Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory/Classes

In Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, the player can choose 5 different classes. Each has a different task in the team.

Soldier
A soldier's position is at the front of an assault. As they carry the heaviest weapons around, ranging from flamethrowers to panzerfausts (bazookas) and even mobile MG-42's, they will be slowed. They need good protection from their teammates, or they will be an easy target. A soldier uses his power bar a lot. Mortars and panzerfausts use 50% and 100% of the soldiers' power bar respectively, so they can't be fired very frequently. When soldiers gain more experience, firing a mortar or panzerfaust will use less of the power bar (You'll read more about that later). Soldiers are useful for rushing into guarded rooms when wielding flamethrowers, defending an important objective with a Mobile MG-42, or just taking out as many enemies as possible from a safe range using a mortar or panzerfaust.

Medic
A medic is essential for every team. Medics start out with barely any ammo, only one ammo clip for the MP40 (or the Thompson, if allies), some syringes and one grenade. Good medics will be in the line of fire really often, but not really as an assault trooper. He is often busy healing his allied troops. When an allied soldier is wounded really badly, and his health points (HP) fall below one, he can either give up and go into reinforcement line, or he can wait for a medic to revive him. To revive a teammate, the medic has to stand over the wounded soldier, take out his syringe (normally at slot 5) and fire at the soldier. He will then stand up again either with 50 HP, or, if the medic has reached First Aid level 3 (See the Skills page), with full health. To heal other soldiers, or himself, the medic uses health packs. Every health pack heals 20, and costs 25% of the power bar. (15% if First Aid level two is reached.)

Engineer
As Engineers are needed for most objectives, they are unmissable in any team. Engineers can use either the submachinegun (MP40 / Thompson) or the K43 rifle(M1 Garand if allies). A unique ability of the engineer is that he can fire a grenade with his rifle. When the right mouse button is pressed, the engineer puts a grenade on the end of his rifle. He can then fire it for over 100 yards with extreme accuracy. A rifle grenade is very powerful, it has almost the same effect as the panzerfaust. The only difference is that the grenade's height will decrease at longer ranges. Also two unique abilities are that he can place land mines and dynamites. Dynamites are often only used for objectives (e.g. blowing up walls) and rarely for taking out enemy troops. Land mines are very useful to prevent the enemy engineers from getting to objectives, or just to make sure no-one enters an area.

Field ops
A field ops is usually found near allied troops with the Soldier class. A soldier usually uses up his ammo quickly, and one of the unique abilities of the field ops is to give ammo to his teammates. Each ammo pack contains one (or two, if level one signals is reached) ammo clip and a grenade. Medics also receive more syringes. A field ops can only use an MP-40 if Axis or Thompson if Allies. If the field ops uses his binoculars, he can mark a spot on the map for off-map artillery to fire at. This only lasts a few seconds (Twice as long if level 3 Signals is reached), but it is often devastating against all enemies. Artillery is useful for guarding a territory that enemies are not allowed to enter. A field ops can also throw a kind of smoke grenade, with different colors for Allies and Axis, which makes allied airplanes drop bombs near the marker, in a straight line. One disadvantage of both artillery and airstrike is that it can only be used outside, as buildings in ET are indestructable. When inside, pilots can't see the airstrike marker and artillery won't work as it can't go through walls.

Covert ops
The Covert ops class is not recommended for new players. The Covert ops can use 3 different weapons, the Sten rifle, the FG42 rifle and a M1 Garand with a scope (or a K43 rifle if Axis). The Sten has greater accuracy than the MP40 and Thompson, but it can overheat when the player does not fire in bursts. It will then jam for a few seconds, and the player can't shoot, reload or change weapons in that time. The FG42 rifle's fire rate is about as high as a submachinegun's, but it has only 20 bullets in each clip. It has, however, a scope, so it is useful for taking out troops at longer distances. The scoped M1 Garand / K43 is a sniper rifle. It has 10 bullets in one clip, and fires semi-automatically. If the scope is used, its effectiveness is more than doubled. It can take out most enemies with two or three shots, depending on the enemies health and how many of the hits were headshots. A unique ability of the covert ops is that he can use Satchel charges, a remote-controlled bomb. This is useful for blowing up the smaller objectives and Command Posts. A covert ops also has a smoke grenade, so he can't be seen by enemy forces.