotel, so don't waste your ammo trying.

Still don't know how he got here. Anyone know how to do it?

This is my first guide. Please leave me a comment if you find it helpful.

Alley map photo taken from this link: http://manual.americasarmy.com/index.php/AA3_Alley
VIP screenshot taken from Google Images