TC Readiness

Town Control (TC) is perhaps this game's most premium feature. It is highly competitive. To do it well, it's best to be very prepared.

Here is a checklist for getting ready for TC. If you're a new player, seeing this might be a glimpse into your PvP future. Even if you're a seasoned vet, this checklist might help. Be advised, you will win some TC fights and you will lose some TC fights. Be prepared to lose your gear. If you think too highly of your stuff, and you cannot handle losing, you might want to skip Town Control altogether; your teammates need stable-minded players who don't freak out when they lose. Get upset if things were a mess in a fight, but stay cool enough to keep going. Gear is replaceable. It's just pixels and time.

The Basics

Fully leveled PvP fighter build, approved by whoever is leading the TC operations
Practice Real-Time combat. Start with PvE but get to PvP asap. Use Hinkley!
Outdoorsman to 150 + Explorer/Pathfinder perks, to get you back to battle much faster
1 car per fighter (the Buggy is an excellent choice, cheap and fast. Thanks, Blarney.)
6 private [Tents (or Safe Houses), 1 each snugged up to each of the 6 TC towns
Spare gear in the trunk of the car, including guns, armor, helmets, ammo, drugs, sstims
All gear needs to be tier 3, and checked for good condition.
Use the faction's NameColorizer file! All enemies should appear with the same color, distinct from your faction-mates.
Set up Hotkeys, aka Key Bindings, for Reloading your weapon, and using Super Stimpaks. Do you do aimed shots? Set those up, and include one to Disable Aim.
Voice Chat is a must. Get TeamSpeak or Mumble or whatever the faction uses. Get a mic.
Use Q to see your Sight range, and use W to see your Weapon range.
Use F11 to highlight the TC Zones. If too many of your team runs out of it, your TC timer will end.

IMPORTANT

Know your character's role in PvP, his strengths and weaknesses.
Minimize microphone use, only talk when needed to give important combat-related details.
Follow orders! Listen to the leader. Follow who he says to follow. Go where he says to go. Do not go Rambo.
Be ready to "Focus Fire" as instructed, so you and your team hit the same targets and actually win the fights.
Your team will likely have a sneaker scout. Listen carefully to critical info from your Sneak scout!

Know the Town's Map/Layout

Go to these TC towns and learn the layouts. Note the names of the buildings and where they are.
The leader will be giving orders where to go - you need to know the places to understand those orders!
Familiarize yourself with the Town Preview in each town. Know which town has which entry points.
The leader will be giving orders where to enter - you need to know those places in advance.

Know the Procedure

Before the fight begins, stay off of the worldmap to prevent enemy from knowing numbers.
Have Drugs (and Lighter) ready. Have everything you need so you're not asking anyone for anything.
Listen for order to pop drugs. Do so immediately - the fight is about to start!
Go to worldmap when the order is given.
When sent to worldmap, go over town and use Town/World button. Be ready to enter in 2 seconds, wherever told.
Form lines, as instructed. Sometimes lines need to be vertical (north south). Sometimes horizontal (east-west).
Stay cool. Don't get mad like immature kids. If you get that mad, go to AFK and do something else for a bit.
Do not care about looting until the order is given. Be frosty for fighting until then. Don't be selfish.

Tactics by Ion Cannon

Do not use all the action points you got, shoot one time on focus fire and get ready to stim/FA or help a friend.
Spread out so you're not all vulnerable to the same rocket or grenade hit.
Form a very wide line to avoid multiple hits and splash damage.
Lure enemies to narrow passages or open spaces, depending on the team build. Bursters, snipers, or sneakers.
Constantly check your weapon range and change position often.

Advanced

Have Motion Sensors, pre-charged to 600/600 with extra SEC on hand
TC Ready-Piles (see below)
Willing to level a sneaker? It's a specialized role. Scout the town and provide critical intel for your team!
The TC timer will start at a lower value if the character who initiates it has high Speech. Hint hint.

About TC Ready-Piles

Most guys use a trunk to store spare gear, for re-gearing between battles. This is standard and i do it too, but this forces you to open the trunk, scroll through the stack of items, pick each thing out, choose quantities, drag-n-drop a bunch of times, and then do it all over again because you forgot 1 item (like a lighter). When you're in a big hurry to get back to a fight, this is a painful delay.

TC Ready-Piles are far better. They are individual pre-stacked piles tailored for a spefic fighter, arranged in a row at a TC tent, ready for that fighter to Grab-All. Maybe 5 such piles per fighter, per TC tent, works well. (If you fail more than 5 times in the same town and intend to keep trying, use the trunk.) Arrange 5 piles in a line. Each pile should have the following:

Gun
Armor
Helmet
Ammo (an appropriate limited amount, so as not to lose much, but not to run out)
Drugs (one full round of drugs for that fighter)
Lighter
Super-Stims

When you do fail in combat, you need to get back to the fight quickly! Your character has Outdoorsman 150, right? Explorer and Pathfinder perks mean fewer interruptions, and faster travels. You get back to your tent, run to a ready-pile, and Control+G to grab the whole pile. You instantly have everything you need, and in the right quantities. You will not be one of the last guys to get back to the fight - you will one of the first. Nothing is forgotten, and no delays. You'll impress the leader by being back so quickly, every time. The team will learn they can depend on you to be fast.

TC Ready-Piles are a lot of work to do in advance. Not everyone will do this, but just remember: the enemy does!