Need Some Advice on SLing

[Hydride]

The last couple weeks I have been trying my hand at squad leading and I am enjoying it. I feel like I am not as strong as some SL's and would like to try to improve my abilities at it.

I need some advice from experienced squad leaders concering mid to late game tactical planning. I find I am pretty strong and focused at the very beginning of the game, but towards the mid to late game me (and my squad) start to lose our edge. Generally I make my decisions based on tactical advantages (ie, to secure a walker, give a forward spawn point, flank the front line ect) but I find myself sometimes looking at the map and not really knowing where to go with my squad.

What do other squad leaders do in this situation?

[Concr3te]

What I usually do is looking where the main fight is and then go for one of the lower populated flags. For example, the main fight is between Eastern Docks and Power Station on Tunis Harbor. If we are bleeding tickets that means we need to attack. So the enemy has the Power Station and Junkyard flag, we only got the Eastern Docks one. What I do in a situation like this is ignore Power Station, since that's where all the enemies are and go for Junkyard. This way we will suprise the enemy (hopefully) and if we capture that they have to fight on two fronts (Main Base - Junkyard and Power Station - Eastern Docks). From now I will defend Junkyard until some other teammates spawn there to help us defend.
If our defending force is strong enough we can decide to go and take Power Station, where the enemy forces are hopefully weakened a bit.
So you should always make your decisions on one question: Are we bleeding or is the enemy? If you are bleeding you should secure flags as soon as possible. The easiest way to do this is go for one of the undefended flag. Try to avoid chokepoints, as they are almost always negative for your squad.
Some Squad Leaders decide to attack chokepoints, to make it easier for the other squads to go for one of the back flags (as I just described), though, but that's up to you.
If you are not bleeding, you should never go for more flags (except for if you are already some tickets behind and you need to catch up soon) but defend. As attacking only costs tickets.

Hope this helps a bit

[Tarenth]

If I'm at an impasse at deciding what to do I usually fall back on the old stand by of 'pester the CO'. If you cannot see for yourself any other position of superior tactical value then you should address your CO to see if there is a position you need to take for its strategic value. Either fire up that mic or use the 'request orders' voice command to flag your CO for some attention.

If you have a vocal CO then they'll start give you orders on what they want you to do and where to go.

If you have a nonvocal CO (hey! It happens!) they'll give you a new move/attack/defend order or just reissue your current one if they want you to maintain position.

If you have an AWOL CO (saddly that also happens) then you should probably order your squad to dig in and spend some facetime with the strategic map. Congratulations, you've just been volunteered as a field commander. Try and piece together a larger strategic view and manuver your squad to fill a need you think your team has. I typically look for holes in the 'line' and try to make sure the line is secure between the front positions and the rear positions. Some SLs take these moments to have a little fun and push their squads forward to see how much ground they can cover and if they can infiltrate and take out more positions. Others sometimes pick a road and set up defenses/ambushes to cut off armor reinforcements. You can also support and assist other squads in defense/assault or do whatever you think your squad needs to do.

Luckily we frequently have a CO that will give orders, but be versed in some strategy in case you get volunteered to make CO decisions on your own.

[Acreo Aeneas]

I use the opposite tactic of Concrete. I will take my squad (safely if possible) to where the action isn't or where it isn't a death-trap-hot-zone. I feel that as a squad leader of a squad, one should try to help the team "win" the round versus just going around getting kills for points.

Here's what usually works for me:

1) Talk to your squad mates. Check on their status if you assigned a few to a different location. See who's still alive and who's down and where.

2) Before making a move towards a new particular flag, inform the CO (Commander). Identify your squad number first and then tell him/her which flag the squad is headed towards and what you plan to do once there.

3) Keep your men moving in the direction you do. Keep them together. Should you run into trouble, it's always best to have some backup close at hand. Plus if you die, someone would be close by to revive you.

4) Use your squad leader assets wisely. Place your SB tactically, use the drone/floating gun with care, and make sure your squad has the necessary kits and loadouts.

5) Have fun. Enjoy the game. Try to relax and be easy going about it. A tense and angry squad leader does not help the team or your squadmates.


You should not just be concerned with the tactical situation before you, but also the strategical situation around you. Hit caps lock during lulls in engagements and look at how your team is dispersed throughout the map. Based on what you see, move your squad to either support another squad taking/defending a flag or move towards to new flag, whether to provide distraction or to capture a new point.

[Concr3te]

Oh sorry if I mistyped it but what I meant was that I always NOT go into the main fight area. I meant that I first looked where the main fight was and then go around and capture back flags So basically the same what you do.
I will edit my post now to make it more clear.

[ThePenguineer]

From my experience, it really depends on:

1. How my squad has done thus far
2. What I feel their strengths/weaknesses have been
3. What mood I'm in

Sorry I can't give you a straight answer, but since I'm not a TG magnet when I SL, the composition of my squad varies a lot between each round so I evaluate what that particular squad has excelled at before I send the order. Say I've been trying to attack an objective and I've spent more time staring at the sky than near the flag. Then, in the middle or late in the game, I might switch to defend orders if I feel my squad is losing too many tickets from being wreckless to do the team any good. Conversely, if I've been sitting and defending the entire time with a good squad, I might switch to attack orders to give my squadies something to do.

If you feel like you're losing focus mid to late game, don't feel like you need to rush a decision. Ask your squadies for suggestions if you need to. Sometimes you're so focused on the objective, you miss the bigger picture your SMs might see.

Here's something to try: break your squad up into two fire teams. With a bravo team leader, you end up directly watching fewer guys and you might get some breathing room to make better suggestions.

Good luck and keep trying. You just keep getting better with experience!

[Zoopy]

When I squad lead, I try to go where other squads are not (depending on the situation of course).

For example, on Cerbere Landing, Squads seem to always shift dramatically from east to west while defending, i.e: everyone is at South Town, lots of red dots at coming to Church, all the blue dots go to the red dots. If this happens I try to shift away back to South Town since it is now undefended.

I rather defend an open uncontested flag then leave it undefended.

I also like aggressive defenses, moving towards the enemy more and engage them before they get near the flag. For example on Tunis, if you are defending Eastern Docks and your team has Power Station, leave an IDS on the Eastern Docks flag and move your squad to the West (by the boat). If nothing is happening try pushing to the building east of Junkyard, and start farming off of Junkyard (constantly check your map to make sure no one is on Eastern Docks though.)

Another tip is farming. Your squad doesn't always have to take a flag, set up your squad in a nice defensive position and kill the enemies on their flag. For example, PAC has Toll Station, as EU set up on one of the roof tops east or west of Toll and just blast down on enemies. If you do it right it is like having bleed on your enemies.

[Exploding_Silver]

My advice is apply for the 21st

training squad leaders is their thing

[johnflenaly]

These are general squad leading tips I've used through just about any game involving TG. First and foremost, the best way to learn is to screw up royaly. Seriously not doing something wrong is wrong in its own right. Keep the communication up, if you don't communicate "alot" your squad wont. Try not to lose squad cohetion(yeah I can't spell) don't bunch up but you should be with in supporting range of each other. Don't be too serious, its a game after all and I guarantee more people will follow some one they like, even if he doens't always get the job done, than someone who is "hardcore". Choosing were to go mid game is always a problem. I always look for something that needs to be and do that, be that defending, flanking, attacking what ever. Look for were you team is weak and fill the hole.

[Hydride]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, it has definetly given me some stuff to consider next time am I faced with this problem. I think everything you said relates to being fluid and flexible while SLing and I know that is something that I need to work on.

On a side note, do you think it is better for a SL to lead the way for the squad, or stay back and be a spawn point? As a SL I like to be in front so I can see the area I am assualting clearly and any opposition to avoid or engage.

Cheers

[johnflenaly]

Originally Posted by Hydride

On a side note, do you think it is better for a SL to lead the way for the squad, or stay back and be a spawn point? As a SL I like to be in front so I can see the area I am assualting clearly and any opposition to avoid or engage.

Cheers

Depend on the situation, as a general rule of thumb stay in the back, your no good dead.

[machowner]

yep, stay back, do revives when safe, but yea, if your dead its back to the original spawn point and you have to start the push over again.

Originally Posted by Exploding_Silver

My advice is apply for the 21st

training squad leaders is their thing

I did learn quite a bit there. Reading maps, finding different routes, all in all, it is a great place to learn SL. I think they have also expanded into teaching about how to be a good squad member also. Revive tech., movement, and those sorts of things.

[Superfast]

I feel i'm in the same situation as i've started sl'ing more and more lately.

My advice is 1. experience and 2. battlefield situation.

1. Experience comes from like what's been said here already about learning from your own faults, other SL'ers and generally used tactics on all the maps.

2. Knowing your enemy eg. who is on the other team and what they might be thinking/planning. What tactics might work and what might not. If you are up against "experienced" squads, you may have to maybe depend more on coop with the commander and other squads to get somewhere. Or use creative tactics to throw them off. If not, if you know 1 then you'll probably do pretty good.

All in all it's just a game and if you get too complex with everything, things just isn't fun anymore!

[simpson2142]

I was gonna make a separate topic on this but found that it fitted nicely here.


what do you think is the best "personality" to squadlead is, I've come across strict no nonsense leaders, but also more calm and laid back aswell. I was wondering which is the best to lead a good squad, the carrot or stick method.

[Concr3te]

The best way, of course, is the laidback style. It's much nicer being in a squad with a laidback Squad Leader who doesn't really care about dying and stuff. But from my own experience it's pretty damn hard to stay calm in situations like being revived in a group of enemies or whatsoever.
I usually start off calm and stuff. But if Squad Members start to not listening I can get very angry, as some of you might've experienced. Sometimes it's even good to get angry once in a while, it keeps your squad awake
So try to stay calm, but being angry sometimes isn't a crime either imo.