Eroak

Kits and what your squad needs.

I'm seeing more and more inbalance lately in TG squads. It's pertty simple setup to balance out a squad.

Assualt/defense Squads SL=Support, Assualt x4, Wild x1.
Should always consist of 4 assualt kits. The squad leader should play support if it's possible. That allows the squad to be resupplied, The SL takes more time and plays for conservative. Allowing him to stay alive for a spawn point. This also gives out another set of defibs to revive the SL since that person doesn't have to play support. Since a support is almost always needed no matter what setup you have, the 6 slot is wild and can be any kit. Mostly would need to be engineer but that's up to to your SL on how they want to play the squad.

Anti-Armor Squads SL=Engineer, Engineer x2, Assualt x2, Support x1.
Should consist of 3 engineers. No more. Who is left to revive and resupply? This is the max you can place into a squad that is not willing to bleed tickets on deaths. This can only be offset if the squad is mechinized and not taking revivable deaths. The SL should always equiped a PDS and odus. This'll allow a moving area scan for vehicle targets and keep your backside in check. The other engineers should always use motion mines and place them in areas of flank. The second items is up to the squad dynamic. The support should always have EMP gernades equiped. The support becomes the key to allow your engineers into flank positions of armor and take them out with ease. The assualts remain and the left and right flank of the squad always in cover. Ready to either revive thier SL or use the engineer kit of a fallen commrad to distroy the enemy armor. The Assualts become the backbone as they need to be the keenest eye in the squad.

Asset Squads SL=Support, Recon x2, Assualt x1. Locked.
Assets are called assets for a reason. They are very usefull tools in the right hands. Deny assets is a tactic that can work real well if done correctly and not through lonewolf recon tactics. Blowing a asset is easy, but denying the enemy of thier assets the entire roud is very difficult. The SL is again the support so he is forced to take a more defensive approch and not get himself killed. Also allows for repawn point of his killed recons. The SL should remain on the boundry of the UCB and the nearest flag. This is so the Assuat and SL can openly defend themselves without having to hold fire. (Make sure you are clear of all enemy UCB spawn points!) The Recons place 2 charges on 1 asset and another 2 RDX on another asset. They together they detonate at the same time to catch the enemy off guard. The detonation should be done as your leaving the UCB. The recon then lay down fire on the engineers that are currenty repairing the assets. They are usally easy targets. The Assualt remains with the SL at all times becoming his body gaurd. The recons should be steathly enough to aviod the enemy by hold fire and using thier rifles as recon tools to clear the area. Repeat as needed. Also to note the recons shouldn't use APM's since you can't palce mines in teh enemy UCB. Active camo and decoys become better choices for this type of squad.

Fireteams SL=support, assualt x4, support x1.
Most fireteams are split from a full squad into 2 halfs. The 2 halfs then fuction usally as a CQB squad on attack and one in defense. The supports both go with one fireteam each. The SL should be the one on defense to provide the spawn point and to direct both fireteams without having to worry about point attack or counter-attack. The other support must be mindfull to switch out his kit if both his pointmen are taken out to revive the other 2. The supports are need as now only have half the rounds and ammo of a full squad. the support becomes more importent to replace frags and PK rockets. The attacking support should also consider Clark shotgun for point entry that the attack fireteam could benifit from.

Gunship Squads with UCBs. Engineer x1, Recon x1. Locked
The recon is only used for NetBat locks to provide byound the line of sight targeters. The gunner main objective is to provide intel of enemy gunship movements. They need to keep your 6 clear or your dead. The pilot should always fly BARCAP(refer to air combat 101) and keep the skies clear of enemy gunships before low-energy strafing enemy armor. The engieer brings and loads a PDS used to find targets and watch thier 6 of enemy gunships.

Gunship Squads with capables. Engineer x1, Support x1. Locked
The same goes for this squad but once you lose your base with the landing pad, it can no longer be used by your teams gunships. You are then stuck suppling yourself with your support's ammo hub. You'll also have to make do with the engineers repair tool to repair your gunship. Find out of the way, near the boundry if you are forced to repair and resupply yourself.

APC/Walker Squads SL=Support, engineer x1. SL=driver.
The SL resupplies the engineer as he exits the walker and enters. The engineer's task is solely mine clearing and repair. The driver is the squad leader to provide a safe place to spawn inside the vehicle since the SL shouldn't ever exit the vehicle. The enigeer must have motion mine bait and recommended to take motion mines. The SL should always seek a safe place to repair once his health falls below 80%. 80% is the key becasue at that point and well placed hit with instantly kill you and then your vehicle is worthless.

Transport Squads SL=Support, Engineer x4, Assault x1. SL=pilot
Transport squads and quickly react to the battlefields demands. They are usefully if played correcly. 2 engineers should equipt SAAWs and all should take motion mines and PDSs. The PDSs should be dropped to provide team intel of enemy armor movements in "hot" areas while one is placed on the transport itself. The pilot itself is the support and SL to provide the spawn point and supplies while allowing all the slots to be open for engineers. The one medic uses both miniguns of the transport. His auto-heal hub will heal all in the transport that are hurt from AAA fire.

This all falls upon your Squad Leader and what he wants his squad to do. Even if your squad leader says "play your best kit". Be mindfull of what everyone else spawns. If there 3 supports in a squad, there's a problem.

There are more squad types and IHS tactics. Please feel free to discuss squad kit balance with other tactics that you have devloped.

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SharinganTH1422

Good, handy write-up Eroak, I knew most of this, but it helps shade in a few grey areas, +rep

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Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

Lyramion

Lyras Special Squad SL=Recon 1xSupport 1x Sniper 3xWild
The Squadleader uses his cloaking device and tries to sneak behind enemy lines while the Support guy throws EMP grenades at him from a distance. The Sniper stays back and spots fake Soldiers (hold Q + right click) near the Squadleaders forward position so that your own APC is tricked and will "cover" your SLs advance with Mortar fire. If your SL survives - all of a sudden and not announced - 3 wild guys spawn on him in whatever kit. They pull out their knife and bunnyhop towards the nearest enemy squad. Meanwhile the Sniper moves back to your UCB and repeatedly knifes the wall next to your commander to distract him from commanding.

After the round is done everyone using the special Lyra Tactics should somehow and without any particular reason end up with a Gold Star.

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SharinganTH1422

Wow, nice, you know, I think we should implement this tactic in the next scrim...

__________________
Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

SKsniper128

Normally I would play with my buddies and we end up as a sort of a sniper squad with two guys a Spec ops with the camo and RDX that acts as my spotter and Me with the Zeller APMs and the Gruber. We find that it is pretty flexible normally we set up in one spot, cover the flag or silo and move to another spot when needed.

I would normally pick off the long range targets while my spotter nails people trying to sneak up on us. and with RDX he will destroy vehicles and assets as well. And if needed he could lay RDX down like mines, and when a tank or something goes over it blow the RDX.

The only major problem is that both of us lack the ability to resupply ourselves on the event that we run out of ammunition. That's even more of a problem if the commander is not paying attention to supply requests.

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300 to 1? No problem. Might need more bullets though...

Eroak

Sniper squads are not to effective here at TG due to the maps bringing in CQB and fast pace flow. Although if you want to run a real recon team, the team should be a Recon and support with Clark. Set yourself in a area with minimum flank possablites. Your support spotter will mark out targets with your squad leader marker. He sould also bring teh sentry and IDS to cover what flanks you might have to worry about while you are free to pick out targets at long range.

I must remind recons that RDX is a absolute last resort to distroy a enemy vehicle. The RDX is better used to cover flags from entire squads atempting to capture it.

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SharinganTH1422

Yes, sniper squads do need a support, I don't think you would need 6 snipers. Also, I doubt I would have a support with a Clark, if they are going to stay somewhere where it would be very difficult for someone to flank, surely LMGs or a Ganz would be able to pick off these soldiers more easily...

Also, I personally use RDX to protect places where I know vehicles will come (e.g., putting RDX around a silo at Suez and waiting for the next APC to role by).

Another thought, but why have a spotter, when you can have a recon drone?

This would be my personal choice for a sniper squad :
SL=Recon Recon x 2 Support x 2 Wild x 1

3 Snipers, 1 with a Zeller, 2 with the stocks. 2 supports to put down IDSs and Sentry guns (maybe one could have a scanner instead of a IDS if there is only one way to flank the nest). The recons could go with almost any equipment, as they would all be useful in different situations. The most important thing would be to have maximum variety, unless you know you have a certain job that you must stick to, and a certain type of equipment is needed for all of the recons (so don't pack RDX all the time, maybe have a couple of decoys here or styick a couple APMs there, if you're planning to go on a long run, you never know what sort of situations you may come across). You could lock at 5 members, or have a wild. This could be an engineer if you plan to stay mobile on an armour map, an assault if on the move on an infantry map, or on a map like FOB with lots of rocket whores, and where you'll need to revive (switching kits if the assault goes down), or maybe even another support/recon, depending on what the SL sees fit.

(I'm open to criticisms on this, I haven't thought about this for too long)

__________________
Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

SKsniper128

Why? easy...

The drone is akin to a large, beeping, floating, "SHOOT ME!" sign floating above my head. And should people start dropping dead around it. The drone will draw the attention of all the enemies around me.

And then no sniper no matter how skilled accurate and determined could possibly live. the main reason? Not enough bullets. plain and simple. this is further worsened by the fact that the marksman could only shoot one round at a time and that without any backup in the form of a spotter, the sniper would go down.

Quite similar to the events in the Mogadishu, Somalia, 1993, when the second Blackhawk went down the two Delta Force Snipers were doing well, but they simply didn't have enough ammunition to hold back a few hundred angry, armed, and bloodthirsty hostiles.

That and if he runs the enemy will definatly see him and then they will just mow him down.

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300 to 1? No problem. Might need more bullets though...

SKsniper128

Sorry blasted quote button didn't work apparently.

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300 to 1? No problem. Might need more bullets though...

Concr3te

Best squad ever

SL: Recon, 2x Recon, 3x Sniper. No medics, revives are for noobs. Everyone RDX and APM. Sniper should be in the front, to take out close targets and Recons should do nothing and go lonewolf. Do make sure you put all your APM's down before you die.
Oh and the SL should take the beacon so when you die you can spawn right in and die right after. Very useful.

Note: your team will hate you. Just ignore them.

SharinganTH1422

P.S. Make sure you are doing something useful for your team

__________________
Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

nuckj

Exellent write up Eroak. Each squad arrangement makes perfect sense.

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9th MID | 2142 Profile | New to TG?

Eroak

Thanks fo the feedback everyone. Lets try and keep this on track for newer people and not confuse them with to many joking posts. Squad balance is a tad more complex then just learning how to play your kit right. There are more people involved.

The biggest point about all this really, is what the squad leader should play. The SL shouldn't play assault at all if possible. It again gives the paddles to someone who can revive the SL and allow the SL to take a more supporting role(Points at Crux) as they always should be doing. The more supporting your SL is, the less likely he'll die and the more your squad can function, not worrying about the SL dieing as much. Also this gives breathing room for the SL to command his unit and take in a larger picture. When I SL. I tell my squad to move in front of me. Use me as a spawn point. I rarely engage in CQB as SL. This way I can watch the overhead NetBat and see the big picture more often. I'm quicker to respond to flanks and rushes. because I'm not worried about having to cover my own ass.

Take this into account when you assign kits as SL. Give yourself the assigned kit first, then hand out the 2nd kit. Make the rest medics.

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Sim[e]trix

Gotta love your transport squad set up. I had a group of buddies that used to do that but our focus was to turn the transport into a bomber. Just track down the enemy armor fly over and motion mines away! lol good times

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"Acid rain hurts when you're naked." - Anonymous but wise

Augustus Gloop

I know everyone loves the sniper. The element of reaching out to touch someone's brainpan from someplace invisible. We all have fantasies of being that solo guy who watches a flag all by himself and picks off all the hapless n00bs from on high with iron nerves and a twitch of the wrist. SNIPE! Between the eyes. Oh man, the romance!

Unless you're one of TG's unreal snipers, and I think I can count them on one hand with fingers to spare, the reality is very different.

Probably you are up high somewhere because that way it's tough to see you right away, and if someone does spot you without you knowing, they have to climb a long ladder without you spotting them. (This means you can't move to take a flag, can't maneuver with your squad, and when you run out of bullets, you have to go find more.)

So you bring a support guy with you! (Now you've removed two people from the battle, good going!) He watches your back, and resupplies you when you get low. His IDS keeps a watch around you, so no one can ever sneak up on you again!

5 minutes later you get all settled in the perfect nest, support guy at your back, and you site down your scope and zero in on some poor jerk's brainstem. PHUT! Poor guy has a third eye in his forehead. Unfortunately, your victim has friends. He's up again in about a second because some medic has been watching his mini-map (HEY. It could happen.) and heard the guy's cry for help. Medics bring rockets. You knew that, but you didn't figure it would matter, you're too well hidden. Oh no, a UAV! Now you stick out like a lab rat at a black cat convention. Rockets come arcing in (they don't have to be real precise, do they?) and you're kibble. Your support can't do much for you, no defib. Maybe he takes your kit and picks someone off to get 'asploded himself.

So you bring a medic with you. Now it's 3 people supporting that one kill at a time (if you never miss). Now you have sustainability! You won't run out of bullets, and your smart medic is staying well back from the danger areas just so he can pour your brains back into your skull when you get a little careless.

So lets look at the BEST case scenario. You are well hidden with a medic and support, and you have a vantage point over a contested flag. You don't miss, and have an unfailing ability to locate squad leaders. You get off one, maybe two shots before they locate you, and down two guys, the SL being one of them. Unfortunately, any squad worth their salt has 2 or three medics. They immediately revive the SL, but due to battle conditions, can't revive their other guy. They rocket you until you die, but don't bother to come see if you have friends because we all know snipers just don't mean much in conquest battles that are won by squad level maneuvering. For the price of taking 3 people out of direct contention for the flag, you killed one guy irretrievably. The flag is still won or lost based on the actions of the people on the ground, not your shooting, which is an annoyance at best.

The worst possible scenario of course, is that you're all alone, wasting your tickets when you die because you weren't able to talk a medic into babysitting you, and still having no effect on the battle around you.

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