Tricks for leading a public squad

**starstriker1** · 07-29-2008, 07:09 PM

It's common knowledge that you'll never get the advanced and elaborate tactics everyone talks about in a pub game. Given 5 people you don't know and who likely don't know anything about the tactics you're trying to implement, the best you can hope for is a lot of wasted time and a squad formation that is maintained up until the **** hits the fan... and no further. Generally, you need to be working with people you've practised with in order to get the requisite coordination.

However, I've noticed that there are ways to get public squad members (at least, those with an inclination to teamwork) to play more carefully or use tactics of a higher level than rushing like a heavily armed mob towards the nearest sounds of weapon fire.

My favourite way to get the rest of my squad playing better (regardless of whether I'm leading or not) is to lead by example. For instance, if you want to encourage people to stop at the corners of Sunset City to cover the roads as their squadmates cross them, stop yourself at the first corner and do just that, saying something like "I've got this street covered, go ahead and cross". I've found that people get the hint pretty quickly and pick up the behaviour the next time there's a street to cross.

I don't have the extensive squad leading experience or expertise that many people here seem to have, so I'll pose the question to those better capable of answering it: what tricks do you have to keep a pub squad in line and improve their quality of play?

**ZaBoo** · 07-29-2008, 07:11 PM

Make sure to call people out if they tend to wounder off, or ignore orders. If you don't others tend to follow.

**Eavy Gunner** · 07-29-2008, 08:04 PM

Offer them cake

**starstriker1** · 07-29-2008, 08:16 PM

(insert obligatory joke about the cake being a lie)

**kevlarorc** · 07-29-2008, 08:28 PM

I tell everyone that joins my squad that if we don't get best squad as well as win the game then Kim Jong Il will personally come to their house with a ninja carrying a nuke and light the fuse with a piece of flint from the first gun fired in the American Revolution. After the nuke goes off an asteroid the size of the Louisiana Purchase will hit the moon and Chuck Norris will be broken free from the "Man in the Moon's" enslavement and Roundhouse Kick them in the spleen for a job poorly done... but, you know, whatever works for you.

**Rafterman1987** · 07-30-2008, 01:01 AM

Keep it light hearted and play on their "I want to win" side. Getting too serious makes people less likely to follow orders. Then again being relaxed to the point of not giving orders is bad in itself and like Zaboo said, not minding the toddlers causes lemmings syndrome.

Leading by example is definatly the way to go though, a lot of the people playing learned most of their clever tricks by watching others. I guess that's the good end of lemmings syndrome. A lot of things are "wow, i never thought of that" with this game.

**Fishbone** · 07-30-2008, 03:10 AM

Use vehicles for movement. I prefer using trucks for transport as it allows me setup firebases and bunkers and has supply. It forces the players to stay together and you will often hear SMs call out other players who are not quick enough to jump in.

Keep checking wether you current orders are working. If my squad gets destroyed twice when assaulting a flag then I will change the plan. Otherwise you will get a constant stream of individual squad members spawning from the rally and attacking. If a large part of the squad gets destroyed I will order a regroup point.

Order them to walk and avoid running ahead of the squad as it usually means that the SMs are more concerned with keeping up and checking their surroundings.

**sirsolo** · 07-30-2008, 07:28 AM

Id do anything for cake... Pie and Cookies also works. But what I would usually do, is offer them such, but tell them that its in the CP, so we need to steal the enemies Foods.

Lead by Example works better when people actually follow =/

§Sirsolo

**starstriker1** · 07-30-2008, 12:28 PM

Has anyone had any success with fireteams in a public server? I've unfortunately never had a chance to see them utilized properly.

**NerdyDodge** · 07-30-2008, 01:00 PM

Not with fireteams as such, but if I'm playing with one or two other 15th members in a squad then I might split the squad and assign them a couple of guys to secure a corner or a vehicle.

**Charity Case** · 07-30-2008, 01:09 PM

I occasionally break up my squad into "fireteams" but it's more like I just have three guys defend/attack one sector and three guys another. I once played a game with fuzzhead where we used fireteams to good effect. Here are some video's of that match:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYVq3ZUUeYY[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9O4vtH-Xhk&feature=related[/media]
Honestly, I think most advanced tactics are more trouble than they're worth unless you are with some really solid guys. Your best bet is normally to locate and engage the enemy position and then have one or two guys flank around and destroy the enemy rally. At this point, I've even stopped assigning kits besides those that are mission critical (medic and the occasional LAT/HAT/AA). Once I have people volunteer for the important kits, I just have the others tell me what they want to play as; It works pretty well.

Then again, I really don't know that much about leading normal pub squads because mine are so popular with regulars that I always game with people I know I can count on. Someday, I'll come down from my ivory tower...

Delta*RandyShugart* · 07-30-2008, 01:54 PM

If i am sl'ing a so called "public squad" (i put this in quotes bc tg is a public server) off the bat i will say that snipers/people wanting to do their own thing won't be tolerated, and if my squad name is a specific location, then we will be attacking/defending that location unless the CO asks otherwise. I also will say "visit the website, check it out etc. etc." And i try to talk to those guys the same way as i would to any other player.

If i do find that someone is trying to do his/her own thing/not really into the teamwork thing, i will correct them and give them a few chances to redeem themselves but if it gets out of hand than i will report them, take a SS, and if i am on TS get in touch with the right person so it can be taken care of right away, and also inform them of the website so any questions that they have will be answered.

I have found that many new players want to have an enjoyable experience and if someone is being very immature then there are consequences......such is life.

**Googol** · 07-30-2008, 02:33 PM

Yeah, I find that splitting people up into 2 fireteams is feasable with a "pubbie" squad as long as they know how to play the game and are not complete sniper/specops hogs... But You can only preform simple tactics such as covering fire and advances. But thats about it.

**Waldo_II** · 07-30-2008, 03:32 PM

I would like to contribute some tips, but my squads are always average at best. I always tell members no snipers/spec ops, no HAT sniping, I make a joke about how god kills an innocent little baby every time you HAT snipe (lightens the mood of the squad), and I go on to explain my plan for the game.

Occasionally my squad will do something that changes the course of the game, but not usually. A few days ago I led a squad on Kashan 16 that went to south villiage. We kept the MEC from capping it for maybe ten minutes. After they capped it, we did a suicide rush, and actually survived. We were stuck there for half the game with no transport. The rest of the team capped the bunkers, then we stayed there and capped the flag while the rest of the team moved to MEC outpost. We held them off a while longer at south, but after we capped MEC outpost, we got wiped out. We then went over to help cap MEC main. So that was my most successful squad. I think I got lucky.

**w.WAREHOUSE** · 07-30-2008, 07:49 PM

LOL, this is definitely a post that I should keep my mouth shut on!

(p.s. Kevlar that was the funniest thing I've read all week, haha)

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