Ballistic Overkill – How to Optimize Every Achievement (with Friends)

Guide to Grinding Ballistic Overkill

All credit goes to alphabetsoup!

Introduction

This guide isn’t about how to play the game, it’s not about how to be good at the game. It covers how to (somewhat) optimise every achievement with a bunch of friends.

3 Players are required for the 100%, though only 4/37 need the three Players. Most can be done with 2 Players (kill grind) or by yourself (misc map specifics).

Listen vs Dedicated

At time of writing, the official servers have shut down for over a year, so everything in this guide is based on community servers.

The game supports both listen and dedicated servers. You will want to set up a dedicated server for the lengthy achievements. These things are possible only on dedicated:

• Setting round time (main reason).
• Turning off team balance (though not important).

It’s not possible to adjust the map rotation, listen or dedicated.

Play 1000 Matches

The stuff I’ve seen… – Play a thousand matches.

This can be idled on a dedicated server with Round Time set to 60 seconds.

I’m not sure if it can be set lower, but the timer starts immediately on map change, so too low and no one will be able to load into the game.

Matches count as long as you are on the scoreboard when the match ends, so you don’t need to load in (i.e. select a character class and be in the match). However, the Rounds mode will only start properly after one Player loads in. Because of this, there should be one Player auto-clicking at all times.

kills Kills KILLS

• Shotgun Master – Kill 500 enemies with Shotguns
• Sniper Rifle Master – Kill 500 enemies with Sniper Rifles
• SMG Master – Kill 500 enemies with SMGs
• Assault Rifle Master – Kill 500 enemies with Assault Rifles
• Machine Pistol Master – Kill 500 enemies with Machine Pistols
• Pistol Master – Kill 500 enemies with Pistols
• Grenade Master – Kill 100 enemies with Grenades or Grenade Launchers
• Melee Master – Kill 100 enemies with Melee Attacks
• LMG Master – Kill 500 enemies with LMGs
• Headhunter – Kill 1000 enemies with headshots

• I’ve created a workshop map to make the kill grind easier.

Put the ID (2381840269) as the Game Map in your config file to start your server on a workshop map.

Set Game Mode to Free for all and Match Time to something outrageous (we did 600) and simply kill your friends. All the spawn points are stacked together on Free for all, which does cause some weird issues when Players spawn inside each other, but it’s still manageable.

To stop the server from booting Players for inactivity, shoot after loading in. Those who are being killed can generally idle with an autoclicker clicking every one second.

Kills are stored in Steam stats immediately, so quit whenever.

Pistols are not available on any class by default. Level up the Wraith or Vanguard class once to unlock it for use. See the cosmetics section for an easy level up.

Miscellaneous Stuff

1 Player

• On Point – Capture 3 points in the same life in Capture Point mode

2 Players

• Unstoppable – Kill 3 enemies with the same weapon without reloading
• Go Ballistic – Get an Overkill
• Force of Nature – Deal 2000 damage in a single life
• MVP – Finish a match with more than 1500 score
• True King – Kill 5 enemies while in the King of the Hill point in the same life

3 Players

• Back Scratcher – Kill 2 enemies with backstabs within 5 seconds
• Big Boom – Kill 2 enemies with the same grenade
• Teamplay – Get 30 kill assists
• Hero – Get 20 savior kills

These shouldn’t require much explanation.

MVP unlocks at the end of a match, so don’t set some stupidly high match time. Listen servers’ default of 10 minutes is enough for several Players to get to 1500.

Backstabs are for meleeing a person from behind.

Kill assists are for damaging a Player who is subsequently killed by somebody else. Possible on most game modes.

Savior kills are for killing a Player who recently shot a teammate. Possible only on Team Deatchmatch(?).

Map Specific

Reinstate

• Nostalgia – Find a place to play F2P Ballistic.
• Floor is lava – Killed by lava.

Citadel

• Geologist – Killed by falling into one of Citadel’s holes.

Sunnsquare Mall

• Vandal – Break all glasses in Sunsquare Mall in a single match.

Wonderdome

• Otters can what? – Look at an out-of-the-way piece of advertising in Wonderdome.
• This isn’t Half-Life – Try to open a door.

Overhead

• This isn’t Quake – Kill yourself with a grenade launcher right after jumping.
• This isn’t Portal – Kill yourself by jumping from a very high place.
• Heavy Machinery – Killed by being smashed by one of Overhead’s cranes.

Blackfield

I see dead people – See a ghost in Blackfield.

Nox Museum

• Appreciator of Art – Look at every painting in Nox Museum in a single match.

Corporate Park

• Rehab – Shoot all the coffee machines on Corporate Park in a single match.

Hakim Library

• Infinite Learning – Write and send on chat all words in Hakim’s Hunting Words board in a single match.

Hollow

• Sneaky Beaky – Kill an enemy while inside of Hollow’s tube.

Some specifics

• Most of these achievements unlock only on quitting the match (or triggering another achievement). If something doesn’t unlock immediately, quit the match and see if it pops on the main menu.
• Appreciator of Art: There are 9 paintings total; look at the names as well as the art itself.
• Infinite Learning: Words are Shadow, Wraith, Marksman, Tank, Berserker, Grenadier, Vanguard, Steam, Aquiris, Horizon. You don’t even need to find the puzzle, just type the words in chat.
• Sneaky Beaky: “Tube” refers to the vents near the team’s bases. There’s one both ends of the map.

Cosmetics

No Microtransactions – Drop your first Lockbox

Lockboxes are much rarer now without official servers and leaderboards.

According to the developers they drop after 2 hours of gameplay with 48 hours between drops. Realistically, I didn’t get a second drop until 4 days after my first, so I’m not sure what’s going on there.

They only drop at the end of a match. If you want to force a drop (assuming you’re eligible) start a Capture Point match on any map and capture all the points to 1000 points. You’ll get the box as well as 1000xp if it’s the first match of the day which is useful for levelling up.

Swag – Unlock your first accessory

Accessories unlock for collecting specific sets of weapon skins. Skins are gotten through lockboxes, but it’s much easier to buy them from the Steam market. Currently, the cheapest accessory is the Adventure Hat which unlocks for owning 8x Jungle skins totalling ~30c.

Unlocking Swag though requires you to open a lockbox. After buying the skins, confirm you have the accessory in game, open a lockbox, close the game and the achievement will unlock. If you used your first lockbox, wait for another drop or buy one.