Squad Leader unlocks

[Zhohar]

So imagine my surprise when I saw him stand up behind me. It was on a random pub (TG was full as usual) and I wanted to do a buggy rush on Gibraltar Ruins so I just equipped my Clark and IDS -- no SL beacon. I took a buggy, beeped ten times, no one got in (surprise surprise), so I sped off down the left lane, through the unmined Toll station (surprise surprise), past the Central Camp without encountering a walker (surprise surprise) and all the way into Ruins. I drop my IDS, crouch down and ask a commander for some help -- who doesn't even reply (surprise surprise) and all of a sudden someone stands up behind me.

Turns out, people can spawn on you even if you don't have the beacon in your equipment loadout. I thought you had to carry the thing so that people can spawn on you.

I'd never even considered the other SL unlocks because I thought they'd be useless if people can't spawn on you.
But there there, the point of this thread isn't to make fun of poor newbies -- I'm asking for advice on the other SL unlocks. I have them all unlocked (because honestly, everything above the RDX and stabilizer in the Recon kit is pure rubbish) and I'd like to utilize them.

Which ones do you usually take? Why? What kind of a task is one better suited for than another? What kind of a squad loadout do you use a specific SL unlock for? Are they more of a hassle than they're worth? What very common situation would you bring a specific SL unlock into? Is there a difference between Conquest and Titan in regards to what the SL carries? What is a common newbie mistake to make with the SL items? What mistake did you make when you were starting out? How can I best thwart an enemy SL with a specific item?

Teach me.

[Bagheera]

Honestly, who uses a stabilizer? But seriously, when SL'ing, I always use the Beacon first, then after I die, if the Beacon is still up, I'll use the Otus. That way my squad has the benefit of both the Beacon to spawn on, and the Otus to reveal enemy diamonds. I'm still iffy on the Accipitor drone (the one with guns.)

[Sirusblk]

Yah I'm with Bagheera on that one even though I'm not Squad Leader that often. I love the Otus and it's ability to reveal enemy positions...

...it makes me all the more paranoid

[Zoraster]

98% otus drone. The beacon is all but useless in almost all situations. The otus is incredibly useful. Either way, I'd rather my squad leaders use nothing than use a beacon. I generally leave squads with SLs who want to use the beacon as it's a maddening experience.

[DeimosManifest]

Originally Posted by RTFM

The beacon is good if you don't care about losing tickets and like being spawn camped into oblivion. Do a search for "Otus" in this forum and you'll find heaps of useful info.

The Accipiter (AKA "Spanky") is only useful as a cruel joke to play on your SL when he gets revived with your kit.

Scar, smoke grenades, radar grenade, accipiter is the BEST kit to suicide on Zoraster's dead body with. That way when he gets rezzed, he bursts into tears.

[Reaperassault]

hey, you can't for get to empty the scar of ammo first and only give him one pistol clip nothing more could be less though

[Tarenth]

Originally Posted by DeimosManifest

Scar, smoke grenades, radar grenade, accipiter is the BEST kit to suicide on Zoraster's dead body with. That way when he gets rezzed, he bursts into tears.

Evil. So...very...evil. I think I've picked up a kit like that and I did cry...then pistoled the nearest person and stole their kit.


Being able to spawn on the SL is something people are familar with from BF2. As long as you haven't dropped a beacon your squad can spawn on you which make the drones practical to use. Its also why the number one tip to playing a squad leader was "Find a dark corner, assume the fetal position, and hide". As long as the SL stayed alive the squad had a forward deployment area and so hiding and staying away from combat was an important SL tactic.

The spawn beacon, while it gets much hate, is a handy tool to be used from time to time. Dropping one on a rooftop or hard to reach position for a forward spawn point regardless of flag status is a very popular tactic. Best case senario you can do a squad combat drop from above and take the enemy by surprise. Worst case senario you force the enemy CO to burn their Orbital Strike to destroy your beacon. Be warned that once you deploy a beacon you trade your mobile SL spawning abilities for a stationary point that can be destroyed. Your squad mates will no longer be able to spawn on you until you are resupplied with another beacon.

The Otus is the TG community SL item of choice. It provides a 360 degree pulse similar to the support pulse detector and gives relative height and location of enemy contacts. A Support SL with an Otus and an IDS slapped on it provides a superior tactical advantage with the intelligence that can be gained from the combination.

Spanky (the gun drone) is rather weak in comparison. It floats above your head similar to the Otus so since it shoots straight ahead it will rarely, if ever, hit anyone on the ground level with you. Its best use would be first contact when going up stairs or ladders because it will come in contact with the enemy and be on line to open fire before you get up to their level. Another use for spanky would be pure fire superiority. A support SL with Spanky and a Sentry gun proned behind an IDS is a 'set and forget' setup. Since the SLer is prone the drone will float at around chest height allowing the SL to provide fire support from behind the full cover of the IDS as it floats above it. Its actually a handy combination to be used in titan corridors, but an EMP grenade will drop Spanky on your head and make it take a nap. In theory Spanky is similar to an Otus in that it scans the immediate area with a 360 degree pulse. However instead of relaying the intel to you and the squad, it picks the nearest 'diamond' and opens fire if its on level with it (which it almost never is). If you ever DO get killed by someone using Spanky and their drone gets the killing blow, just take the rest of the day off because you've just won the bad luck lottery and playing further may just humiliate yourself more.

The Squad priority deployment beacon is a TITAN ONLY kit item. Since it speeds up your death and redeployment timer its a ticket burner plain and simple on conquest or assault line play. On titan where you have no tickets to be lost the faster respawn allows for added pressure on defenders or attackers when your on a titan.

[Anospa]

Spanky and I usually get along real great. He's got some real kick and great attitude. Puts a lot more effort in than other people I've had in my squad. He's engaged a walker at 70m out before, shot up 3 buggies, and taken down a good amount of infantry for me. I'll usually play Recon if I'm in a goofy mood to use Spanky.

Sparky (otus) is a great tool to use as well, I use this 70% of the time.

Beacons are only put in my kit if I'm doing a reacon run on a particular map or assaulting a Titan (sometimes won't even use it then).

My best squad leader item loadout thus far: two otuses and spanky flying around my head. Gotta break that record soon I think.

[Reaperassault]

our day will come Anospa for that just imagine the possibility

[WaffleHousChef]

Originally Posted by Zoraster

98% otus drone. The beacon is all but useless in almost all situations. The otus is incredibly useful. Either way, I'd rather my squad leaders use nothing than use a beacon. I generally leave squads with SLs who want to use the beacon as it's a maddening experience.

Can't agree with this more. There are rare circumstances where the bacon is good, but mainly it usually results in ticket loss and getting fried. Most of the time beacons are only used for rooftop camping anyways *cough*you know who you are*cough*.

Originally Posted by RTFM

The Accipiter (AKA "Spanky") is only useful as a cruel joke to play on your SL when he gets revived with your kit.

There is a way to make the Accipiter more useful, if you take the Dystek. The Acciptier only reliably fires at enemies actively diamonded. This makes the Dystek like a trigger for the gun drone, and it doesn't even have to be the SL to use the Dystek. I've done this before with my SL when they had an Accipter out. I'd follow them around and flash a Dystek pulse when enemies were around, and it would start firing instantly even at fairly substancial ranges. Normal "recon in squad netbat bonus" applies here too. That being said, I've not bothered to unlock it yet for a reason.


Also, whatever you do, be very wary about unlocking the NS fast beacon. Once it is unlocked you don't get to choose the fast or slow beacon as far as I know, and the fast one can simply be an easier way to lose tickets because you have shorter possible revive timers and you can/will feed the camp faster. If you want to use the fast beacon, unlock the accipiter and wait until you want to use it, then burn a field upgrade on it so that next round you will have the normal beacon timer again.

[Pfeil22]

Originally Posted by Zhohar

Which ones do you usually take? Why?

I usually equip my kit with the SD-8 Accipiter. There are typically enough scanners on the battlefield to make my mini-map light up like a Christmas tree, so I prefer to deploy the extra sentry. I will, however, carry a SLSB in situations where my squad is tasked with defending two Control Points or we are infiltrating an area that is behind enemy lines.

Originally Posted by Zhohar

What is a common newbie mistake to make with the SL items? What mistake did you make when you were starting out?

The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to be mindful that sometimes the best thing to do for your squad is to leave these pieces of equipment in your pack. Both drones can sometimes be nothing more than bull’s-eyes and the beacon draws enemies like bees to honey. Crafty Squad Leaders can do a lot of damage ducking and weaving to avoid detection outside of a Control Point, while their teammates spawn directly on them and hit the flag.

[Anospa]

Aye, making the mistake of putting up a drone when you don't want one is something you'll learn fast.

One very important thing I don't think many people know is that you can deploy a drone, and take it back in by looking at it and hitting G, just like APMS/RDX/MM/EMP mines. Also, not sure how true this is, gotta test it more, but if your drone is damaged and smoking, taking it back by hitting G and redeploying it will put it at full health.

[Zoraster]

Originally Posted by WaffleHousChef

Can't agree with this more. There are rare circumstances where the bacon is good, but mainly it usually results in ticket loss and getting fried. Most of the time beacons are only used for rooftop camping anyways *cough*you know who you are*cough*.

.

You know, as much as the loss of tickets bothers me -- and it does -- I think that's not the thing that makes me leave squads that use it. The fact that it's immobile and seperates squads is probably the biggest thing. When you spawn on the squad leader, it tends to be a natural way to keep the squad cohesive.

Successful squad leading is a LOT about movement. There are a lot of times where you defend, but even when you're defending, you need to have the capability to move your squad and fast. Moreover, having a spawn beacon rarely helps a defense. Yes, it's true that if a squad manages to neutralize a flag your'e defending that you can keep spawning in, but a good squad leader will be just as duarable as a squad beacon.

Except for some rare occasions, beacons are a crutch for below average squad leaders to use.

[Fehmart]

Originally Posted by Anospa

Also, not sure how true this is, gotta test it more, but if your drone is damaged and smoking, taking it back by hitting G and redeploying it will put it at full health.

Doing this will restore the drone to full health when redeployed. This is something I keep forgetting to do in certain areas; ever since they raised the drone's float height to somewhat alleviate the drone spawning in and killing the SL (the solution is far from perfect, so look up when you deploy the drone!), it will now no longer pass through most doorways. You might have to jump on the other side of a door in a wall to allow it to pass through, or just pack it up and redeploy it once inside a building of some sort.

There have been countless threads in the past debating the relative usefulness of each SL item, and it might behoove Zhohar to take a look at those. With the exception of Spanky, each has its time and place, but I believe the Otus is the most versatile.

[shafter_r2n]

As someone who has just tried SL'ing in the last little bit, thanks for this topic and discussion. It really opened my eyes on the use of the beacon & whether to use an unlock or field upgrade on it.