Thread: Going to step up and squad lead a little more - tips welcome

Mine's running fairly sluggish.

Well, I'm going to give it a shot more often than I have in the past. My apologies in advance if I screw it up and you're in my squad. If you want to join my squad and help me out, that'd definitely be welcome.

I already know the basic tools: how to issue orders on the map and the command rose, how to request stuff from the commander. Most importantly, I have a mic and will use it.

Here's some notes on how I play to serve as advanced notice for those who end up in my squad (none are hard and fast and may vary depending on circumstances, it's just generally how I do things.) I'll hang back to keep the spawnpoint open. I deploy the spawn beacon sparingly, b/c I prefer a squad that sticks closer together. Most often, I'll be a medic to keep everyone up and running. I will also avoid getting in tanks or mechs so the spawnpoint stays clear.

For the most part, I'm an offensive-minded player, but I'm not the guns-blazing type. I prefer to go for the enemies soft points. If outnumbered 2-1 or more, I'll likely set up an ambush point until the odds improve (i.e. the ambush takes out enough enemy or reinforcements come in). Heck, I even consider tactical retreats an underutilized part of my repertoire. So, if you're the hard charging, fight against all odds type, you'll probably get frustrated with me.

Finally, I'm an average player (see stats on left) so don't expect me to pull off any heroics.

wow. I would say that was more of advice on how to be a good squad leader. so if you practice what you preach you will make a good squad leader as far as I am concerned.

Also this is a great place to learn, and our best players dont mind getting in squad with you and helping you learn (I LOVE TTP). If you see a regular in battle ask them and they very well might squad up and help critique your play.

Sounds like you really don't need any tips at all!

Sounds like you should do pretty well, at least in theory. However, I've found that it's a big difference in knowing how to do something and doing it. I've read as many guides on 2142 as I can find, so I *know* how to do everything perfectly, but I still can't.

This isn't to get you down, though; the opposite is true. Simply keep on trucking, if you really want to be a Squad Leader. It's a hard, and often thankless and easily blamed position, but the sense of accomplishment from having your squad kill the enemy titan before your shields go down is just too nice to be surrendered.

I suggest squadding up with Mury, Bigdog, and the other regular top-end squad leaders to get a feel for what you're trying to do.

And thanks to the beacon, guns-blazing isn't nessisarily a bad thing. With the closer spawn-points in most maps, I generally go in fighting and don't have a ton of people spawn on me. That's not to say I try and kill myself, but in, say, Berlin, I'm not going to hang back on the first few flags; I'm going to charge in and kill. And hopefully have a nice beacon to back my squad up.

I find that a well used beacon is one that's kept around idling somewhere safe near a flag so that if the flag starts being overrun by the enemy, our squad can pod in and swiftly take it over. Otherwise, yes, it's extremely useful to spawn on the squad leader themselves for a silent approach.

I've found myself on the opposite end of the rifle from ya many times, Sans, and you're a pretty good player. You'll do fine as a squad leader, I'd bet.

Benandorf and SacredSarcasm: Yeah, I "know" those things, but there's definately going to be some gaps in putting into practice what I preach. But, that's where experience and VOIP comes in. I'm fine with criticism, so feel free to let me know when I'm screwing up.

Benandorf "And thanks to the beacon, guns-blazing isn't nessisarily a bad thing." Yeah, when I get closer to a flag I may drop it and go in, but I wanted to at least warn people that my playing style may be too conservative for their tastes.

Deus: Thanks! I consider myself an average player on this server, which is good enough for me. There's a lot of really good players here, so I'm happy when I hold my own. As far as being on the other end of my rifle, if memory serves me correctly you've faired pretty well in those situations! I agree that placing the beacon at a flag/silo across the map is a viable strategy, but it's probably one I won't use often b/c in most cases, keeping the squad together will be more important to me, but that's just my style.

McStrage: Thanks for the tip, man! That's awesome!

Originally Posted by Mcstrange

One thing to keep an eye on - whenever you drop a beacon hit Caps Lock real quick to make sure its green and people can spawn on it. Better to find out and fix it than to get across the map and realize your spawn is broken.

You hit enter to see if you can spawn on it.

But a good suggestion if you use the right button.

Originally Posted by SansLogic

Deus: Thanks! I consider myself an average player on this server, which is good enough for me. There's a lot of really good players here, so I'm happy when I hold my own. As far as being on the other end of my rifle, if memory serves me correctly you've faired pretty well in those situations! I agree that placing the beacon at a flag/silo across the map is a viable strategy, but it's probably one I won't use often b/c in most cases, keeping the squad together will be more important to me, but that's just my style.

Lemme add a little more info to my strategy: this is one of the better tactics for if you are defending a capture point. Your team will be spawning on the point you're defending, but place the beacon hidden but close by, and instruct your squad to only spawn there if the capture point goes neutral or gets converted. It will keep the position of the beacon hidden so you have a backdoor available if you need one.