Exploding_Silver

Last night I was advancing on a flag on an infantry map, i had one guy right next to me and 2 trying to catch up and two due to respawn. I ordered that we were advancing at walking pace. That way there's time for the two to catch up and the other two to spawn in. We hit the flag at full strength and together, so we took it easily.

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sc1ence

for those of you that are kind of new to squad leading, I strongly suggest you check out silver's vids in the after aciton report section. he is an exemplary sqaud leader. you can learn a great deal from watching them. another thing you can do is get into squads with good sqaud leaders and pay close attention to how they lead your squad. try to emulate thier tactics and demeanor if you enjoy being in their sqaud, you will express it in your own style and eventualy become more confident.

imo, we need more peeps to step up and SL. im starting to see squads named, "fine" made with 10 seconds to spawn because no one else wanted to make a squad. if you are sort of new to sl and are not too confident, try it and ask for constructive criticism from your squadmates.

one thing you must do, it be decisive. when in doubt, ask the CO for orders and figure out a best way to implement them.

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Concr3te

Yep Silvers vids really helped me (along with the squadplay.com ones) and I just started squad leading myself (since I kept annoying me on those SL's in pubbie servers who don't give orders) and you can find my squads under the name 'Tactics' or 'TG-E1st'

Exploding_Silver

Good beacon placement because

• From monument park they are just rushing forward to the action and not looking for beacons
• From main square they are looking west or south or east when defending
• From fuel depot they would just be moving west to main square
• Your pods coming in are mostly obscured from detection by the building
• Beacon above head height (I jumped to place it) people tend to look for beacons on the ground
• Beacon mostly hidden by snow

This is the kind of beacon placement for regrouping deep behind enemy lines to then cap a flag and the enemy are saying 'where did they come from'.

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Thanatos

Every time I kill Silver, I have to order my squad to search high and low for stealthy beacons and then sit tight for a good 3 minutes to guard against just this sort of tactic.

When I'm leading a squad, it helps to call out your squad members by name if you want them to do something. Usually, if I have a specific order I want carried out, I generally want it done only by one or two people. It prevents miscommunication and having too many / too few / no one(!) execute my order.

It seems elementary, but I don't hear it being done by other squad leaders when I'm under them.

I find it also helps to tighten the squad dynamic, especially for the people who aren't already part of our community.

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Boulderdash

Because of "fine" squads I've decided to try out the whole SL thing. I've seen a lot of tactics since playing on the TG servers and now think I have enough tricks up my sleave to be effective. Even after watching Silvers and others videos the one problem I have is making a plan clear and concise to the squad. I have the plan in my head, but it takes too long to put it into words in the heat of battle. Does anyone have suggestions on how to be clear and concise? Also, the few squads I have led (granted, only one had TG members in it I think) seem to get scattered easily. What's the best way to prevent this, just always remind people to stay close? Is it better to start off taking a less active roll in the action until I get used to giving commands? I have a habbit of being the first one into the line of fire and that's not being the most effective SL I would think.

Exploding_Silver

Follow this procedure

Set attack order

• Have at least 2 medics and assign one to you as your personal medic
• Right click on map to set the order
• Tell your squad the order
• Tell them how you are going to move there (eg foot, transport)
• Repeat order & how moving there

Moving your squad

• Tell them to get in transport Now! or move out on foot Now!
• If there are straglers call out "come on goes we are moving"
• If there are still stragglers then click on their green dot on the map and their name goes black, call out there name and tell them what to do
• Always take a longer route that will proably have less contacts
• Keep them together when moving. Easiest way is if you are in same vehicle like a transport, if on foot/ground vehicles, call for the ones at front to halt till the ones at back catch up
• You can set move waypoints on the map to clarify to you squad and tell them eg we are going the long way south of the lake

Getting on the flag

• approach from direction with least spawn points
• choose route with least open ground on the rush on the flag
• When you get near the flag say "I want us all to the rush onto the flag at same time"
• Nearer still "get ready to rush"
• Within sprinting distance "get on the flag NOW.. get on the flag NOW"
• Maintain the spawn point very close to flag eg (a) hide there yourself behind a wall and dont engage enemy (b) place beacon on flag
• As capturing say "keep the revives going"
• When capture say "jolly good show"

Set defend order

• Once captured the flag expect a counter attack, immediatly run away yourself in the opposite direction that they would come from and place beacon wihtin sprint distance of flag
• Tell your guys to clear them out
• Ask if anyone sees any pods coming in
• If clear then tell you guys to "put your gadgets out, motion mines, claymores the lot"
• Tell them the expected direction the enemy will come in
• Make sure the spawn point is on the otherside of the flag from the expected direction. So thats you or the beacon.
• If the whole squad is spreading out too much then say "get nearer the flag we are too far away from it"
• If one guy wanders off then click him on the map to get his name and call him back
• As soon as armour is up call it out and order your men to pick it up
• If you see a squad coming from a less guarded flank, then order your men to intercept them before they get close to the flag

To boil it right down there are only three orders
1. Defend
2. Move
3. Attack that flag (when close to it, the move order gets you close to it)

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MDFubar

To be clear on your orders, I tend to designate a coordinate on the map for the squad to go to and then explain my plan as we make our way there. I am still growing into this position, but have found that it is best to hang back sometimes and wait to move up. I have tried laying an explosive charge on the beacon so that I can destroy it when we have advanced to a point of needing another rspawn point. Hiding the beacon often makes it hard to shoot it, having a spawing member destroy it also helps alot.
While playing last night, I placed the beacon on the monorail above the flag on Fall of Berlin. Placing it in the center of the rail kept it from being destroyed for quite a while.
Know what your squad is carrying and make sure that you have what you need in the way of kits. people will need to change kits as the battle progressed depending on your situation, be aware of your surroundings and the status of your squad.
the videos are a great help and I am still learnig new things every day that I play.

Thanatos

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Exploding_Silver again."

Great job Silver!

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Lorax74

When defending a flag and I have the beacon out somewhere, I like to tell my squad to not spawn on the beacon and to set their spawn point on the flag instead. There's no reason to tell the world you have a beacon out and where it is if you don't have to and gives you something to fall back on should you loose the flag.

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TG-9th Lorax74

Boulderdash

Silver, thank you for the time you spent with that response. If you or anyone else sees me squad leading in the future, please be patient and let me know what I can do to be better!

sc1ence

you should take advantage of the time before we start by having a definite plan of attack. you have roughly one minute to do the following.

1. ask the CO if there are any specific orders he wants your squad to perform.
-if there is not CO at 1 min, pick your own objective and once the objective is picked, tell the CO when they take command what you are doing and any resources your sqaud needs like a buggy or apc.
2. figure out your sqaud loadout with kits. you have roughly 30 seconds to acomplish this.
- a big mistake I see here is saying what you need but not asking who is what. for example, saying, I need 2 engys, 3 medics and a support wont get much acomplished. you could end up with 4 support and 1 medic or any other combo. instaid, be specific and do it like this:

"I need 2 engys, 2 assualt and 1 support, I will be assualt with defib and rockets. Who are going to be my engys? (wait for responses and assign a kit to someone if you dont get a volenteer), once engy is set, ask about the support. once support is set, tell the rest to go medic. then ask if there are any problems with incomplete kits etc. if you know you need certian things in their kits, tell your sqaud as you ask for volenteers "

or be more specific:

"I need 2 engys - both with motion mines, one with mine bait and the other with ids scanner, I need 3 assualt - all with defib, one with smoke, and 2 with rockets, and 1 support with an ids infantry scanner and emp nades (this lets your squad know exactly what they have to choose from). if your squad does not have the items you want unlocked, be prepared to adjust quickly."

then start asking who is what. start with engy first as many simply dont want to be the engy.

"for engys: who will be the motion mine bait? who will be the scanner?"

once this is set,

"who is the support with ids and emp?"

wait for volunteer

"Who is assualt with smoke? (wait for volunteer) who is the rocket medic?"

once your squad loadout is set, explain the tactics to the squad.

"hold your spawns, I will be grabbing a jeep and heading to statue. once I am in the buggy, I will ask for the support to spawn in. then I will ask for the ids engy to spawn in. once they engy spawns in, place the ids scanner in the back of the jeep while we approach our target. once we reach statue, I want the engy to take up a position to strike the enemy buggy and the support throw down an ids and move to flag. I will ask the rest of the squad to spawn in the second I exit the buggy. when the second engy spawns in, place 2 motion mines at the north corner of the statue area then get to flag. once the smoke medic spawns in, throw smoke at the flag. once we cap, move to defend. I will be placing a beacon on the awning of the south building just after we cap. once I die, I will come back with otus. dont spawn on the beacon unless we lose flag."

doing all of the above should happen in a single minute.


this same approach can be used mid game. say you are defending church and need to head to valley farm. you announce to your squad that you will be moving out in 1 minute, explain what you want them to do, and how you plan to acomplish it. you cant have them change kits at will, but you can say, next person that dies, come in engy and let me know what you are ready to moveout.

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shadowsz13

I understand some of the tactics posted here. I am a points driven person. How do you get points as a squad leader?

Lyramion

You set attack and defend orders nearby and get SL bonus points for every kill or stuff your Squadmembers do.

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simpson2142

how much is each "squadleader success point" worth?

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