DLC #104 - Battlefield 4 - Naval Strike

The Naval Strike expansion pack is 1 of 5 add-ons to Battlefield 4, adding 4 new maps and a host of weapons, gadgets, vehicles and equipment to the Multiplayer aspect of Battlefield.

As is a common theme with all of these DLC packs, the trophies are spread across a variety of the new features added for each expansion, encouraging the player to indulge within as many new aspects as possible.

In relation to all 5 pieces of DLC, Naval Strike is actually one of the easier packs to complete, and contains 5 new trophies awarded for executing in-game tasks.

Completing a game of the newly added Carrier Assault game mode yields a trophy, as does obtaining a kill in the new ACV, but the slightly tougher elements of this package come from a couple of other trophies included within;

Fly Swatter - Kill an enemy with the AA Mine
No Parley - Get a kill with the old cannon

The "Fly Swatter" trophy, awarded for killing an enemy with the AA Mine, is the hardest trophy in the set, and actually one of the most difficult trophies across all 5 Battlefield 4 expansions packs. For starters, the AA Mine isn't readily available, and the "Death from Below" assignment is a pre-requisite to unlocking this piece of equipment. The assignment requires you to reach level 10, and then to obtain 3 PDW ribbons and destroy 5 air attack vehicles with rocket launchers.

This isn't terribly difficult, but creates extra work, and once this is done, the real fun starts. The AA Mine has a few limitations to take note of when going for this trophy. The most notable limitation is the fact that, unlike most anti-air weapons, it won't take a vehicle down unless it's already been significantly damaged, due to the fact the AA Mine only deals around 30 hit points worth of damage. Another limitation is the fact that it only has enough power to use 1 projectile, meaning your approach to this has to be extremely tactical.

The best thing to do is equip a primary rocket launcher, such as the Stinger or the Igla, and once an aircraft has been hit, you can quickly deploy the AA Mine in hope enough damage has already been done to achieve the killing blow. This will more than likely contain much trial and error, and was the primary approach I took when attempting to achieve this trophy. The irony of the situation is, I actually ended up just getting lucky when I spotted a helicopter on it's way down, and just deployed the AA Mine, which hit the falling chopper and killed the pilot, triggering the trophy, so it might just end up being a case of situational fortune.

The "No Parley" trophy, awarded for getting a kill with the old cannon, can also see you succumb to a touch of trial and error. The old cannon is an emplacement weapon (meaning it's fixed to a certain location as part of the map) and only exists on the Operation Mortar map. The cannon is in 4 locations around a raised fort at the highest point of the map, but 3 of these locations face outwards towards water, making them incredibly unlikely situations to be able to kill an enemy. The other location looks downhill, giving the greater chance of killing enemies on foot.

The biggest flaw of the old cannon is the extreme drop-off when firing a shot, making long-distance engagements difficult to judge when aiming. It's also got a fixed axis of movement within a certain line of fire and also has an extremely slow rate of fire, making it a tough weapon to use. The best tactic is to wait for enemies to vault over the embankment directly in front of the cannon and just firing. It's a guaranteed kill, but you may have to be prepared to wait and be patient. You can continuously try your luck from distance in the meantime, but you run the risk of reloading your shot when there's a possibility somebody could appear in front of you and you miss your chance.

Aside from the trickier trophies in this set, it's still one of the easier pieces of DLC within the game, though that is mainly down to the fact there isn't a trophy awarded for completing all assignments like there is for 3 of the other DLC packs. The majority of your efforts will go into the aforementioned trophies, and they're still a good challenge in their own right, but everything else is fairly easy.