So you want to be a squad leader eh? Yes, it is true we get all the chicks, but it's not all free and easy you know. There's actual work involved. In fact, being a great TG squad leader is the hardest job on the server. No worries though. This here guide'll get you started on your way to squad leader glory!

The Three Big Jobs

There are three tasks to being a great squad leader, in order of importance:

1) Managing your Squad Strategically
2) Managing your Squad Tactically
3) Being an active soldier

It is very important that you ALWAYS treat them in this order. You are a squad leader. You're responsible for the actions and performance of up to 5 other members of your team. This is significantly more important than your individual performance as a soldier. You must focus on your performance as a leader.

The big failing that most squad leaders on the TG server has is not recognizing this order of importance. Many get too involved with their squad's tactics and don't do the right things strategically. Others are too focused on their individual soldiering and simply don't provide enough leadership.

A good squad leader will get the strategic part right. A great squad leader will get both the strategic and the tactical part right. An exceptional squad leader will do all of that and still be an effective soldier. But it is more important to be a good squad leader than trying to be an exceptional one and failing. Recognize your limits. Start with what you can handle and build from there.

So let's go through them in order and take a look at how to go about accomplishing each in turn.

Strategic Squad Management

What exactly do I mean by this? It means having your squad in roughly the right place, trying to do roughly the right thing. Forget the individual placements of your soldiers. Forget micro-managing their actions. Get them attacking/defending the right area on the map with the right kit loadouts and you've managed to do this.

Sounds easy right? Actually not so much. It means being constantly aware of everything that is taking place in the big picture. You have to just know which team holds which flags, and whether or not that constitutes bleed for you or the enemy. You have to know who is defending and attacking where on the map. You have to know not only where the enemy's forces are, but where they are going.

Doesn't sound so easy, right? Sometimes you'll have a great commander who will handle most of this for you. But frankly you need to have the capability to not need that level of information or direction from your commander - because chances are he won't be great. So how do we do this? First you have to constantly check the big map. Every time you get a moment where you don't have to actively be 'playing', look at your big map.

1)Take note of the flag distribution (who holds what). If you don't know the flag situation, you can't make an intelligent decision as to where you need to send your squad for best effect.

2) Know where your team is. If you're playing Belgrade you probably neither need nor want every squad at Statue. If a flag is well defended, leave it alone. Don't go and join the crowd. Look at the distribution of your team's squads. Now combine this with the information we have in (1) to make decisions. Does your team need to cap another flag? If so you need to choose where to attack. Do you need to hold what you have? Then you need to know where to defend. You can only make this decision properly if you know where your team is.

3) Know where your enemy is. There are many clues as to your enemies' distribution. The first and best is UAV. It's a great tool. Also useful are IDS left in place by your team's supports. Sentry guns are another small piece of indication. Next comes your comrades' deaths. Always be looking for people on your team dying. Generally speaking they didn't just spontaneously combust - someone from the other team killed them. If you see *what* killed them and how many of them died then you have a lot of information. If you see an entire squad wiped out by infantry weapons then you know you have at least squad-strength of the enemy near that location. If you see that same squad wiped out by enemy APC, that changes things (for example if you have no engineer, and there's no rail gun near that location you should avoid that spot!).

4) Know where your enemy is going. How can you know this? Look at the information you have from 1, 2 and 3. Do you have bleed on? Then they are probably going to attack. Do they have bleed on? Then they are probably going to defend. If they're going to attack, look where the bulk of their army is based on #3. Then look at your friendly troop placement and try to figure out which flag they are likely to go after. Is your team entrenched on a front line and an enemy buggy just got climbed into? Get your butt to a back flag because it is probably about to be hit by a mobile squad!

5) Where are you needed? Is your team in need of taking another flag? Now comes the judgment calls. If you see your team assaulting a flag and think your squad would tip the difference, then you join them. But if you think rather the bulk of your team is tying up the bulk of the enemy at one location, then your squad hitting another spot might turn the tide by either capping a flag, or pulling away enough of the enemy to deal with you that your teammates can win their conflict. The key thing to remember is you don't need to beat the enemy at all points on the map. You only need to win the battles that count. Pick your best chance at overwhelming them and take it! Likewise on defense, don't bolster your team's defenses in unnecessary places. If the front lines look solid, bite the bullet and prepare for a mobile rear flag defense. And, of course, take into account your squad's loadouts. Don't send into the maw of the enemy armor if you don't have engineers. If your squad is weak in CQB, or short on rockets, be careful about the locations you take them.

If you can handle just the strategic part of the above and actually do it, then you've just joined probably the top 10% of squad leaders around. Because most of the rest are too busy being tactical or being a soldier to get the strategic part right. And that is the single most important thing you can do for your squad. If you have them in the right place trying to do the right thing, then the rest is gravy. Of course, being good tactically can squeeze out another level of performance from your squad, but it won't make a whit of difference if they're in the wrong place doing the wrong thing.

The next part in the series will deal with getting that extra bit out of them through tactical management. But get the strategic part right first! Otherwise you're just a pretender at being a good squad leader and you will not, in fact, get all the chicks.