Aumen1

Hey - I just want to throw these bits out as food for thought.

1) Spread out, don't walk single file, keep a bodies width apart when traveling in a column formation.

2) As a medic, be the only medic going for a defib., if you see someone else going for it, let them have it. And or call it out on your chat. All to often do I see four medics going for one person and they all die from rockets or nades.

3) keep the chat to min. and if you have a wild hair to grab the walker or something, ask permission from your SL.

4) Flags - Spread out around the flag, throw your boxes and call out a direction you will keep watch on. One person should be on the flag, the rest create a perimeter, keep close enough to help the flag drop but far enough not to be a nades lunch. The SL should be no where in sight. He should be dropping the bacon or waiting at a distance anticipating is squad will be made someones lunch.

5) Don't Travel directly against a wall or hide next to an object that can be hit with rockets.

6) As a SL keep you sqaud informed at all times, keep them active, "Take defensive positions" or "we are preping to go on the offense -- everyone on me". Tell them where the action is, where to keep there eyes if you plan to navigate around it to steal a flag or flank the fight." Most important - Tell them if they are bunched up and to spread out. Yes in some classes you will want to be close together, but never that close.

7) Leapfrog!!!!!!

8) Make Fireteams!!!! Fireteam A - Fireteam B -- Do that off the start, you can ask 2-3 people to take an action without everyone having to.. (i.e. "Fireteam A - Go help bravo at tenches -- break break -- Fireteam B -- They will need covering fire and spotting from the roof --- Move out"

9) Call out if you go down, just say "Man down or Dead" - this will make your squad look at the mini-map to find you and will keep the chat to a min.

10) Number 2 is important.

11) All to often to I hear SL saying after he has died "where is everyone" --- SL's atleast keep a medic with you, in-fact keep your team with you, don't tell them to keep up. If you have to do that, then you need to keep them more informed as to what you plan to do. If you don't want to do that - Tell them "Okay we are moving -- Everyone needs to be able to see my boot laces as we move - keep close"


So yeah just a few bits I got from my time in the service.

Please feel free to comment on any of the above, well except for number 2

Cheers,
Aumen

BigMcLarge

Number 2 IS important. I've very recently starting controlling my urge to try to beat my squadmates to the revive, because at least 50% of the time, we were all getting blown to pieces. Put the squad/team/victory ahead of your own personal stats.

One thing I would like hear more from SLs is weapons status. If we're on the move, should we fire on stray enemies along the way, or hold our fire? Should we nade the flag before running in, or sneak in quietly in case there's noone there and we don't want to alert nearby enemies? There's lots of times where our squads on the move, we're all quiet and concealed, moving building to building, and some SM behind me starts rattling off rounds from his Baur at a guy halfway across the map, and the next thing you know, we all get mowed down by an entire squad that was made aware of where we are.

NONE of my SLs EVER drop bacon!!! I love bacon. Can I squad up with you?

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Aumen1

Every squad could use a BigMClarge with bacon all we need now are fries and a coke.

Aumen1

Great point. I have even sent a fireteam one direction for a distraction (i.e. - Fireteam A try to get roadblock, while we get command). Then as you would infer - it would be prudent to tell Fireteam B to go silent.

Cheers,
Aumen

Arithea

I would venture to say that number 11 is largely the responsibility of the squad members. Personally, I prefer a squad full of aware members whose judgment I trust, which keeps me from having to tell people exactly where to be. It is their duty as a squad member to be sure that there is at least one medic somewhere within revive range of me, and if there is not, they might have to be that medic. It goes a long way toward situational awareness of friendlies, which, in my mind, is even more important than awareness of the enemy.

Being a good--or great--squad member is just as difficult as being a good squad leader.

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Aumen1

Very true Arithea - Well said.

Uranium - 235

At the same time, it pisses me off when the SL says "Never mind guys we're going to Ruins" and just runs off while we're still wrapping things up and scattered. I know speed is key, but on maps where you move around a lot like Cerbere, especially if you're midfield defense, you need to keep in mind that a defense spread too thin isn't really much of a defense. You shouldn't have to babysit every squad member, but your SMs shouldn't find themselves in isolated pairs because everyone just disappeared.

While I can say 'Now is a good time for me to move', and do it, remember that that doesn't mean your SMs are ready to move. First you have to vocalize the new objective, perhaps issue the order. Then it gets stuffed into my mental queue, and that of other squad mates, who have to think for a moment about how to get where you want to go. And this is all on top of the immediate circumstances of the situation. Even if it just takes 4-5 seconds for me to get my butt in gear, that's still quite a long time for an SL to cover some ground.

Failure to keep together is MOSTLY the fault of squad members, but I see it many times as the fault of the SL who is literally moving faster than his squad can think.

Arithea

Very true. A squad leader has to be able to evaluate the response time of his or her squad and act accordingly; otherwise, people are left behind, and the squad fragments and falls apart.

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Zhohar

Yes, an SL oughtn't ignore the SMs' current conditions in issuing move orders, but when you play together for so long, and when you're an experienced SL yourself, you can mostly read the SL's mind simply by noticing which way he's facing on the minimap. It really does get that simple -- reaper needn't tell us a lot of times what we'll do simply because we're right there with him -- we know what he'll say, and a few of us will be there ahead of him before he's even said it.

It's that kind of cohesion that I strive for in my squads, and if it leaves a few SMs on their own a couple of times, I'm willing to deal with that.

This is one of the reasons that both Crux and later I made the "3-man squad" threads: the squad becomes extremely ineffective with six people unless it's filled with extremely smart and experienced individuals. It's harder to catch revives, it's harder to manage everyone as an SL, and it's easier to get into your own firefight and fall behind the SL, like you mentioned here. With 3 people, you're all usually engaging the same exact target and cutting the same exact path. It's physically not possible to be engaged in a firefight and be caught offguard when the SL says "let's go here now."

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Pfft, how can you call it suicidal if we lived through it?

Aumen1

This is advantage in fireteams --- Just be sure you have a fireteam captian...

A

Zhohar

Have you ever actually done this?
Honestly mate, I don't mean to be a jerk, but put some experience to your words and then I'll accept it. Even in a squad full of the 3rd, which is highly cohesive and organized, it is very difficult to run two fireteams. It's possible in scrims, and I've definitely seen it done, but the amount of co-ordination and innate skill and experience necessary for each SM to pull of this halfway decently is definitely beyond the reach of a normal TG squad.

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Pfft, how can you call it suicidal if we lived through it?

MDFubar

When changing the objective, great communication is required. As Zhohar stated, playing with the same people will get you used to how things run. I often tell my SM's, "after we turn the flag I want to head East and take Church". This is said as we are capping the current flag. I will move off as the flag is almost turned and scout the situation to advise our approach.
If you are in my squad, then you know we are the "rapid-response" and we move quickly.
Fire-teams? Many discussions, with the right squad it works....at times. If we are holding a flag and an adjacent flag is weakly or undefended, I will send two or three SM's to take it or reinforce another squad. The premise is that they can spawn on me if something happens and I never send them too far.
As for number 11, I always ask who will be my personal medic.

Number 9........don't just call out down or dead, "Sl down NNE of flag, three hostiles". You advise your position and the danger around you. Your Sm's do not need to be trying to figure out where you are, but back to 11......have a personal medic. They are instructed to stay close enough for a revive, but far enough not to get killed with me.
Something that I have found really helpful, your combat status: "need health", Need ammo", and most importantly during a fire fight "RELOADING". Let your people know that you are reloading, this could save a life. If they expect you to watch thier back and you are reloading, that flank is vulnerable.

I ran a couple of three man squads the other day, THEY ROCK!

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Aumen1

Zhohar - FT's are something I have been playing with since I have joined the 2142 community 2yrs ago. The concept and tactics come from my time in the service --- I have used fireteams more than a few times now on the server and yes it can be difficult. However pending the squads ability to preform, I either abondon it or it works great.

Cheers mate,
Aumen

Aumen1

Good point Fubar re: #9 Down, position and Hostiles - Noted.

Also Zhohar in respect to the 3 man sqauds, I am excited to try it. However is it looked down upon in the public server?

Johnny-sama

IMO, if we're assaulting a base, we should send the Recon guy ahead first. Find a good spot and stay there. Cover our assault.

I'm usually the recon guy and squad leader (at least, I was, I'm trying to pick up 2142 again), and I can't count the number of times I've saved my squad member's collective butts just by staying a little far back and covering the location.

Love the TG servers btw. Some of you may remember a dothackRAVE who would always squad up with a Fugensnot. I'm dot.