Arithea

Good post. I heartily agree. I'm also of MasterEditor's school of thought--if there are no squads open, I'll start one of my own and see what I end up with. Pubbies can be a lot of fun if you can get them to open up and communicate.

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WeeWar: Arithea
Ikariam: Arithea, Chehios [88:57] Ankh-Morpork, Crystal Glass .....Find me! Send me stuff!
....................... Rhiatheos [88:56] Sto Lat, Wine ...................Find me! Send me stuff!
....................... Echeeos [87:57] Lancre, Marble ...................Find me! Send me stuff!

DLBlue

I love nothing more than taking a squad of people I have never met before and getting them organized. Its even better that in the last few days that I have been playing I have gotten a few whispers regarding TG and joining.

Strangers are only strangers until ya meet them.

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---Bellicosity---

MDFubar

AMEN! I ahve had three people in the past 4 days ask how to join, where top join, and at least two ask to be on my buddy list. Just from doing exactly what you said DLBlue!

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"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
- General George Patton Jr

Zhohar

I find that 90% of TG people are deathly afraid of leading a squad.
I think we should have a "Hold Hands With the SL" day to make them deal with that fear
At the end, instead of ribbons, we'll give away cute bunnies and candy. (There may even be a bag of kittens for those who pay extra attention!)

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Arithea

Well, we do have a squad leading course, if we can get Crux to teach another one...*cough*hint*cough*

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WeeWar: Arithea
Ikariam: Arithea, Chehios [88:57] Ankh-Morpork, Crystal Glass .....Find me! Send me stuff!
....................... Rhiatheos [88:56] Sto Lat, Wine ...................Find me! Send me stuff!
....................... Echeeos [87:57] Lancre, Marble ...................Find me! Send me stuff!

Sir-Nerd

I usually leave if they ask, i need to get more hours as a SL or CO anyway.

I understand that people like to play with their IHS squad.

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Men are basically smart or dumb and lazy or ambitious. The dumb and ambitious ones are dangerous and I get rid of them. The dumb and lazy ones I give mundane duties. The smart ambitious ones I put on my staff. The smart and lazy ones I make my commanders.

DLBlue

To heck with that mentality, I love squad leading. As far as the 90% idea, thats probably good. Everyone cant be squad leaders. If you are afraid or timid to lead, recognize that the strength of a squad leader comes from confidence. If you act like you know what you are doing, most people will believe it.

That and you might end up figuring it out in the process.

Couple good points to be made:
ARMOR MAPS - Pick a flag, defend it, and announce to your team that you are camping it. All to often these maps are won and lost on which team held the most flags. Its boring sometimes, but someone has to do it.

CONQUEST MAPS - Get on the damn flag. You cannot shoot a flag to make it rise. Get the cajones to run through live fire for the flag and you will be surprised how many of your men will follow. Clean up a point AFTER its yours, otherwise you are fighting a losing battle.

Other small points,

Check corners and remind your squad to do the same. If someone looked left, look right.

Keep a distance from each other too. Nothing is worse than your whole squad getting taken out by a single grenade or rocket volley.

Do not let disrespect and disorganization go unpunished. Yell at those who will not do as you command, and kick them from the squad if they dont shape up. If it doesnt change their mind, it will remind the others that you require teamwork, not request it.

Do not allow for timidness. If your men are unwilling to charge the enemy, the line is going to sit there if not move back. LEAD them, by example.

Give people specific jobs. Get their names down as best you can before the round starts so you can see a part of it and recall the whole of it
-- Defend the beacon
-- Split for flanking movement
-- Give covering fire (support most likely)
-- Nade in (support again most likely)
All those are really good jobs to give to people specifically. Calling them by name also gives a sense of responsibility to getting it done. Being able to on a dime split your squad into two groups for flanking is an INCREDIBLE asset.

Acknowledge accomplishment. Even if its accidental. Someone got a 1 in a million shot on a gunship with a pilum? The nade someone just threw took out a whole squad? Two men held a point against ten incoming? Shout congratulations! Dont sit silent when people do well. Most will appreciate the recognition, and strive to achieve it. Dont make this your only strong suite as a leader as it will quickly become your downfall if you recognize too much.

Give clear orders. Description helps especially considering the similarities between maps. Use cardinal directions. "The closest ridge to the NE has a sniper, Joe & Jim take care of it"

Sometimes not attacking is better than attacking. If you all have the stock anti tank launcher... let one person fire first to try and bait the shields up. Small organization like this builds to greater teamwork.

Judge your squad based off your squad's COLLECTIVE teamwork score. And to be clear, this excludes emp nade spamming. Work to get more revives, heals, rearms, and repairs from your team. Remind them to do it. Its not glorious, but the most valuable player on a squad is normally the man who hangs back to play medic.

Speed and surprise are your greatest weapons. Carelessness is your greatest enemy. Be sure to weigh the two before choosing your tactic. It can mean the difference between rushing the point and moving up slowly clearing the path to it. There is no hard and fast rule to this, its more a judging of the situation.



And my motto, Make it hurt. If you can manage to make your squad take two of the enemy for every loss, you will net a gain. You WILL lose flags. You WILL die. Your squad WILL be wiped out. But if you made them lose so many in the process, it will not matter.



REVIVING ONE MAN IS BETTER THAN KILLING TWO.

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---Bellicosity---

MDFubar

Good Points! I had a SM the other night complain that his pinky hurt. When I asked why, he said because we where sprinting too much! LOL

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"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
- General George Patton Jr

DLBlue

Damn right, light armor ftw.

I only go heavy when we are sitting on a point and not assault/med

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---Bellicosity---