Thread: 2142 squad leading basics

The outline that follows reflects the basic knowledge I have accumulated in the hours I have spent playing on the TG 2142 conquest server. I wrote this outline as a guide for teaching the 2142 conquest squad leading course. I thought it would be helpful to share with the rest of the community as well.

1. Qualities of a good squad leader

a. Friendly
b. Fun (it’s a game! Don’t forget!)
c. Unpredictable

i. Smart players understand probable attack routes and counter them. Use something else once in a while to keep them honest.

d. Smart

i. Outthink your opponent. Know their attack styles and preferences.

e. Praise your squad

i. They need to know when they are doing things right, not just when they are doing things wrong.

f. Decisive

i. Pick a plan and stick with it for a few mins. Taking a well held flag requires quick thinking and probably a 2nd try to get it right. A wrong decision has a higher margin of success than none.
ii. Do not overthink, no decision should take too long.
iii. Do not underthink, be aware of the consequences of your actions.

g. High situational awareness

i. Minimap

1. use the zoom key to gain perspective
2. know how to report north south east west.
3. pay attention to the direction of the player arrows
4. red means engaged.
5. x means dead
6. dead players point straight north (sometimes their x does not show)

ii. Commander communication

1. Ask for intel before attacking over voip.
2. Inform CO of important events.

a. A break through front lines buggy.

b. Organized squad moving for an unprotected flag
c. A significant change in your orders

iii. Look around (a lot)

1. Always be gathering info as a mode of behavior.
2. You are a leader first, a soldier 2nd. Your squadmates are your guns and you are their brain.

iv. Know the enemy

1. Squad leaders are a small group, there is always 1-2 squads of heavy hitters.

a. Know the enemy squad leader and their tendency. Do they rush power station at tunis with a buggy EVERY time?

2. Know the location of enemy armor

a. Running blind loses tickets,
b. crossing the street and seeing the high arc of a mortar shell coming from that apc you did not notice makes for an unhappy squad.

3. Encourage contact reports: your squad is your eyes an ears.

a. Be specific: tell them to report organized enemy squads, armor, close flag contacts

4. Know the maps and how players use them. Know the high and low traffic points and lines of sight. Know the hidey holes.

v. Know your team

1. Know the other squad leaders on your team and their tendencies.
2. Know the location of your armor
3. watch the player arrows and squad leader icons on minmap to show movement

h. Be firm but unemotional when players are not following orders.

i. You need to follow orders or you will be removed from the squad. Then restate the order they need to follow.
ii. Be forgiving. Don’t mistake newness for insubordination.

i. The intangibles

i. Lead your squad, give them orders, be charismatic, play to your personality strengths and leadership style.

2. Kit choice

a. Assault

i. Benefits of SL having smoke instead of rockets.

1. Rockets draw attention and fire
2. Smoke as cover and as decoy.

ii. Assault allows for survivability self heal and keep your squad up with revives.

b. Support

i. IDS (or pdd-200 scanner) and emp

c. Recon

i. snipe or lambert
ii. (extended) cloak and decoy
iii. rdx and apm

d. engy

i. mm bait, motion mines, vehicle scanner

3. SL equipment

a. Beacon

i. Placement (within TG rules)
ii. Spawn strategies

1. at will
2. on command

iii. Use of otus with beacon (best of both?)
iv. Great for defense
v. Don’t forget you have a beacon!

b. Otus

i. “Otus up, look for diamonds, they should also be on your minimap”
ii. Netbat for each kit provides

1. recon: makes enemies appear as dots on minimap
2. support: Show up "Diamonds" in your 1st person view like the PDD-200 Scanner
3. engy: Show up Health Bars of enemy vehicles within scan radius
4. Assault: Show up Health Bars of enemy soldiers within scan radius

c. Interceptor

i. Spanky is fun, not all that useful.

d. NS beacon.

i. Not sure how this thing works.

e. Light vs heavy armor

i. Heavy armor if cap and hold (defensive round)
ii. Light armor if a mobile squad is wanted (attacking round)
iii. SL is highly mobile while gathering intelligence. Usually wear light.

4. Skills

a. The SL interface basics

i. Talking with CO
ii. Requesting CO assistance

1. supply drops (use request interface – be accurate.)
2. uav (VOIP or interface depending on CO)
3. OS bombardment. (typically VOIP, rarely interface)

b. Waypoints

i. When defending you want to mark where you want supplies and med hubs
ii. Mark locations of enemy forces
iii. Mark location of defending sentries
iv. Mark location of where you want an IDS
v. Mark location of where you want motion mines.
vi. Mark where you want squad to go. Keep updating this when you reach a waypoint.
vii. When you screw up

1. Ignore that waypoint.
2. I will update the waypoint when I get a chance.

viii. After using a waypoint to point something out move order back to the attack or defend to help your squad get points for unlocks.
ix. Use waypoints to control the pace of an attack

1. move in slowly take the area around the waypoint. I will adjust it when we are ready to take more ground.

c. Attack orders (how to 3d or minimap)
d. Defend orders (how to 3d or minimap)
e. Field upgrades (need to issue orders to get your squad points and upgrades)
f. Communications

i. Clear

1. Give clear orders. Ambiguity will lessen your squads’ effectiveness.

ii. Concise

1. Verbal coms are kept simple and short.

iii. Provide intel to your squad and get them to communicate intel to you.

1. Report locations of anything that is relevant with a waypoint and an update on voip.

iv. Most squad leaders address their squad every 45 seconds or so.

5. Starting a squad

a. Custom name

i. TG
ii. TG-VOIP
iii. LearnTG
iv. Something fun and goofy etc

b. Lock and invite then unlock
c. Fully unlocked

i. TS announcement (starting a squad on PAC in a few seconds.)

d. Specialty squad name should reflect purpose

i. Assets (2-4 people)
ii. APC (2-6 people)
iii. Gunship (2-3 people)
iv. Transport (4-6 people)
v. Buggy (3-4 people)
vi. Tank (2-4 people)
vii. Armor (6 people)
viii. “Name of flag” (Church on Verdun, Statue on Belgrade etc)

6. Round warmup planning and first spawn in.

a. You should give a general round strategy, a specific round start plan and specific kit assignments during this time.
b. Check with CO for orders if you have CO before you give orders to squad.
c. Wait for squad to fill before issuing orders or start as soon as people enter your squad.
d. Announcements

i. “If you do not have voip use the PGUP or PGDOWN key to respond yes or no.”
ii. “Equip Light armor - We will be mobile often:
iii. “equip heavy armor, We will cap and hold for most of the round.
iv. “Equip the otus as your SL item in case we switch kits.
v. “hold spawns, deselect your spawn point and select the squad leader as a spawn point when I spawn in. Do not spawn in until I tell you. When you spawn in quickly move towards the flag.
vi. Spawn in and grab whatever armor you can – then we will roll out.
vii. If you identify an enemy squad leader, let us know who it is, IF you kill an enemy squad leader, let us know.
viii. Define fireteams if you KNOW you will be divided into fireteam most of the round. (rarely done, most fireteams are spur of the moment based on location and other changing game factors.)

e. Ask for kit volunteers (be specific here)

i. Some examples

1. I need one person to go support for the whole round. You need to have your NETBAT helmet unlocked to volunteer for this role. Please equip EMP nades and IDS if you have it.
2. I need 1 volunteer to play recon, you need to have the netbat helmet unlocked if you volunteer for this role. Please equip RDX and APMs
3. I need 1 volunteer to go assault with defib and smoke
4. I need 2 volunteers to go assault with rockets and defibs.
5. I need 2 volunteers to go engy with motion mine bait and motion mines.

f. Ask for role volunteers

i. Player X, could you take your engy kit and mine up Toll station
ii. Player X, I need you to be my personal body guard. Stay close to me and make sure I stay alive as a spawn point.
iii. Player X, I need to to grab go support with the ids and defensive shield. Grab the walker and bring it up as support for toll station defense. Once you get to toll, have the engy hop in the walker while you throw down the ids and shield at the doorway to the inner toll area.

g. Assign kits

i. Be specific just like in 5e above. But order each person to play a kit rather than request a volunteer. (do this when time constraints are at work.

h. Pressed for time

i. Give order to hold spawn, get your kit right. Assign kits if you can, if not then tell them to spawn on you with kit of their choice and shape the squad later.

i. Repeat order to hold spawn, explain what flag you are going for or any other relevant tactics.
j. Game on!

i. Call for your squad to spawn in when you are ready

1. There will be roughly a 1.5 second delay when you call for your squad to spawn in.

7. Specialty squad

a. Assets (2-4 people)

i. 1 support
ii. 1 recon
iii. 1-2 medics

b. APC (2-6 people)

i. 1-2 engy
ii. 1 support (driver)
iii. Assaults for a ground based fireteam

1. they will pod onto minimally defended flags for a quick cap.

c. Gunship (2-3 people)

i. Both Engy with vehicle scanner and SAW
ii. 1 sniper as a ground target spotter.

d. Transport (4-6 people)

i. Driver is support
ii. 2-3 engys
iii. 2 assaults in gunner seats.

1. Which transport gun does not work?
2. assaults can halo onto uncontested flags.

e. Buggy (3-4 people)

i. Driver is support
ii. Rest are engy with motion mines and vehicle scanners.

f. Tank (2-4 people)

i. Engy and support in each tank. Support is driver.

g. Armor (6 people)

i. Mostly engy and supports with 1-2 assaults for minor infantry fighting.
ii. Several armor pieces rolling round the map.

h. Walker (2 people)

i. support drives, engy in AA seat and repairing

8. Attacking ( a flag or an enemy position)

a. Direct assault (ALL on FLAG!)

i. Go right at the enemy with speed and force. Rely on medics to keep squad up.
ii. Lead with grenades
iii. Use smoke for cover.
iv. SL in the rear, middle or front depending on twitch skill of SL and SMs and enemy locations. (keep the SL alive!)
v. Use when you have superior numbers or skill over the defending squad.
vi. Can last about 1-2 minutes before SL is down or flag is capped.

b. Camp flag for kills

i. Do this to soften up the defense of a flag. Have your guys stay off the flag and bomb the crap out of it with everything you have. Make people not want to spawn there. Keep your Situational awareness high so you can order your squad to move in when the conditions become more favorable for an attack.

c. Kill zone (camp for kills)

i. Camp a choke point or open space for kills

1. do this when you are up on tickets

ii. Often an area between flags.
iii. Best when you are up in tickets and not under bleed.
iv. Provide a safe base as waypoint where medpacks and ammo should be dropped.

d. Circle assault

i. SL is mobile and circles around a flag as a mobile spawn point.
ii. SMs spawn in and move on flag in pairs or defined groups.
iii. Can last up to 3-4 minutes before the SL dies.
iv. Use when you are facing even or superior numbers or waiting for backup.
v. Use when you are waiting for backup from another squad.
vi. Use when you are far from a nearby spawn point in case SL dies.
vii. Think of it as softening them up.

e. Hidden SL assault

i. SMs spawn in and move on flag in pairs or defined groups.
ii. Can last up to 3-4 minutes before the SL dies.
iii. Use when you are facing even or superior numbers or waiting for backup.
iv. Use when you are waiting for backup from another squad.
v. Use when you are far from a nearby spawn point in case SL dies.
vi. Only works if you have a good spot to hide that is protected.
f. Pin and Flank
i. Divide into fireteams. Alpha pins while bravo flanks.

g. Beacon assault

i. Allows the SL to engage
ii. Can last a few minutes depending on beacon placement.
iii. Place beacon and then initiate a full assault.
iv. Have each SM hold spawn if they go down in the full assault.
v. Have everyone spawn in at once and do another assault.

h. Combined assaults

i. Start with hidden SL.
ii. After a minute or two SL starts a circle assault.
iii. Then move into a direct assault when you think you can take flag.

i. After any cap, clear the area and sweep for beacons.
j. Armor assault.

i. Direct assault using armor
ii. If armor goes down, turn into an infantry assault.
iii. SL MUST stay alive.

9. Defense

a. basic

i. Position SMs as sentries overlooking likely approaches to your flag.

1. Placement will depend on terrain and map

ii. SMs should use standard contact reports.
iii. React to any threats with appropriate force.

1. Don’t send everyone after a lone wolf leaving your flank open.

b. Kill zone (forward defense)

i. Defense of an area where enemies often will travel.
ii. Good for choke points
iii. Object is to gain tickets by getting kills and keeping your guys revived.

c. Multi flag defense

i. Break up into fireteams. SL Apha stays at the most contested flag while Bravo FT stays at back flag.

10. Traveling

a. Define a point person
b. Have squad move cover to cover if risk of contact is high
c. Traveling overwatch (if risk of contact is low have everyone full on sprint with SL in middle or rear.)
d. Use smoke if snipers are a problem.
e. Remind your squad to continue moving and avoid engagement

11. Situations

a. SL goes down (when SMs are spawning on SL)

i. Set up defensive positions (a kill zone) and wait for SL to rejoin
ii. Split into fireteams with those alive continuing on the objective while the SL fireteam sets up another objective.
iii. Have the squad continue the assault if you think they can cap
iv. Retreat to a safe zone to regroup.
v. Have members hold spawn

b. Fire only when detected
c. Hunt another squad

i. Identify enemy squad leader and make sure he stays dead.

d. Need an engy

i. “I need the next person that dies to come in engy and work on that tank. Let the squad know when you are engy.”

e. End of round if game is close

i. Round the wagons, focus on unrivivable kills and keeping your guys alive.

f. support another squad

i. The order here is to support another squad in their goals. This is usually a done when you are on offense. It is especially helpful when you are leading a squad of less effective players. Instruct your squad that they are to support whatever the partner squad is doing. This means focus on reviviing the enemy squad, shooting at their targets and making sure thier squad leader stays safe.