Squad Leader Tactics

[Exploding_Silver]

So what tactics really work for squad leading ?

Let’s hear all your ideas in this thread


I’d like to start with the obvious big difference from BF2, the squad beacon
This is what I have worked out so far;

For the beacon to work it needs to have sky above it. You can sometimes put it down but no-one can spawn on it. You can check if its spawnable by looking at the spawn screen, if its got a red circle around it then its no go. The beacon doesn’t work on the 1st floor balcony of a tower block. The beacon does work on the metal stairs & platforms on the outside of buildings.

If you are defending a flag you can hide the beacon very close to the flag, and if it goes neutral, your guys can respawn in right into the capping distance at that critical moment. Above head height at the flag is good because attacking players capping your flag always keep low behind cover.

Have you ever got into the action and died, gone to the spawn screen and the beacon’s gone…oh no attack over. I have remapped the spawn screen to ‘left tab’ from ‘enter’ key, so that I can quickly tap the spawn screen and check the beacon is still alive. Also tell your guys to say if the beacons down. If its down then you need to go back to BF2 type tactics and back off from the action & hide around the corner.

Arty has a wide area of affect and will almost certainly destroy your beacon. Arty is only in conquest but not in titan. They affects beacon placement.

If you loose your beacon, then get another from commander supply box or support guy.

When defending you can in effect have three spawn points, - the flag, backup plan - the beacon, then back up to the backup - yourself. If its titan you can also have APCs and dropships as spawnpoints. These dynamics of more than 2 spawn points are really promising.

When attacking you could, with a bit of luck, get on the flag yourself and place the beacon, then go hide and be the backup to the beacon. Your guys respawn right into capping distance, if they get crushed & your beacon is destroyed then the attack is still on because you are still alive nearby. Make sure you call for ammo for a new beacon and get your guys in there again.

The beacon makes a noise that astute players will follow to destroy your beacon. So a quite corner is not always the best. The noise of gunfire covers the beacon sound very well, so very close to a busy flag can work.

Bushes and grass hide the beacon well.

Inside the titan is the only place where the beacon does not need sky above to work. When attacking titan the trapdoors you can go down from the roof lead to a safe from grenades corridor, put the beacon there. When defending titan consoles, put the beacon by the console behind the glass window, safe from hand grenades.

Support personal shield (red thing) to cover the beacon ? haven’t tried this one yet

Have you seen those large metal tubes you can walk through, I think (not certain) the beacon works in them and its safe from arty.

Take a flag, put your beacon down on it and move out to next flag, if the flag goes neutral your guys can respawn on it and maybe take it back.

I’m not sure how EMP affects the beacon.

You cannot place a beacon if you are the only person in your squad !



Well that’s quite a lot about beacons, please comment on this and any other aspect of squad leader tactics that occur to you.

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[=Sarc=]

There's a weird error when trying to place a beacon if you've already placed it. You yell out that the beacon is active but the beacon won't drop because it's already placed. Just in case someone gets confused when trying to drop the beacon again.

You can pick up the old beacon with the pickup kit key (default G).

There's also the quick order. Point your crosshair at a flag and it'll be highlighted in yellow. Issue an order with the commo rose to give an attack/defend order.

[Snail88]

Good stuff. Another thing to consider is the recon drone is awesome for defense as it sweeps the area for threats and puts them on the net bat for your squad. On infantry heavy maps, the shooting drone is also very effective.

[BHack]

Are you positive if the beacon is destroyed that people can then spawn on you?

In my experience, if the beacon gets destroyed they CANNOT spawn on me, and I either have to die and respawn, or I need to get another beacon down.

[Exploding_Silver]

Originally Posted by BHack

Are you positive if the beacon is destroyed that people can then spawn on you?

In my experience, if the beacon gets destroyed they CANNOT spawn on me, and I either have to die and respawn, or I need to get another beacon down.

oh I was pretty sure
I guess I'll have to do a test to confirm

[Torr]

Hey guys, if you are the SL does your squad spawn on you by default or do you have to have the beacon in your hands while running around?

Thanks for the info on this thread i've learned alot from it.

[Lorian]

They spawn on you, you don't have to carry the beacon around. If you throw the beacon on they ground, they will spawn on that.

[Thanatos]

So if we can confirm that squad members can only spawn on the beacon OR squad leader (i.e. they don't get a choice, which has been my experience), then we have to start giving thought as to when we want to place the beacon and when we don't want it down. There will be situations where SL's will want the flexibility to have troops spawn directly on their position (soft spawn), such as when attacking a flag, and you want multiple attack waves coming from different directions...SL moves his location every time a few squad members spawn in. This wouldn't be possible with a beacon down providing a 'hard spawn'.

I just managed to unlock this thing a few nights ago but I haven't gotten a chance to play with it yet.

I have one question: When the SL dies with a beacon on the ground, what happens? Do the squadmates still spawn on the beacon? I assume the SL cannot spawn on his own beacon...but if it remains active for the rest of his subordinates, then it can be very powerful, letting the SL risk his life in combat. This adds another fully functioning shooter to the squad.

Also some other thoughts...the specialization of players now forces squad leaders to pay closer attention to what kits their squad members are carrying. We now need to know what each squaddie is specialized in so that we can plan ahead and then call out the right orders to the right people. It doesn't hurt to ask a new joiner if they have multiple specializations and then take note (scribble them down if you need to).

If you are lucky to have a balanced list of specialities in your squad you are golden. But if you for instance, have two specialist engineers, congratulations you will now perform best as a mechanized or an anti-vechicle squad. You'll still be able to perform all roles in the field, but you will have an advantage with or against vehicles. The same holds true if you are leading a few Recon specialists. You can now be more stealthy than normal but may even need to avoid some front line combat. We will need to be ready to adopt special roles on the fly, as members come in and out of the squads.

[Virigoth]

On specialization:

Field upgrades even out the field a bit. I find that after a few field upgrades I can effectively play any role. I might not have all the toys, but enough to be effective.

[BHack]

Thanatos:

The SL can spawn just fine on his own beacon. One of the reasons the beacon is such a powerful tool.

The real drawback, from what I can see, and I may be wrong - is that if your beacon gets destroyed, the Squad members can not spawn on YOU. So, if you loose the beacon, you've effectively lost all foward spawn capability.

If that isn't the case, then I've experienced a bug. Well, my squad members have.

The beacon requires careful thought. When I use it I am constantly picking it back up so that I can be spawned on. If I think I'm about to die, I sometimes try to throw it down as fast as I can.

[WhiskeySix]

when you deploy the SLB, can SM's spawn on both the SL AND the SLB?

[BHack]

No, if the beacon is down, noone can spawn on you.

[Exploding_Silver]

Heres my beacon experiments
SL = squad leader
SM = squad member

• I spawned as support and SL, SM can spawn on me (just magically appear beside me)
• I place the beacon, SM can spawn on the beacon (in drop-pod)
• I pickup the beacon, SM can spawn on me (just magically appear beside me)
• I place the beacon, SM can spawn on the beacon (in drop-pod)
• I destroy my own beacon, SM cannot spawn on me
• I resupply my beacon with my supply box as a support (seems to resupply beacon last, after ammo etc) and hold it in my hands to know I've got it, SM cannot spawn on me
• I place the beacon, SM can spawn on beacon (in drop-pod)
• I pick up the beacon, SM can spawn on me (just magically appear beside me)

summary
> if you have the beacon in your backpack then SM can spawn on you
> if you place the beacon then SM can spawn on the beacon
> if your beacon is destroyed you can get a new one from support guy or commander box
> to get your 'new' beacon working you have to place it down

interesting
.

EDIT
so if you get a new beacon you should always put it down to activate it, even if you immediatly pick it up and move out
also i think I'm going to be support whenever I squad lead, looks like I'm going to have to rethink my unlocks

[BHack]

thats eactly how I observed the system to work.

[jepzilla]

I like to use my cloaking device to position and move the beacon around while the squad is assaulting. I love the beacon since finally it means I can SL and play the way I like to- stealth in, drop it down, then join the attack.