SOP: Squad Members

**Eroak** · 04-07-2009, 09:02 PM

Standard Oprating Procedure [SOP]
Being A Good Squad Member

Being A Good Squad Member VIDEO

Stick with your Squad

Sticking together is the hallmark of a TG squad. This means stay near your squad lead and don't wander off. You are not a lone wolf, you are part of a group of people and if you stick together then you bring more guns to bear on the enemy. Imagine your squad of 6 people engages a squad of 3. they are easily shot down and maybe one of your squad goes down too, but within a few seconds, is revived. This is why a squad that sticks together is very powerful.
One warning though, don't group up so close that a grenade can kill you all !
So as a rule of thumb, stay within 5 seconds run from your squad lead, so you can revive them !

Move with your Squad

A squad that sticks together should also move together
If the squad leader gives an order to move out, then move immediately if you can. If you are busy engaging an enemy when the order came, finish the engagement ASAP and then move, even if there are other enemies in the vicinity. Don't get stranded behind while your entire squad moves away.
If the squad lead says its time to move and get in the transport or FAV, then move immediately and get in the vehicle. A vehicle that is stationary, waiting for people to get on, is a target for everything anti-armour. So it’s important for the whole squad to get in the vehicle very quickly
If the squad is moving on foot then try to go ahead of the squad lead and take point or at least keep near behind the squad lead. The squad lead will usually put a move marker on the minimap to show the direction to travel or you can see the squad lead on the minimap and just follow them

Get on the flag when capping

When the squad lead says 'get on the flag' then move quickly into capping range. You can tell when you are in capping range because a bar appears top of the screen under the score
The key is the get the flag neutral, because then the enemy and your team can only spawn on squad leads, while you are on the flag but they are not, therefore your team actually has the advantage
If the capping suddenly stops, be aware that an enemy is now within capping range, and therefore close to you. Get ready for very close range combat

Look at the minimap every 2 seconds

BF2142 is a game of intel, there are infantry scanners, Q-spotting and UAV’s. This constantly puts red dots on the minimap, and if you use that information, you can see them before they come around the corner. Get into the habit of looking at the minimap every 2 seconds.
Also if you are the player class medic/engineer or support then you will see symbols for people calling for your help on the minimap

Use the Comm Row commands to request medic or ammo or repair

The Q + T keys give you options for making requests
Particulary useful are 'need repair' & 'need medic' & 'need ammo', when you do these commands, the players in the kit that can help you, see a minimap symbol to draw their attention to you. Usually the com row request is enough, however you can back it up with squad VOIP if needed

Keep your squad lead alive

This is important, especially when pushing on an enemy flag, the squad lead is your spawn point and when everybody spawns on the squad lead it helps keep the squad together and helps bring more guns to bear on the enemy at once
As you play keep track of where your squad lead is and if they go down, then revive them immediately. If you are not medic, then you can pick up an assault kit on the ground with the 'G' key. Your squad lead's life is more important than your own, so if necessary get the risky revive in for them, so they can live and any Squad members waiting to spawn in, can now do so

Kit selection in the squad

The range of kits in a squad is important in order to handle different threats. Normally it’s the squad lead who will assign kits to people or calls for the kit that is needed next respawn. If the squad lead assigns you a kit then only respawn with that kit unless told otherwise (you can ask for another kit allocation). If the squad lead says next person spawning come in engineer, then you do that, as per the squad leads orders. Call this in over VOIP, so not everyone in the squad follows the same order unneccasarily
If the squad is allowed to choose their own kit and change that choice throughout the game then before you spawn in, look at what kits are already in the squad. Do you already have 2 supports in the squad? If so, you don’t need a 3rd. Is there 1 medic and it’s the Squad Leader? if so, you need to be a medic no mater what. The basic infantry squad should always consist of 3 medics and 1 support(IDS) at all times. The last 2 slots fill in with more medics, dedicated engineer or recon+otus. On armour maps more engineers are good

Listen to your Squad Lead's verbal instructions

The rule is 'Listen' & 'Obey' your squad lead, this is the rule that new people really have to adapt to, they are used to going around on their own or being in non-functional squads, then they join TG and squad work is the norm and it takes some adapting too, the key to adapting is 'Listen' & 'Obey' to your squad lead, then you will soon be contributing to a great TG squad
Don't get so engrossed in a fire fight that you don't hear the squad lead talking, learn to constantly pay attention to the squad lead, no matter what the action
Confirm back to the squad lead that you have understood the order, by an "All right" with the PgUp button or saying "copy" on voip
The squad lead will usually combine verbal orders with the move/attack/defend orders that appear on the minimap (eg a gold line on the minimap from you to the point at which the order is issued for), example you are defending a flag and a squad is coming in from the east, the squad lead marks the move order on the map, you see a gold line appear on the minimap and the squad lead says "move east, intercept that squad coming in"
A very good example of orders that can only be given verbally are 'hold your fire' orders, for example the squad is moving up the far west side of the map on foot, the squad lead gives the order to "hold fire as we are sneaking past", this is when its important to listen and obey
If you become the squad member who listens & obeys to orders then the squad lead will realize that and give you more important jobs to do to contribute to the squad and you will also get more squad invites at the start of rounds, as squad lead's want good squad members

General good rules for Squad VOIP

Get a mic check, just say 'mic check?' or 'is my mic ok?'
Be encouraging and respectful when speaking on voip, a positive attitude makes you popular, a moaning or critical attitude does not
Ask questions to your squad, to learn faster
Let the squad know when you have downed priority targets e.g. enemy SL, enemy tank / walker / APC
You can make requests to your squad lead, example 'can I play a different kit from the assigned one?' or ' can I spawn back at base and bring up the walker?' or ' can we attack the church flag?'. Don't tell your squad lead what to do, request it instead, telling your squad lead is a quick way to annoy them and get kicked from the squad. You can always start your own squad if you want to give orders.
When joining a squad mid-round, ask the squad lead what kit they want and where to spawn in
Bear in mind that your squad lead potentially has 5 squad members to listen to, a commander to listen to, and even teamspeak SL-SL conversations. That's a lot of voices. The squad lead has a lot more going on than you can hear in-squad
When the squad leader is talking, be quite. The squad lead always gets priority for airtime
The squad lead defines how much chat is allowed, it's their call, some SLs like a lot of in squad banter, other SLs just want to focus on the business of winning. The amount of banter is the SLs decision; don't continue with banter when the SL wants business. On the other hand, do join in the banter when the SL is encouraging chat. Follow the SLs lead either way banter or business

Spawn Discipline

At map start assume you will not spawn in when the timer goes to 0, assume you will spawn in on the squad lead (green dot) when they instruct you to do so, for example they may take an FAV and race to a flag and then want their squad to spawn in
During the game, only spawn on your SL (green dot) unless the squad lead instructs you to spawn at another location
If the squad lead says don't spawn then keep your spawn screen open, that will stop you accidentally spawning in on a previously selected spawn point

Q-Spot a lot

Everybody on your team can see the red dot on the minimap from you Q-spot, so its great for the team's battle intel
Before engaging an enemy, Make it a reflex habit to Q-spot then fire !

Verbal spotting with Squad VOIP

Verbal spotting follows up after Q-spotting. The Q-spot puts the red dot on the minimap and the verbal spotting quickly draws your squad lead's attention to the red dot on the minimap. The squad lead then has new intel to make a decision with
Make your verbal spot 'quick' and 'informative' 2142 is a fast paced game and a few seconds can change everything, so as a rule of thumb, a spot takes 1-3 secs
Don't waste squad VOIP air time with words that contain no information, an example of a bad verbal spot is "I see some enemies over there, they are shooting but not at me", this actually gives no useful information at all and takes up VOIP airtime. Wasting VOIP air time is worse than not verbal spotting at all
Verbal spot in a flat tone of voice, to impart information, the excitement tones of voice are for the squad lead to give orders. This is so everybody always knows it’s the squad lead talking
If you are on a flag then verbal spot on compass points relative to the flag, example "tank north". If you are moving between flags then spot relative to the squad lead's position, example "FAV east of SL"
Numbers are assumed to be soldiers, example "2 north" indicates 2 enemy soldiers north. This is for faster verbal spotting, if it’s a vehicle then state that, example "2 tanks north"
Examples of good spots;
- The one word spot, examples "Tank!" or "Mines!", these are used when something is serious right now!
- Their strength of numbers, examples "2 on the catwalk" or "APC plus 5 on the main road" or "full squad defending Church flag"
- Their direction, examples "tank south east of flag" or "3 snipers east of com tower"
- Their location, examples "sniper in tower" or "motion mines on the corner" or "rosch is active" or "3 north Close!"
- Their movement, examples "transport coming our way" or "fully loaded FAV coming in from north Fast!" or "2 enemy tanks north moving off to another flag"
- Special case, "Squad lead is down", although they will usually say they are down, it is helpful to guide a medic to the squad lead location, example "SL is in back of truck by the flag"
- Special case, if your squad leads beacon is destroyed then say "beacon is down" or if the squad lead is unspawnable then say "can't spawn in"
- Special case, "Flag is going down", this is critical information, convey it quickly to your squad
Summary: Q-spot then verbal spot and make your spot 'quick' and 'informative'
Imagine a squad where every squad member was Q-spotting and following up with verbal spots, the flow of intel would put your squad in a superior position, so commit now to do your part in that superior squad and verbal spot