For new players: Avoiding the "He Cheats!" Syndrome.

[RpTheHotrod]

For newcomers!

Sure, there are cheaters, but there are a few mechanics that you need to be familiar with. Otherwise, you will probably rage in an accusation against your attacker when they were not cheating, at all.

1. If you are on a mission against an opponent, and there is a vehicle belonging to a player OUTSIDE of your mission, your opponent (and you) can shoot through it as if it was not there. If there's a vehicle that belongs to someone outside of the mission, don't expect to be able to use it for cover. On the flipside, you know you're aiming right at your target if you are aiming at the vehicle and your crosshair turns red (you are actually looking "through" the vehicle and at your target).

2. There is a 360 degree freelook around your character. That means although you are "behind" an opponent, they could very well be looking right at you (their camera is facing their front and looking backwards). If they fire while doing this, their character will appear to do a 180 turn firing at you. This will make it look like they are aimbotting, but often it's simply that their camera was facing you the whole time. Don't expect to be able to "sneak up" on an opponent if they are in line of sight.

3. If you are outside of your car and someone outside of your missions hits your car and your car touches you, there's a good chance you will be killed by your car. This bug...or mechanic?...allows people outside of your mission to kill you.

4. Instant rocket launcher kill. If someone is driving while carrying an OSMAW (rocket launcher), they can fire the moment they step out of their car without having to "equip and aim" the OSMAW first.

I hope this helps alleviate some of the accusations newer players might be tempted to throw out there.

[Zyat]

A couple more for good measure.

5. All characters have the same sized hitbox. So making a 4 foot tall super skinny person then ducking behind that handrail or lightpost is going to leave your head (and torso in the lightpost example) exposed the same as that 7 foot tall 400 pound character you're fighting against, your hitbox extends a bit around your character when you're small and skinny (making what looks like it should be a miss a hit) whereas that bigger characters hitbox is smaller than them (so it may appear you're hitting when you aren't). There are no advantages to making shorter or thinner characters.

6. That guy that killed you when you were taking cover behind your car? He was shooting you in the feet. Stand back several feet behind cars, hugging them leaves your legs and feet exposed.

[diesector__]

7. APB is a third-person shooter (duh). This means that players can peek around corners without exposing their hitbox. Veterans will often use this to their advantage when scouting out your defense that you just set up around their objective. Even if you don't see anyone on your screen, you may still be observed. Don't be surprised that your mid-combat flanking route was intercepted or they found your hiding spot you thought was perfect.

8. The Joker SR15 Carbine has a fire limiter of 400 RPM. That's the exact same as the STAR 556 you start out with. Just because the SR15 is semi-auto doesn't mean hearing it fire quickly is indicative of a macro program. What you look for is continuous consistency in a very fast fire-rate. Even then, don't underestimate the ability of people clicking really fast (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldq9io9owEk).

8. Try out different weapons and get to learn their dynamic. That way, you'll know the differences between a legit player using said weapon and an aimbotter. Most of the zero-slot weapons cost around $3000 for ten days, which is trivial even for casual players. This includes sidearms and grenades/explosive weapons (but no one hacks with a OSMAW/O-PGL anyways)

9. The city is expansive. As a newbie, your lack of map awareness/recognization can and will be taken advantage of. It takes a while to become experienced, so don't worry too much if you're always getting shot in your back. Flanking does not a cheater make.

[RpTheHotrod]

Good additions. Keep 'em coming! :)

Also as a side note: When you are shot, you are full health again once you hear a "beep" sound.

[stalkaz]

I wished every player would read this, even experienced "Gold" players.

I don't believe there are hardly as many cheaters as people make out, just lots of sore losers who don't know how to deal with getting killed.

[Kayato]

More tips

-Look enemy team ability (TAB button i think) to see if enemy have damage or health power-up

-Play with friends, teamplay make the difference! So if you play with stranger try to comunicate.

[diesector__]

12. Mods have varying effects on guns. Weapons such as the JG-840 and SHAW 556 don't gain too much of a benefit from any sort of mod, and usually only caters to a specific playstyle. However, other guns like the CR762 and N-TEC get much bigger boosts in firefight performance. For instance, Hunting Sight 3 and Heavy Barrel 2 makes the N-TEC much easier to handle and allows for more accurate 2-3 round bursts at range. If you're facing a veteran with the same weapon as yours but has modifications, try not to mistake the mods' effects for an aimbot (or vice versa).

13. Less Than Lethal weaponry (exclusive to Enforcers) is basically APB on hard mode. In almost every aspect, they are inferior to their nearest lethal counterpart. However, this does not mean anyone will be able to roflstomp a LTL user with ease. In APB, skill can and will triumph over superior weaponry/mods, and experienced LTL users can still be very dangerous. Being stunned and arrested all the time does not automatically mean that enforcer was a cheater.