Infantry Tactical Formations

E_Leader · 02-12-2009, 12:11 AM

By: E_Leader

This is another guide by me, this one I am focusing on the tactical use and effectiveness of FORMATIONS.

Of course no one uses them half the time but I do when possible, if anyone has been in my squad; you have heard me give out formation orders such as and most recent “Culny, since you’re my recon I need to stay high, 30m behind the squad and keep cover on the west ledge.”

In this detailed guide I will display multiple strategy’s, formations, and tactics that many people overlook and to you advantage you may be able to copy these, I use formation all the time instead of leading blindly leaving openings and gaps for others to sneak through. Now for everyone here reading this, remember if you are the Squad Leader, its your job to direct your soldiers and if you are the Squad Member its your job to LISTEN and follow orders, failure to listen to orders will get you kicked from my squad in a heartbeat…

Each description will be displayed as following:
Type: Either Rushing, Attacking, Defending
Kit: Recon. Support, Assault Medic, Engineer
Members: #
S- Represents Squad Members
L- Represents Squad Leaders

Remember Spacing!!! One grenade is a pain!

__________________________________________________ ______
SL Defensive Rushing
Type: Rushing
Kit: Any
Members: 5-6
========================
Any kit can be used this way but the best way to rush with the SL well covered is with him not in the front and not in the rear but in the middle. There should be at least 2 people in front of the SL in case the squad runs into heavy resistance, this way the SL has enough time to run a different direction and not have to worry about being revived while still under fire. In the rear there should be at least 2, why? Because in most rushing squad don’t want to SL to fall and his body be suppressed to heavily, but when one or two people are covering the rear, there is enough time for them to turn around and stop or distract those behind the SL. If there are 5 or 6, there should be either 1 or each wing or 2 on the side if the opposite side is a wall or hill.

(Open)
__S_____S__
___________
S____L____S
___________
_____S_____

(Wall/Hill)
__S________|WALL
______S____|WALL
S________L_|WALL
___________|WALL
___S___S___|WALL

Ghost Rushing Formation
Type: Rushing
Kit: Recon
Members: 5-6
========================
This formation takes pure discipline because it is EASY to completely mess up. In this formation, every member is a recon whom has unlocked the ability to cloak. The SL should NEVER be in the front, when a full squad running is seen cloaked it is hard to pinpoint the SL and the he/she should NEVER fall, if they do the entire run is ruined unless there is a revive them instantly. Keep a formation that is spread out at least 10 meters across, each unit should be spaced out making it even harder to destroy the entire squad. At least 3 soldiers should be leading the pack because if one falls, at least it isn’t the squad leader. BUT BE WARNED, this formation is effective but not advised do to that fact that this formation is failed as soon as the SL falls w/o revive.

_____S_____
S_________S
______L____
__S________
_________S_

Ninja Rushing Formation
Type: Rushing
Kit: Recon
Members: 4-6
========================
This is the most overused formation but is primarily used to get behind the lines, please don’t get offended. When using this formation you are risking the lives of everyone in your squad in hopes to get past the enemy lines to get to a back flag, not recommended when your team isn’t focusing. In this formation the Squad Leader is a recon with cloak and everyone else is anything other than a recon such as medics or what not. When used correctly, the SL is behind everyone cloaked where they are least observed, and fully covered. When the enemy sees anyone in the squad they would attempt to take them out and focus solely on them, if used correctly they would be completely blind to the cloaked SL and if all visible soldiers go down 70% of the time they would assume everyone is down giving the SL the perfect chance to sneak through. Best used in a Spearhead.

_____S_____
S____S____S
___________
_____L_____
_____S_____

Distant Leader Formation
Type: Attacking, Defending
Kit: Recon, Support
Members: 3-6
========================
In this formation the SL is a Recon with a sniper or Support with LMG/HMG and is 50m or more behind the entire squad as they assault this position. The purpose of this type of squad is used to keep the SL safe and alive but still able to do damage while the other members are up ahead fighting, clearing the position AND if they fall in combat they will be able to re-spawn in a safer area. This formation allows the SL to counter-snipe those who are shooting at fellow squad-mates, spot people around corners or what not and having a clear view to give orders, lastly this formation increases the lifetime of the SL due to the fact that everyone else is focusing on the troops closer rather than the distance sniper. I enjoy using this formation BUT you need to be an accurate sniper to use the full effectiveness of this formation. Be sure a IDS is placed near the SL for infantry safety or if the SL has unlocked the mini-uav drone, be sure to pack that in.

__S_____S__
_S___S___S_
___________
___________
_____L_____

Sniper Support Formation
Type: Attacking, Defending
Kit: Any
Members: 3-6
========================
When leading and there is a Sniper and/or Support member(s) (not the SL version above) this formation can be used in two differ way. When defending, a high placed sniper or support gunner can lay cover too large areas while the other units cover a different area that can’t be defended by the placed unit. When attacking in this formation, it’s important that the Sniper/Support is placed attacking in a different direction that the rest of the squad (i.e. the squad is attacking from the South while the sniper/support is giving cover fire from the West), when used like this the enemy cannot concentrate on just eliminating just one general direction because they are forced into cover from a different direction.

(Defending)
___________
___S_______
S_____L___S
___________
____S_S____

(Attacking)
_____S__S_S
___________
________L__
___________
S_S________

Three by Three Formation
Type: Attacking, Defending, Rushing
Kit: Any
Members: 6
========================
This formation is used a lot more in PR (Project Reality) than BF2142 due to its efficiency. When using this formation you are able to cover more ground defending, attack from multiple positions when attacking, and make more confusion and stress when rushing. When defending, three can handle the left/right side or rear flank while the other three can take control of the other side, most effective in Titan defense when there is only one squad defending the Titan. When attacking one mini-squad can attack from a left or right flank while the other attacks dead on, leaving the enemy 100% open to a surprise attack. While rushing, this tactic can be 100% effective due to the fact that no one knows who the squad leader is and splitting in two different directions forces chasing or ahead enemy to make a decision to either go one way or another.

_S_______S_
___________
_S_______L_
___________
_S_______S_

_S___S___S_
___________
___________
___________
_S___L___S_

Triple Two Formation
Type: Attacking, Defending, Rushing
Kit: Any
Members: 6 (or 4)
========================
This formation utilizes everyone in the squad assigning three fire teams. When defending this spreads out the squad covering more area. Attacking using this formation makes your squad fragile but very effective making more openings in the enemy’s defense. This is the most LETHAL rushing formation that can be used when combined with the Ghost Rushing Formation displayed above. Why? Well this is still very fragile but when there are three groups of two recons cloaking behind enemy lines it becomes very hard to pinpoint just who exactly the squad leader is making a lucky squad highly unstoppable.

S_________S
L_________S
___________
_____S_____
_____S_____

Thank you for reading hope this becomes very useful

**Reaperassault** · 02-12-2009, 02:05 PM

I hate to shoot down this idea but 2142 is far to fast and fluid for stuff like this to work, let alone have enough controlled people to pull this off. Good idea, impossible implimitation for 2142. In PR and ARMA this stuff is great to provide some decent advantages to the squad but the pace of those games are more fitting.

**Tigerblitz** · 02-12-2009, 02:17 PM

For BFCl these are a great idea aswell as srcims. But in a real game of 2142 these would be very to pull off let alone work. Great write I may use the ninja one :ninja:

**Zhohar** · 02-12-2009, 04:29 PM

E_Leader -- kudos and props for taking your squad leading to the next level. If you like SLing -- do more of it! Perfect it and get it down to a fine art! It's a lot of fun -- the more you do it, the better you get it.

**RoadWarrior** · 02-13-2009, 12:06 AM

Interesting idea and nicely written post. I am with Reaper, there are just too many dynamics in 2142 to sustain a formation for any length of time. I would be willing to try and I will join a squad where you are leading just to see if this can work.

**Jakaleel** · 02-13-2009, 03:57 PM

Nice write up!

As noted above, formations are harder to maintain. The trend on TG is battle buddies, fire teams, and 3-4 man locked squads.

The simple line formation (as taught in Basic Infantry Course) rapidly breaks down due terrain/cover considerations and casualties/heals/revives. The column works better for rapid advancement to rear enemy held flags. Getting the SQL not to take point (and be the first casualty) is more problematic.

Culny · 02-14-2009, 02:30 AM

I also agree with 2142 being too dynamic to sustain a complex organized formation (although a highly diciplined squad might be able to pull it off), however...
I do think that micromanaging such as “Culny, since you’re my recon I need to stay high, 30m behind the squad and keep cover on the west ledge.” is quite effective, because it gives your SMs better understanding of their role and a general idea of where to be. However, this is probably only useful in either defending or slowly attacking, as a mobile squad would be very difficult to micromanage on the move (plus the SMs have brains, too.

).

**MDFubar** · 02-14-2009, 09:09 AM

It is a very good right up, but the pace and dynamics make it hard to utilize. I suggest that you squad up with a few seasoned SL's and pay attention to the way they use fire teams and direct their sm's. You may be surprised by what you see.

**Lyramion** · 02-14-2009, 09:48 AM

The real Formations that work in 2142 are taking cover.

There are specific formations you can take when trying to attack a flag that work really well if people know what they are doing. By spreading out just the right amount and taking cover you are hard to kill and easier to revive.

Good Example:

On the Battlefield the action is quick and many thingh ave to be played by ear. Usually nothing works out as planned but if you can get even 70% of this going the you have a good chance at success.

SL
Hides in corner behind boxes
Main Target: Stay alive

SM 1
Takes cover next to the SL behind the box
Main Target: Bodyguard SL
Secondary Target: Cover the Spawnpoint that is right next to him. It surely is not spawncamping when you are involved in a direct ongoing assault on this flag. And revive SM 2 and 3 if needed.

SM 2 & 3:
Takes cover behind the boxes in the middle
Main Target: Boxgame (crouch < > stand up) behind cover with their main gun to shoot enemies trying to come around. Take revenge IMMEDIATLY on anyone that shot down another SM. Do not revive blindly.
Secondary Target: Revive any fallen soldiers in proximity

SM 4 & 5
Stands in the flag radius contesting it
Main Target: Revive revive revive. Those 2 SMs are the bait that is most likely to die. Keep quick revives going to make the enemies wast attention on you while the SMs in the back take them down

Now this is what I call a working formation !

**Jimmy Jammer** · 02-14-2009, 10:11 AM

Never expose the SL to unnecessary danger, albeit out in front or less than desirable cover. The SL should be in the rear or center of the squad during movement and the squad should attempt to lay down covering fire as s/he moves...the SL should have the best protective cover rather than SM...

Mercenary90 · 02-15-2009, 08:40 PM

It seems to me that in 2142, infantry map formations are situational. For example, the command center structure: if we had a building-clearing class for TGU, I would be extremely happy, as such structures are difficult to clear without heavily rehearsed tactics, reflexes, and a perfect balance of speed and caution. Or the buildings seen between Cerbere's Command Center and Roadblock or the ones east of Tunis's Junkyard. Classes to clear these would be excellent.

For open vehicle maps, formations would probably be a good idea if you didn't have armor. On the approach to Church from Western Farm (for which map, I forgot...), formations would be great. Even for Belgrade, the stretch between Statue and Ruins would allow for formations to be used effectively.

However, all these still rely on large amounts of drilling and training, which is impractical except with some disciplined IHS's. Great ideas though.

**Crux** · 02-16-2009, 02:10 PM

The 3rd spent a lot of time trying to make formations work in 2142. They just don't. Lyra is 100% correct - it is all about intelligent use of cover.

ShivaD · 03-12-2009, 06:58 PM

Formations might work, but you would have to seriously practice them. I mean spending hours with your squad just marching up and down empty public servers, until you get to the point where each squad member knows where he's supposed to be in relation to every other squad member. You would have interlocking fields of fire and could, like we did in the infantry, break off the rear of your formation to perform a flanking maneuver while whichever half of the squad is engaged pins your enemies down with suppressive fire. As I said though this would take a LOT of practice, and just grabbing 6 random guys and trying to get them to function as a squad in formation is just not going to happen. Also, I noticed that in many of your formations your squad is "in line" and I can tell you "in line" is NEVER where you want to be. How many times have you been on defense and came across a line of guys perpendicular to you? You don't even have to aim and you have three kills already.
What might be an interesting tactic to explore though is using two squads with SL's on teamspeak as one squad. Like I said if you practice contact situations suppressing and flanking is just about unstoppable in real life, but as far as I know hasn't been done on BF2142.

**Razcsak** · 03-12-2009, 08:39 PM

Shiva: Formations work beautifully in PR based on the pace of the game. In 2142, I've never seen a situation where I'd rather be in a good formation than using cover well or moving rapidly. Lyra's example is golden. Its not a formation, its a squad using cover well and intelligently.

Flanking is also rendered much less effective with the presence of rockets and IDS. Hard cover is often a danger to be in and IDSs can let defenders put rockets and grenades where the flankers are going to end up.

**pred011586** · 03-13-2009, 04:32 PM

I've noticed that although formations and using cover is nice, most of the time battles are free form. Between the consistent moving around, and shifting battles, if you're standing still behind cover for too long your wasting your time.

The most effective "formation" I've seen is SL runs ahead, with medics behind to revive the SL when they catch up if/when he dies. Just be careful with how far ahead of your squad you run , you might lose some SMs!