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I notice a lot of people saying that soldiers are a noob class, and their the easyest to play.
This is both true and false. The soldier is one of the easiest classes to pick up and enjoy playing a few scrims with. But to master the soldier class takes much more finesse than people give us solly's credit for. So for everyone who wants to learn how to be a more effective soldier, I've compiled a list of helpful information. Thanks to Jacen and The Wabbit for their input.
Where you need to be
The class selection lists soldiers as an offensive class, which, yea they're good at. But soldiers also make amazing defenders. Don't be above retreating back to the cp or flag room if your engi starts taking heavy fire. In ctf maps, the middle of the map should be your home. You should never be too far away from eather line, since you WILL be needed on both.
Often the best vantage points for a soldier is going to be above the enemy.So always be on the lookout for rooftops or ledges you can rjump up to. Being above your enemy as a soldier has two HUGELY advantagious properties. Number one, your enemy usually wont be aware of your presence meaning hes going to be running a straight line, which goes right in with number 2. You have a better view of your enemies field of movement, meaning you can lead your enemy more effectively.
Using rockets effectively
When using your rocket launcher, don't rush your shots work on your rocket accuracy above all else. You only have 4 before a reload, so make every shot count. The ONE deciding factor between a good soldier and a bad soldier is being able to predict where your adversary is going to run. And if you go frivolously shooting rockets while trying to keep up with an enemy scout, you'll quickly find yourself out of rockets and facing the buisness end of a baseball bat.So take your time and pick your shots, bear in mind you have the second highest amount of health in the game, so if you take one or two hits while lining up your shot, it's okay. cause once you get a clean shot off, your enemy goes flying, giving you ample time to get the second one ready while they recover. Remember, soldiers thrive in environments that are good for blast radius damage from rockets. It is hard to kill someone when you are in a large open area as opposed to an enclosed area. Try to not duke it out with people in broad open areas at long distance. Get in close to mid range to deal your death.
Using rockets effectively pt.2, Leading the enemy
While you frequently hear, when you play soldier, aim at their feet and lead them. This is MUCH easier said than done. Yes you should aim at their feet, but which side of them is entierly situational (and yes it DOES matter what side you hit them on.) Under no circumstances should you aim at the front of their feet, as this will blow them up backwards and further away from your rockets, not where you want them to be. As a soldier you need to ALWAYS be aware of your surroundings, where walls are, where doors are, where stairs, hallways, and corners are, as each one of these things offer you specifically different opportunities.
A. If there are walls around you shoot to the opposite side of their feet from the wall, effectively sending them flying into it, decreasing their movment options by half.
B. If their coming around a corner, you want to aim behind the corner, so the rocket catches them in the back, sending them flying forward. Gvivng you a nice target to test your air shot skills on.
Leading your target is all a matter of timing and noticing how someone moves. Timing all depends on the distance of the fight, for close range you want to be 1 or 2 seconds ahead of your target, for mid range you want
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excellent guide Valentine. thanks alot. i'm still learning about the sol class. never really switch to other classes, unless my team has lost all but one cap, then it's engie for me... your post brought to light quite a few things that should help me be a better soldier. have a few sol questions. 1. is the blue rocket just a matter of "charging" your shot? just waiting a sec before you fire one off? i shoot some every now and then but more often it's wasted on a wall or something. and the only other thing i can think of right now is how much i hate those backstabbing spies. any nuggets of wisdom on how to better my chances?
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glowing rockets represent critical shots... they appear now and then.
on the spy issue... be paranoid... you can detect spies by various ways:
if you can hurt them with your weapons.
if you cannot pass through them, but be blocked
if they behave somewhat strange (running back instead of charging, etc.)
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thanks Fluffy! very helpful. can't wait to get out of work and hit the servers. wifey bought me a new monitor and i hope it will help me spot a spy a mile away. but only if i heed your words. thanks again 
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ValentineXX is one mean soldier. I know. I've been fragged by him and wonder, how does he do that.
[quote]if they behave somewhat strange (running back instead of charging, etc.)[/quote]
Check people who are holding their default weapons. The Anti-spy guide under Spy specific form there is very handy.
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Damn, Valentine, I want to train with you.
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Those are some very good tips Valentine. I love the soldier class, and as others have said, its easy to fool around with playing one, but a great soldier can truly dominate the enemy, and that takes alot of skill. They are also the backbone of any decent offense AND defense. There were several clan matches back in my TFC days were my entire team played soldier, save for one engie at the flag.
I would also add these as well:
1. Work on your rocket accuracy above all else. You only have 4 before a reload, so make every shot count. I think soldiers have to be even more accurate than snipers, because you will be in the thick of battle 90% of the time and you cannot afford a miss like the relatively safe sniper. Work especially on leading and bouncing. If you get good at bouncing the enemy around with your blasts he will not have a chance to recover. Shot where he is going to be, not where he is at the moment. Also, soldiers thrive in environments that are good for blast radius damage from rockets. It is hard to kill someone when you are in a large open area as opposed to an enclosed area. Try to not duke it out with people in broad open areas at long distance. Get in close to mid range to deal your death.
2. Be paranoid about spies. Always take a second to look behind you for the backstab. Again, always be looking around and aware of your surroundings well help tremendously.
3. Soldiers need to learn when to retreat. Sometimes a strategic withdrawl is much better than barreling forward to die. You should retreat if you need time to reload, or if where ever you are pulling back to has easier surfaces to get area effect damage from your rockets.
4. As Valentine said, where you aim at the enemies feet is very important, but I would like to add that players should also practice making direct hits on people with rockets as well. It is not as easy as aiming at the feet, but does alot more damage if you can pull it off. The trick is to learn how long it will take for the rocket to get to them at various distances, and compensating for the fact that they will try to dodge your rockets.
5. Find a medic and get him to come with you on Offense. Remember to allow him to keep up with you and don't make any rocket jumps to get places, thus breaking the connection. If you get uber'd try to do as much damage as you can. If you are in the flag room, this means first killing the engie, then his equipment will fall quickly. I think an uber'd soldier is better than a heavy for damage.
6. When reloading, think of the situation at hand. Sometimes it is better to just wait and get all four rockets ready (while dodging or avoidng the opponet) , yet other times you will want to fire immediately after each reload. Again, if you know you will need 4 rockets to finish the job, pull a short retreat to reload.
7. Remember that you can move demo's sticky bombs with your rockets.
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thanks jacen, i added your tips, and reorganized the guideline for easier reading.
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cool, this was a good guide already and then you improved it!
what would really put it over the top is a few links to some youtube videos with examples of solid soldier play.... especially match/scrim play.
back in the day when i played tribes in competition i learned a lot about effective play by watching demos from top clan matches. you can pick up a ton of little things that people don't even think to include in their guides. i've looked around on youtube for some stuff like that but i haven't found very much.
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