Excellent TG PoE Action Oct 18

[E-Male]

Played a great series of maps this night, noticed that by about 8:30 we had a full server (more or less) and many TGers. Game play was excellent -- something has changed the past month or so -- much less bad behaviour, Admin's hard work paying off.

I usually start the night playing in a squad, practicing offensive maneuvers (no silly comments, please), then join a good TG-lead squad, then SL a squad.

No details that I can recall, but lots of thanks for JohnC, Fallen, Mosely, BigGaayAl, and darn it if I can't remember the name of a few new faces, non-TGers, that fit right into complex two-fireteam structures.

About two months ago I was ready to throw my BF2 disk in the garbage. Past two weeks lead me to believe that there is much life left in BF2 just yet, certainly enough to get me through another Canadian Winter.

E-Male

[Lucky Shot]

Agreed. I had a fun run in Mantis's squad for a round and a half. Even managed a top score playing a medic position poorly. Still, lots of fun and it's great to take a break from time to time from SL'ing.

Lucky Shot

[John CANavar]

What a great night...

Bilateral command system works like a charm !

What makes it different than a typical two fireteam operation? It is the role of Alpha 1.

- SL takes 2 squad members to form fireteam Bravo.
- Bravo fireteam responsibilities: Suppression, cover fire, Armors and Stations

The other fireteam, Alpha, complements Bravo.

- Alpha One is the leader of fireteam Alpha. He is the squad sergeant and calls the shots for his fireteam if there is no direct SL orders. In many ways, A1 is like a second SL. He takes the initiative and directs his fireteam.

This kind of work division takes a huge load from SL.

- Alpha flanks while Bravo suppress, captures flag while Bravo provides cover fire and is the infantry force of the squad when armors are taken by Bravo.

- All a fireteam member need to do is:

a) Remember your unit assignment (A2, A3, B2 or B3)
b) Follow your leader all the time, stay close to him like a shadow (Not too close though. There is a difference between cohesion and sitting on top of each other. Stay at a safe distance to cover his flanks)
c) Dont change your assigned kit
d) Observe rules of engagement

In addition to the names E-Male listed Khan, Arctic and DDRPTP also served in 1stMIP squad tonight (I hope I didnt forget anyone). Great job to all these folks for fitting in and using team procedures as if they have been playing with us for a long time... Big thanks to E-Male and Mosely for terrific SOP execution...

I wanted to share these details with other in-house squads and community members because it is a very effective organizational approach.

[FBmantis]

It was pretty pubbie(I expect this for a while given 2142) on the German side tonight but there were a few good games.

Spies Like Us: Rolled in Shafiks squad. German team got stomped because they all went toward the same flags over and over. Team coordination was just a mess. Oh well...I had fun and caused havoc without ever touching a VEPR. G36 is really nice at long range.

Orel: Started in Shafiks squad. We held the flag south of Church initially. There were some decent assaults against us but we repelled them and usually spotted them early. I figured someone would try the far southern edge flank and right on que the 1stmip showed up.:b Right after blowing up the 33rd in a C4 blast I crashed to desktop though. Shafik did the same soon after. The squad was basically dead when I got back so I made one myself. We floated between the Church and Lumbermill per the commanders(Demoncaster) wishes the rest of the game.

Sambir: German team got nothing done here. My squad initially took the north western flag near the UKR UCB. We did a decent job of holding the flag but I had lots of player drops in the squad which hurt things. Somehow the team lost every other flag as well. Thus we eventually got overrun. The snipers were a real annoyance while holding this flag...I should have switched to sniper early in the round. Had my squad respawn at the north eastern flag near the UKR UCB since our team had taken it but for whatever reason completely abandoned it. So we set up defense there and held that flag the rest of the round. I was sniper at this point so I was able to counter Jaymind and the other annoying snipers that tried to cause trouble again. Meanwhile Shafik was a trooper manning the tank and getting bombed over and over by the frogfoot. They were out in full force but our team didn't seem to learn from this because every time I checked the map I would see tons of armor moving up from the base. Rarely did I ever see what looked like a functional squad working on another flag on foot.

Carpathian: My initial plans completely went out the window as my squad didn't have much of a choice but to defend Lumbermill since the rest of the team showed no sign of doing so early. We held this flag the entire game. It got a bit boring imo since I never felt like a coordinated squad ever attacked us. Just constant trickles of a few guys here and there with an armor piece thrown into the mix occasionaly. There wasn't really much to say to my squad.

[Private Book]

Spies like us: Could not join a squad who were giving orders. Was really annoyed with being unable to singlehandedly break the dinghy blockade at the river. Jousted with two boat gunners, then had dinner.couldnt get back in for some lame reason my side.


Carpathian: worked under two guys from a group named dbm or something. runswithb33rs and terripin later angry paul and an name i cant recall. We actually were working out on foot from lumber mill to the ne. We initially grabbed that one way up the road north of lumbermill but got shredded out of there early by a team that came around from the nw with good recce in force distraction from east. Terripins pretty good as sl. We didnt have many options because they just kept trickling down from that hill. Looked to be about a full squad over and over but it was 101 ust@om and some others and they were just better shots then our three to five guns. Jayman kept two squads annoyed at one point. I managed to break top ten for the first time but as medic with 25 revives and only 14 kills.

[boudreux]

There definately were some great games tonight. I enjoyed working with E-male and Jon Can for a few rounds. There is definately more thinking involved playing with them, but it was worth it. Truly wanted to cover my fireteam's approach and do my part. It was great to see new faces join in and take right to the discipline as well. Nice job teaching tonight MIP guys.

[E-Male]

Ah, yes, the other name I forgot -- BOUDREUX -- a great team mate. Can't remember the map name (the one with the CHURCH in the centre) but we started out North, tried to take Backyard. JohnC was my sargent, we were repelled at backyard, went back north for a few minutes, then saw another squad (5?) attacking Backyard, so we went in to support. Got there just in time. Took the flag and held it for the rest of the round, although our side lost the war.

More battles would be won if squads simply captured and held on. Plenty of killin to do when defending....

During one assault, just North West of objective, I had all the squad hit the dirt and hold position until all were in place, then hit the flag. This 'GROUP-UP on SL, GO PRONE AND HOLD FIRE) technique (nothing new to many TGers, I am sure), allows all the squad to get full strength, full ammo and health, allows SL to assess full situation, and creates a full five man onslaught. All cardinal points should be covered with various eyes. The key is fire discipline -- do not fire on anyone unless fired at -- even if they walk right by -- a death lets a good enemy SL know you are in the area.

Later Bourdeaux did a great job holding various positions and providing good intell.

Thanks,

E-Male

Originally Posted by boudreux

There definately were some great games tonight. I enjoyed working with E-male and Jon Can for a few rounds. There is definately more thinking involved playing with them, but it was worth it. Truly wanted to cover my fireteam's approach and do my part. It was great to see new faces join in and take right to the discipline as well. Nice job teaching tonight MIP guys.

[Iamthefallen]

I really enjoyed the 1st MIP Alpha/Bravo structure, it worked very well on Carpathian.

The one thing I'd change up next time is to try to have the support and the AT be in the same fireteam. If the AT is kept well supplied while defending, he can engage and destroy targets at very long distances. But without a continous supply of ammo he can't afford to take those high risk shots.

[John CANavar]

Originally Posted by Iamthefallen

The one thing I'd change up next time is to try to have the support and the AT be in the same fireteam. If the AT is kept well supplied while defending, he can engage and destroy targets at very long distances. But without a continous supply of ammo he can't afford to take those high risk shots.

Good point Fallen. During fine tuning of assignments, Alpha ended up as pure anti-infantry element (Support, Assault, Medic). This provided advantage in urban battles. Support class was originally in Bravo team paired with an AT just like you said. I guess we will probably pair Support and AT in the same fire team again.

[Iamthefallen]

Originally Posted by John CANavar

Good point Fallen. During fine tuning of assignments, Alpha ended up as pure anti-infantry element (Support, Assault, Medic). This provided advantage in urban battles. Support class was originally in Bravo team paired with an AT just like you said. I guess we will probably pair Support and AT in the same fire team again.

Let me offer this as a followup, in an urban situation the fireteams are likely to be closer to eachother and the support can more readily resupply the AT, so it's less of an issue there. Perhaps the structure of the fire teams could be terrain dependant?

[AMosely]

I enjoyed joining in for a couple of rounds last night. I've noticed an improvement in the quality of play on PoE since 2142 arrived. I think it's lifted some of the, shall we say, younger and more inexperienced crowd..

[John CANavar]

Originally Posted by Iamthefallen

Perhaps the structure of the fire teams could be terrain dependant?

Good discussion. That is the most effective solution. We currently use "flexible" kits in Bravo team only. So the kit assignment system is half-fixed. Alpha conserved, Bravo variable.

The big question 1stMIP has been dealing from the very beginning is this: Develop a standard and effective yet simple and practical squad organization and command system. Finding balance between these concepts is VERY difficult. Going for maximum effectiveness makes things complex, going for maximum simplicity makes things very ineffective.

[BigGaayAl]

Great games all night in the squad subsequently led by johnc e-male and mosely (remember that long walk and assault on Carpathians).

The fireteam routine worked very well last night. In Alpha with john we did some very good flanking maneuvers. We would leave bravo behind on the flag, even as a whole squad was coming in, and still take the time to run a long way around to flank. but when we got there we were sufficiently organised to be a real threat with assault + support + medic.

I'm mainly thinkin of spies like us here, generally non/low vehicle maps seem to benefit more from the fireteam routine. Although having the armor in bravo to defend the flag area, and alpha as forward defense/spotter was a very clear and natural feeling organisation. This allowed alpha to stick together at all times, not having to go pickup armor & such.

On spies we adopted a wedge formation. This is very good on spies. Tha khan and john would be in front of me, then I would be behind them both. If khan was a little behind, I would be next to him, and both behind alpha 1. The idea was to keep our formation a triangle with equal sides (betwseen 5 and 15 meters). Once I started doing this, I died a lot less, and got away with double or triple the revives, plus easier kills for me.

Mostly just reviving then pulling back, while being covered by the surviving alpha member. The presence of a support gave me infinite smoke which came in very handy in such an open map.
This wedge formation, with the medics to the rear is something I used to do and have now rediscovered bigtime. I had to unlearn running upfront as medic, which some squadleaders require you to do. This formation is only really effective in open terrain, and requires some adaptation in urban terrain. Generally there you'd just stay behind a bit.
One more aspect to the role of the medic here is: use the mini-map zoom effectively. You should be zoomed in halfway or closest almost all of the time. This allows you to find dead bodies on the map is you can't see them clearly, but more importantly it allows you to see where your fireteammembers are looking. Then you turn and look the other way (if not moving somewhere fast) Since the medic is the rear of the formation, it is his duty to fill in the gap and look back. He also can do this because he has th emap zoomed in, while the other fireteam members have it more zoomed out to have situational awareness (especially FTl and SL).

Phew thats longer than I intended , shows wat good rounds it were.

Bravo sw


Alpha w


Hiking with mosely

[John CANavar]

Al,

You showed 100% efficiency at A3 (Medic) position.

- Always staying behind of A1 and keeping him in sight
- Understanding the role description for medic: NOT combat, Support !
- Watching the direction other fireteams members are not covering
- Tactical medical assistance (good timing, smoke cover when needed, not blind rush)

It is a pleasure to play with people like you who dedicate themselves to roles assigned to them. We are so lucky to have a good number of these people at TG...

[jaymind]

Good games last night again, although I was bugged for most of the night with some strange client crashes and problems with hit detection all night long. It's always fun to shoot mantis 3 times with an anti-material rifle, show hits, but have him pop me in the head once.

Something weird going on with some background progs I think which I hope I took care of.