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

**laggyNgroovy** · 06-05-07, 12:11 PM

The recon drone is MUCH more useful. Don't know about facts, but then again, neither does most of the mainstream media, but..... it seems to me the recon drone has a much longer detection range than the accipter.

If my squad beacon seems to be staying alive, I will switch over and grab the recon drone. Having pretty little red diamonds for my squad to shoot at makes everyone a little happier. I don't need to be all the way in front of the squad giving myself away with my advertising beacon either for them to benefit from the detection function. Dropping infantry sonars while the drone is going just makes a great big information net that we can all benefit from.

Recon drones inside the titan work very well. Also, Cerbere, Gibraltar and to some degree, Tunis Harbor can get great squad use of a recon drone.

As far as sentry guns.... love 'em. I will drop the gun, paint the target, and run to another location. If you sit near the gun, you are going to die in the splash damage as they start trying to take out the sentry. I've got over 700 kills with the sentry gun already. Placed appropriately, whether they kill someone or not, they will keep an enemies head down letting your squad maneuver without any ouchies being inflicted on them.

LaggyNsortacool

**DragonOEvil** · 06-05-07, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by laggyNgroovy

The recon drone is MUCH more useful. Don't know about facts, but then again, neither does most of the mainstream media, but..... it seems to me the recon drone has a much longer detection range than the accipter.

If my squad beacon seems to be staying alive, I will switch over and grab the recon drone. Having pretty little red diamonds for my squad to shoot at makes everyone a little happier. I don't need to be all the way in front of the squad giving myself away with my advertising beacon either for them to benefit from the detection function. Dropping infantry sonars while the drone is going just makes a great big information net that we can all benefit from.

Recon drones inside the titan work very well. Also, Cerbere, Gibraltar and to some degree, Tunis Harbor can get great squad use of a recon drone.

As far as sentry guns.... love 'em. I will drop the gun, paint the target, and run to another location. If you sit near the gun, you are going to die in the splash damage as they start trying to take out the sentry. I've got over 700 kills with the sentry gun already. Placed appropriately, whether they kill someone or not, they will keep an enemies head down letting your squad maneuver without any ouchies being inflicted on them.

LaggyNsortacool

Just so you know, you can put your infantry sonar ONTO a floating drone. While this isn't as useful with the recon drone, it is nice with the accipter so you can create a floating mobile gun/infantry/vehicle scanning platform.

**SansLogic** · 06-08-07, 12:43 PM

Just so you know, you can put your infantry sonar ONTO a floating drone. While this isn't as useful with the recon drone, it is nice with the accipter so you can create a floating mobile gun/infantry/vehicle scanning platform.

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Yeah, I've been experimenting with the drones on singleplayer, including attaching the infantry sonar to both the accipiter and the recon drone. I didn't know anyone else was doing this on TTP as I have yet to see an accipiter deployed on the server!

I can't quite decide whether I like accipiter/sonar combo. I like that attaching the sonar to the accipiter keeps the infantry beacon moving with the squad and, in theory, can provide some covering fire. I haven't figured out how it aquires targets, though. I'll 'spot' a target through the communication rose that's within 7 meters or so and the drone will just sit there. Other times it will fire. Sometimes it will fire at targets 50m away without my spotting it, though maybe one of the bots in my squad spotted the target. Anyhow, it just seems random to me right now. The drone seems to aquire targets better when 1) the target is behind me and I didn't see it 2) I'm defending a chokepoint and 3) when I hang back and the squad is ahead of me.

The diamonds shown by the recon drone seem helpful, but the're of marginal use on singleplayer b/c the bots aren't very sneaky. I can see it being useful in those situations when I'm like "where the hell is that fire coming from?"

Some things I've discovered tinkering around with the drones:
1) You can recover the drone by pressing 'G' if you're close enough, but you'll lose the sonar if you attached one.
2) You can be in a vehicle and have a drone deployed - it will follow you. Kind of cool in a Walker with the accipiter deployed - takes care of RDXers and may suppress anti-vehicle infantry you don't see. But, sometimes the drone will run into the walker and destroy itself.
3) While the accipiter is not reliable in a lot of situations, it's really good at acquiring targets when the s/l dies so it may make it easier for squad members to come and revive you.
4) Sentry gun + accipter + chokepoint = a chokepoint with a lot of firepower going downrange courtesy of just one s/l. Could be used as a good defence in the console hallways since beacons aren't really necessary for defenders.

**Mcstrange** · 06-08-07, 12:53 PM

Play a few rounds with the sonar and then stop, you'll notice a huge difference in your situational awareness.
I forget to pull out the sonar thing a lot, but whenever I do I kick myself for not using it more.

**DragonOEvil** · 06-08-07, 03:22 PM

Another good trick for being a Squadleader is effectivly issuing orders.

There are three ways to give orders to your squad.
1. Issue orders using the Command map (Capslock). Here you get a map of the field, and can right click and assign attack, defend, move, etc. orders. The map is critical for seeing your overall unit deployments of you squad and other squads, and the enemies visible to you (or other) squads. Silos and Map points are targeted by selecting the middle of the silo/flag point and issuing the attack/defend order. This doesn't work as well with Titans I've noticed. To target a titan, I believe the area you click is near the back of the titan (in the cargobay area). If you miss the right spot, your squad movement icon will materialize on the ground below the titan.

2. Issue orders using the 3D map, and the comm rose. This is my prefered method of issuing squad orders, and asking for supply drops, etc. I'm calling it the 3D map, because that is how the game manual refers to it. This is literally your main game view, the same view you kill people in. First thing to know, the 3D map has little floating icons of all the silos/flags/titans. They 'hover' over the map in the direction of the objectives. If you DON'T SEE these icons, hit your left ALT and check again. (Left ALT conceals these icons). All you need to do is aim your crosshairs at the map icon (you will see it highlight with a yellow border), and use the command rose on that objective point. (Issue Order) will attack or defend. The nice thing is you can also aim at a spot on the ground and ask for a supply drop, and the supply drop request will show up exactly where you are aiming. (This also applies to EMP stikes, UAVs, Orbital strikes, etc).

3. Agree to a commander's orders. If the command assigns your squad an order, page up will make that order apply to your entire squad.

**Gumby** · 06-09-07, 11:45 AM

ok, since we are on the topic of the floating drone, how come everyone likes that, but hates the pulse meter?
I like the pulse meter, but I like the sonar better and do not use the pulse meter much anymore. But everywhere I hear people dissing the pulse meter. Whats up with that?

**Benandorf** · 06-09-07, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by Gumby

ok, since we are on the topic of the floating drone, how come everyone likes that, but hates the pulse meter?
I like the pulse meter, but I like the sonar better and do not use the pulse meter much anymore. But everywhere I hear people dissing the pulse meter. Whats up with that?

Cause the pulse meter requires you to actually pull it out and use it, I believe. And it's no use to know that guy's coming around the corner if you will die before you get your gun out.

**laggyNgroovy** · 06-09-07, 12:09 PM

The other thing for me is.....

Recon drone, while not perfectly and continuously updated, the red diamonds are relatively close to where the baddies are.

The pulse meter just shows the red diamond where they are at that instant. Bad guys can seriously reposition themselves by the time you are able to pulse again.

Lastly, the recon drone/sonar gives 360 coverage. The pulse meter, I don't know, 120 degree coverage

If I'm on the edge of my squad and pulsing across where they are, great. But any side approaches from the evil enemy and I'm missing it.

However, if I get on titan assault/defense and someone else has infantry sonars going, I may pull the pulse meter out just so the diamonds show up. Seeing the organ donors on your map is one thing, putting diamonds on them is icing.

Laggy

**Mustafah** · 06-09-07, 04:37 PM

I haven't used the pulse meter much, so I could be wrong, but I believe a plus for the pulse meter is that it shows enemy placeables as well. Spawn beacons, sentry guns, mines, sonars, etc. The sonars only show the infantry or vehicles (whicever kind your using), so the pulse meter might be under appreciated. Can anyone verify my claims? I really haven't had enough use with it.

**Gumby** · 06-09-07, 05:27 PM

well, regardless of the pulse meter, I think the only two squad leader unlocks are the spawn beacon and the thing that makes the re-spawn happen faster. I will likely unlock that last though since most of the other stuff is way cooler anyway.