So what tactics really work for squad leading ?

Let’s hear all your ideas in this thread


I’d like to start with the obvious big difference from BF2, the squad beacon
This is what I have worked out so far;

For the beacon to work it needs to have sky above it. You can sometimes put it down but no-one can spawn on it. You can check if its spawnable by looking at the spawn screen, if its got a red circle around it then its no go. The beacon doesn’t work on the 1st floor balcony of a tower block. The beacon does work on the metal stairs & platforms on the outside of buildings.

If you are defending a flag you can hide the beacon very close to the flag, and if it goes neutral, your guys can respawn in right into the capping distance at that critical moment. Above head height at the flag is good because attacking players capping your flag always keep low behind cover.

Have you ever got into the action and died, gone to the spawn screen and the beacon’s gone…oh no attack over. I have remapped the spawn screen to ‘left tab’ from ‘enter’ key, so that I can quickly tap the spawn screen and check the beacon is still alive. Also tell your guys to say if the beacons down. If its down then you need to go back to BF2 type tactics and back off from the action & hide around the corner.

Arty has a wide area of affect and will almost certainly destroy your beacon. Arty is only in conquest but not in titan. They affects beacon placement.

If you loose your beacon, then get another from commander supply box or support guy.

When defending you can in effect have three spawn points, - the flag, backup plan - the beacon, then back up to the backup - yourself. If its titan you can also have APCs and dropships as spawnpoints. These dynamics of more than 2 spawn points are really promising.

When attacking you could, with a bit of luck, get on the flag yourself and place the beacon, then go hide and be the backup to the beacon. Your guys respawn right into capping distance, if they get crushed & your beacon is destroyed then the attack is still on because you are still alive nearby. Make sure you call for ammo for a new beacon and get your guys in there again.

The beacon makes a noise that astute players will follow to destroy your beacon. So a quite corner is not always the best. The noise of gunfire covers the beacon sound very well, so very close to a busy flag can work.

Bushes and grass hide the beacon well.

Inside the titan is the only place where the beacon does not need sky above to work. When attacking titan the trapdoors you can go down from the roof lead to a safe from grenades corridor, put the beacon there. When defending titan consoles, put the beacon by the console behind the glass window, safe from hand grenades.

Support personal shield (red thing) to cover the beacon ? haven’t tried this one yet

Have you seen those large metal tubes you can walk through, I think (not certain) the beacon works in them and its safe from arty.

Take a flag, put your beacon down on it and move out to next flag, if the flag goes neutral your guys can respawn on it and maybe take it back.

I’m not sure how EMP affects the beacon.

You cannot place a beacon if you are the only person in your squad !



Well that’s quite a lot about beacons, please comment on this and any other aspect of squad leader tactics that occur to you.

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