Preparing your 1st match as Squad Leader. It’s not an easy job, but it’s also not that difficult.
Why Shall you Lead a Squad?
Well, I have had the thought until I came across steam sale. With the influx of new players, those experienced squad leaders may not have sufficient time to teach and lead simutaneously. Experienced players should teach newbies in the battlefield, but what about squad leading? There are too many normal players, but too little competent squad leaders. Especially after V10~V11, fancy new stuff attracted lots of people, but new players need a confident, informative and reliable leader. Veterans, it’s time to stand out and lead a squad!
If experienced player never stand out and lead newbies, Squad will not keep up the high quality community and player base.
We always need to overcome such period after major updates, as new players swarmed the server, you may feel nervous to be a leader, even for experienced players. Don’t worry, here are some tips and reminders for you.
Setting Up the Squad
- Am I familiar with SL’s function?
- Do I know how to put down rally? FOB and HAB?
- Do I know how to use command chat?
- Do I know how to mark targets on map?
Go practice it in Jensen’s Range if your answer is “No”.
1.Start with maps, gaming types and people you familiar with
Invite your friends, since working with friends makes you feel confident. Doing so also lowered the risk of having troll or unreliable players in your squad, it’s already busy to lead for the first time, do not add unnecessary workload yourself.
2.Create your squad ASAP
The earlier you create a squad, the more time you get to manage people. And here comes a factor : You can try becoming a server regular first, it will be much easier to work with people you know. Recognize who’s good at spotting, who’s good at operating vehicle…etc. Make sure everyone has a mic, and ask squad rules to be picked up. (2 Medic, 2 LAT)
Set up fire team leaders when feeling necessary, perferable FTL roles are Scout, Marksman, LAT/HAT and Vehicle Gunner/Commander. Make those people who got magnified scope, or operating outside the squad (ex:HAT or Vehicle) a FTL, so they can manage their fire team.
3.Look how other squads prepare their team
If another squad is running by a clan or server regulars, there should be no problem executing their plan, so it’s considered relialbe. Those are people you can trust, they will be carrying you for the whole match.
On the other hand, if the other squad got a non-SL kit leader, like marksman (“oh cyk4 sniper SL”). Or you see them throwing SLrule among sqad members, with nobody switching to SL kit. Such squad should be considered incompetent, do not expect too much from them until you feel safe to do so.
Yes, it’s your first match. Don’t rush unless you have another squad together, or you’re really confident that you will be there first. Taking a transportation truck and go backcapping is also a great move, let those experienced SLs handle the mid-flag rush.
Here’s a good saying: “Never let your confidence overtake your ability.”
2.Announce you plan to everyone, including your squad and other SLs.
It’s common to see many Squad vaterans just play as infantry, bucause it’s really exhausting to play as SL every match. In the beginning, it’s always good to announce you plan first, and ask for feedbacks. They will give you precious advices on adjusting your strategy.
Let other SL know your plan, its importance could never be overemphasized. Simply saying “This is Squad 2, we’re going on backcaps with transport truck.” or “Squad 2 is going to rush Poppy Farm with Squad 1 and 3.” is far better than saying nothing and end up backcapping with two full squads.
3.Keep an open mind, listen to the suggestions given by others.
The other squad may have already arranged people on back-cap flags, or they want you to rush together, or you set up a shi*ty plan like putting down a FOB at middle of nowhere. LISTEN TO FEEDBACKS, because it’s really easy to misunderstand each other during the staging phase.
4.Recognize other squad’s plan, be ready to go plan B
Make sure you know what other squads are going to do, and be ready to change your plan if something goes wrong.
Is your rush tactic sucessful? Do you need assistance on attck/defend cap? Do you need logi run? The key factor of winning a match is good communication. The earlier you pass over your message, the more time left for other squad leaders to alter their plan and help you out. Never hesitate to say, it’s all good for us. Intel advantage is what helps us to win the match.
And here comes some good habits on using command channel:
- Keep your message short and clear.
- Use direct message to take to specific SLs.
- Only pass NECESSARY message.
If you see an enemy logi truck behind defense line, don’t hesitate to pass the critical message. Those intels are considered necessary to be shared in command voice:
- Friendly HAB overrun/FOB going down
- Location of enemy FOB
- Capping/Losing cap on the flag
- Movement of hostile vehicles APC/ LOGI / Tank…
2.Guide your sqaddies, keep them updated by using both aural and visual cue.
Announce your order, guide your team thorough the battlefield. I usually guide my squad with both order and brief situation report like this : “Good job team, now we will be defending Poppy Farm until squad 2 and 3 neautrlize the next cap. Possible enemy conterattck from NE, I want MG and LAT to watch that crossroad (Mark with observation icon on map)”
3.Maintain the readability of the map, don’t spam icons.
Asking Squaddies to “Ping” the map for reference, and put down accurate marks, it’s important because this will also influence other players. I can recall the moment I rolled my Stryker to a “BTR” marked on map and discovered a T-72 sitting there…So place correct marks!
Personally, I will erase map icons once reported contacts got downed. Never let false icons stay on the map for too long, it can mislead everyone easily. I also keep myself from putting down too many icons (Like tons of infantry marks around defensive FOB), since the squad need to concentrate.
4.Speak with name, give clear and direct message.
Use name to prompt your squaddies, and give direct message like this : “Don, I need you to do a logi run, make it half/half, thanks” or “Dorkly, bring us to the west side of Ali AirBase, Ro ‘s tank will be flanking that Abrams from south.” Try not to use “I guess….”, “You may….” when commanding the squad, they will bring in some mis-understandings.
5.Talk to your squaddies.
I loved to chat to my squadmates, sh*t talks are always welcome, because we play Squad to enjoy the teamwork. And I usually asked my squad members to keep unnecessary talks inside local voice once gunfight begins. Also, I use “Listen up!” when passing necessary message.
6.Be honest, request back up whenever necessary.
We’re human beings, we make mistakes. Don’t feel afraid to tell it to other squadleaders, the sooner you told us you fu*ked up, the more time we got to re-evaluate our plan. And always feel free to inform us that a defensive HAB is about to get overrun, much better than say nothing and end up with a neutral flag.
- If you did fu*k up, speak up, (apologize if that’s your fault) and continue fighting.
- If others fu*ked up, don’t roast them in command channel.
Do not roast other SL in public chat, we all know which SL is a dumb, other players will definitely do it for you and roast his/her a*s to well-done. Concentrate on managing your team, and keep toxic chatters away.
- If it’s good for your squad, never feel afraid to become an a*shole.
- Control the situation, don’t let the feeling of untrust develop in your team.
A micless marksman in your squad? A naughty player who insisted jumping into tank in your infantry squad? A noisy chatterbox who blocks the whole voice channel? Take action and deal with them.
Some people like to test other’s limit and cry “This is SL abuse!!” or “Admin abuse!!” after you smashed hammer on them. Those kind of immature players are very little in Squad’s community, we call such type of people “Those haven’t encounter bad enough guys in their life” in Taiwan.
I used to be an all-time good kind guy, and I realized that if you can’t rule your squad, you also can’t guide and lead them. Here’s a story : A player joined my tank squad and backseated my leading with annoying tone. I did not kick him at the first moment, but my driver and gunner told me that they can’t fight with such player. That’s the truth: You can’t always be a good guy, now I usually remove those who refuse to coordinate or harrass other players from my squad immediately.
Yes, you may be hated by those immature players, but people in your team will appreciate you for making the squad working. Don’t afraid to become the “Bad Guy”, because sometimes people need to be “Managed” to get things right.
