skapunk!n

I am tired of getting onto the TG server and having to join a 2 or 3 person squad when there are 4 and 5 person squads LOCKED.

It should be against the rules. We all want a chance to join a squad that communicates and when you lock your squad up with less than 6 people you're being a jerk, plain and simple.

Steiner

I am kind in agreement with that, especially when such locked squads are non-specialists. The habit of locking squads like that do force people to create one or two-man squads, which is usually way less fun than being in a full squad - especially when there is room for people.

Then people can argue, but why not create a squad and work with the people who join the round and that squad? Well, because I have noticed that many people tend to use such squads as a waypoint and place to stay until room opens up in an other unlocked squad.

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Tempus

I'd rather see a 4-5 man locked squad than a 1-3 man locked squad. Sometimes a squad is locked because the SL is waiting for a member/buddie to join his squad.

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John CANavar

What a wrong way to start a thread; by calling people jerk...

You could have simply asked "Why lock your squad" and could get plenty of good reasons.

IOOB_583

/\/\ gotta agree with that one.

My squads never locked and to those of you that like to partner up with me I apologize. I just won't kick anyone out to make room for anyone else. I have an aversion to telling someone to go away in favour of someone else. Have lost some damn fine players that way but I have also found a few.

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jmaker

I'd have to agree with John. Calling a squad leader 'a jerk, plain and simple', for locking a squad is presumptuous. Specialty squads should be locked. You don't need 6 men in an air transport squad. One or two and that's it. That squads role should be to transport troops for the duration of the round.

Often times other members of a team from the BFCL league will want to practice together and we will lock our squad so we can get 6 guys altogether at the same time. Or like Tempus said, maybe friends just want to play together. I just think it's wrong to assume someone is being a jerk without knowing the whole situation.

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Beatnik

Generally in the squads I play in we never kick someone to make room for a friend or someone else in the 7th, so we'll holler on Teamspeak to please lock the (six man) squad so that when one person leaves, we can get in.

Sometimes a person CTDs and we'll lock the squad until he rejoins. Sometimes we're meeting at a certain time and don't want to have to kick someone when they arrive.

It's not insidious or some conspiracy, I think it's better to (occassionally) lock and invite when the person arrives, as opposed to saying "Hey dude can you leave so my friend can join?".

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skapunk!n

Ok, presumptions aside and apologies for being abrasive - I just want to point out that if your squad is locked for the sole purpose of croneyism (sp?) then you're being rather unfair.

Specialist squads excluded, I've seen 4 man squads locked for an entire round, we all have, with the same people in them. It's exclusionary.

Finestyle

Doesn't seem to be that big of a problem these days IMO... use ingame text to ask if you can join... you will usually get an invite or a reason why you cant (specialist?) if its led by a TG member. If you still get no joy after trying to communicate, ask for an admin... I see admin messages asking people to unlock their squads quite frequently when this happens.

Sam Hoy

The reason I lock squads is first and foremost: apathy.
If I were to leave a (specialty)squad unlocked then I would get a large number of people joining, not even reading the squad's name, not understanding its purpose and not willing to participate. They are just join because all the other squads are full or some other illogical reason and have no intention of engaging in our mission.

That said, I will let anyone join if they simple type in chat "can I get an invite to the ____ squad", even if we are questionably at a maximum capacity I will let them in. I'd prefer to leave my squads open but the benefit of only people joining who know the squads name and care enough to ask for an invite outweighs having to kick people constantly sometimes multiple times for insubordination.

Ferris Bueller

I dont think the core problem here lies with specialty squads. If theres a helo squad, I think everyone pretty much understands that the guys in it are the flyboys. I think the issue is people starting their own squads for general gameplay and locking it with 3-4 people. I dont see this a whole lot with TG members, moreso with outside clanners who come in and want to play with their buddies who joined.

As a general rule of thumb, if you form a squad and want to make sure that your friends get in, feel free to lock it UNTIL they get in, then unlock it and make room for other people to join. This goes twofold into the fact that it's both polite and better for gameplay.

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Sam Hoy

You'd be surprised.

Coridon

This is generally what happens with me.

I've tried to SL by unlocking the squad and seeing who joins but this typically doesn't work for me. I spend more time herding sheep than getting anything done, and ultimately it's not fun for me and it's not fun for the players themselves.

So I lock the squad, get 3-4 players I'm familiar with in the squad, then try and get one or sometimes two new guys in there. That way I can lead effectively while a new person is actually exposed to an organized, efficient squad.

This tends to work for me, the four "regulars" and the new guy if he sticks around. More often than not the person is impressed with the squad, but occasionally you get someone who has a symbiotic relationship with the M24 and won't run with the other five players in the squad. But this is rare...

ednos

An in-house squad locks its squad because there's no real management involved that way: the SL and SMs know the others and how they play, and everything gets a lot simpler. Now, sometimes we can't get six members at once, but we're still more effective with four of our members than with four of ours and two random players. This is all speaking purely from my limited experience, of course.

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mingmong

I think the more pertinent question is why you're insistent on joining a 4/5 player squad when you can give a 3 player squad the ability to use the officer kit.

Judging by the rest of the post though, I think the answer might just contain you saying the word "me" several times.