Coordinate your unlocks!

[TheFatKidDeath]

Is everyone coordinating player unlocks for squad success? Does your squad have three support's with all Sentry guns and EMP grenades or three engineer's all equipped with motion and emp mines? In other words, are you talking with your squadmates to determine that no one is doubling up on unlocks?

Many times some players may not have all the unlocks but usually most equipment can be covered by squad members for those that don't. When I'm SL'ing I'm making the effort to have all the unlocks in my squad.

Kit choices will obviously vary on what map you are playing so your unlock choices will vary as well. So for example, lets say we are playing the Sidi map which has perhaps a bit more of an armour map so my squad will lean heavily towards stopping armour.

SL - me - Engineer
-Koenig Havr
-Motion Mine - EMP Mine

Squad Member #2 - Engineer
-Koenig Havr or default
-Motion Mine - EMP Mine

Squad Member #3 - Engineer
-SAAW Anti-Air
-Defuser - PDS-1

Squad Member #4 - Support
-Default weapon or unlock
-Sentry Gun - EMP Grenade

Squad Member #5 - Assault
-Default Weapon or Unlock
-De-Fib - AR Rockets

Squad Member #6 - Recon
-Default Weapon or Unlock
-Demo - Anti Personal Mine

This way all the kits our covered and especially with the three Engineers. You can vary this formula but the idea is to spread the unlocks so they are utilized for the whole squad.

[experiment626]

I have noticed that kit selection on conquest games does not adhere to the old POE/vanilla style of playing...1 medic, 3 Assaults, 1 spec ops,etc.etc.

I can not recall asking for ANY specfic kit when forming squads, especially LTGs, yet we consistenly (Learn TG squads) come out on top each map. I do request "everyone spawn Engineer" when we are getting rolled by armor. I do this with the mindset of everyone having default weapons. The default rocket launcher is really no different than having an AT guy around in POE or Vanilla.
By all means if someone has "ranked" gear... I assume they will bring the best they got, or what they are most profecient with. I would argue that it is still the soldier and his skill, not the weapon, that wins the battle for us. We can function with just the basics....and a defib

[TheFatKidDeath]

Good points. No doubt the equipment does not make the player. However, having three Engineers with all the same equipment is not the best use of resources. I think there is enough difference in unlocks for a squad to try and have them all used in play. There is a difference between, say between the default Engineer rocket launcher and the SAAW Anti-Air. One is to be used for armour and the other for aircraft. Having a spread in unlocks will (in my opinion) hopefully prevent having to say "I'll spawn back as..." and waiting for that player to arrive back in the fight. It seems to me working that out before hand will let everyone become more effective. Your squad can always rotate kits if players would like to choose something else.

[LuckyStrike]

Good idea. I usually play engineer but rarely use the defuser or SAAW. Primarily because you don't seem to need them until you NEED them. I'm willing to outfit as needed to help the squad though. Just ask

[Acid]

I find that telling people what they need to do (defend), that they pick the kits they are best at defending with. If you see a big gap (no medic) then you might have to call someone in as that kit, but they usually fill themselves out.

[Arf]

Instead of switching kits I prefer players to change their unlocks. The game rewards diversity and it bugs the heck out of me for 3 guys to spontaneuosly switch to Recon to kill one sniper. Seriously, the next person that does that will be executed for treason and likely tea-bagged with extreme vigor.

So I fully support the coordinating of unlocks.

[Tarenth]

I mentioned it in another thread so I might as well state it here:

Please do not use the PDS-1

If you have a PDS-1 deployed on the field you effectively lock down your CO's ability to call UAVs since any UAV they call will do nothing. This is situational of course and if you have a stupid CO go right ahead and deploy them.

Personally I'd go with:

SL - Support: Sentry Gun - EMP
Assault: Defib - Any (rockets, smoke, or shotgun as long as they can use it right)
Assault: Defib - Any (same as above)
Engineer AV: Motion Mines - EMP Mines
Engineer AV: Motion Mines - EMP Mines
Recon: RDX - APMs

It helps to have your squad leader with a support kit so they can resupply themselves with a beacon/droid as needed and sit more towards the back with the LMG/HMG and provide support. As an engineer you have to depend on your support guy for the resupply and you put yourself in harms way to take out armor.

2 Medics is better than 1 so you can do a quick pick up of your entire squad as needed. You can also split your squad into seperate elements to watch different approaches as need be.

AV is more important on heavy armor maps than AA IMHO. There are always AA turrets if you're defending and you can also snipe a hovering or slow moving aircraft with the AVR or default AV rockets. The SAAW is only really handy for fast moving gun ships since the AVR will take out a troopship faster and with less hassle.

Recon can either sit up as the eye in the sky with the sniper rifle or provide close support with the SL and a lambert. You can set up your RDX in a 'trap' formation and blow apart any armor that comes into your kill zone as well. Handy to deal with a zerg that burns through all your mines.

[Exploding_Silver]

I have not been assigning kits to people....yet

so far I've been calling for kit as required and next respawner brings it in
eg cornered by armour, next spawner be an engineer
eg defending and being sniped, next spawner be a sniper
eg we've captured their base with their assets, next spawner come in with demopac

I've also given instructions for lots of assaults with defibs on maps like Berlin
I've also called for 'medic with me', to follow myself around

And like experiment62 this approach is simply enough to manage as SL and yet helps brings out my squad as top squad

[Prophaniti]

A situation arose last night while playing....my squad was having a hard time dealing with a gunship. We kept drop-podding in and running around in sparse cover. My unlocks have been dedicated to Recon, so I had squat for engineer. On the other hand, one of the guys in the squad had the AA rocket unlocked and was trying to shoot it down. He got whacked.

Instead of waiting for him to deal with the situation on his next spawn, I ran over, picked up his kit, and started blasting. Once the gunship was toast, I switched back to my original kit that was conveniently laying on the ground closeby.

Just because you don't have the unlocks doesn't mean you can't pick up a dead man's kit that does have 'em. If a situation requires certain loadouts, don't hug the ground and count to 10 while your buddy respawns...rob the kit off his dead corpse and blast away!

[chaf3d]

Originally Posted by Prophaniti

Just because you don't have the unlocks doesn't mean you can't pick up a dead man's kit that does have 'em. If a situation requires certain loadouts, don't hug the ground and count to 10 while your buddy respawns...rob the kit off his dead corpse and blast away!

YEa, I see that a lot on pubs. People just wait and complain, and I've even seen people try to votekick the pilot cause he's "...too good. must be hacking".

If anyone sees me playing on the TG server. After about 10 minutes of solid squad play, I have all the weapons. please don't hesitate to rob my corpse!!!

[LuckyStrike]

Originally Posted by Tarenth

I mentioned it in another thread so I might as well state it here:

Please do not use the PDS-1

I'm not going to outfit my kit with it until the bug is fixed. Does EA/DICE even know about it?

[IMI-50AE]

They probably do, and heck, they might be working on a patch to fix it right now. Oh, sorry, my optimism leaked through, nevermind. Seriously though, I need some help. I'm not sure what to unlock next. Here's a list of what I've got:
Everything but the weapons for Recon
Defib, advanced med hub, and shottie for Assault
The whole tier of the Pilium for Engineer
EMP grenade, NetBat, and Sentry gun for Support
Frags and the first sprint upgrade
Spawn beacon

What should I get next? I'm leaning toward the assault NetBat, the Engie ungrade wrench, or the support IPS shield. What do you think?

[chaf3d]

Originally Posted by IMI-50AE

They probably do, and heck, they might be working on a patch to fix it right now. Oh, sorry, my optimism leaked through, nevermind. Seriously though, I need some help. I'm not sure what to unlock next. Here's a list of what I've got:
Everything but the weapons for Recon
Defib, advanced med hub, and shottie for Assault
The whole tier of the Pilium for Engineer
EMP grenade, NetBat, and Sentry gun for Support
Frags and the first sprint upgrade
Spawn beacon

What should I get next? I'm leaning toward the assault NetBat, the Engie ungrade wrench, or the support IPS shield. What do you think?

If I were you (and actually this is what I did), don't get any weapons. You'll get them soon enough with a field upgrade. I would work at getting the Assault rifle rocket attachment. The netbat is good for the assault too. The rockets can be pretty vital for defending positions.

[Pronin]

Originally Posted by IMI-50AE

What should I get next?

Second sprint upgrade, IMHO.

[Acreo Aeneas]

Well interesting topic...

When I'm SL'ing I usually request 1 engineer, 1 support, and 1 additional medic (since I'm usually assault/medic). If I happen to lead a full squad, I'll end up having 2 kits doubled up on depending the the map, and what objective I want to accomplish with the squad. Usually, I'll request a double up on support kit no matter the map, that way I can split the squad up into two fireteams if need be and both FTs would have a support kit.

At this point, I'm working out my Recon kit, so I am experimenting SL'ing with Recon kit versus Assault kit along with whatever other loadouts I need.

And FKD, you brought up something I really haven't bothered to address whenever I was SL'ing, might have to try it your way sometime to see it's affects first hand.