Squads

[MilkMan12]

This is a thread for all questions and answers about squads.

Ill start off with my question.

Are squads created everytime you join a server with random people? Like does it work like americas Army where you have 6 squads and you click anyone of them to join them. Or are squads more like clans that you form with people you know after a long time? In the BF2 thread it sounded more like clans...but Im not sure.

 

[Foxtrot]

This is a thread for all questions and answers about squads.

Ill start off with my question.

Are squads created everytime you join a server with random people? Like does it work like americas Army where you have 6 squads and you click anyone of them to join them. Or are squads more like clans that you form with people you know after a long time? In the BF2 thread it sounded more like clans...but Im not sure.

Squads are all made in game, you join a server and if someone else made a squad you can join theirs, if not you can make your own squad and people can join. You can also lock your squad and put a password on it.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

quoted myself from our bf2 thread:

squads can be made up on the fly in-game, we can play it by ear, see how things go.
you don't randomly pick a class and squad like AA though, you will see (HL2.net clan squad 1) for instance in the squads menu (where you can join a squad, or make your own.. you can have 10 squads per team.. and you don't NEED 6 for a squad, that is just the max that can be in one.

 

[MilkMan12]

So how do you become squad leader?

 

[Shakermaker]

This will be so cool, if it works out. The squad system in Amrica's Army didn't work at all tho. Mayve because of the VOIP BF2 will be different.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

So how do you become squad leader?

you simply create a squad

from the BF2 thread (I typed a ton this morning, and most if it will be missed, so here's the info from earlier)

when creating a squad there is a little "padlock" icon next to the "name" box, which you can click to set a squad password.

squads are consisted of 6 men. (which means we would need to from squads of 6 each dependant on playstyle and class preferance)
this will also have to be determined merely by working together in unranked servers and seeing who meshes well.

EDIT: here's the padlock icon I was refering to
http://img127.echo.cx/my.php?image=password2xj.jpg

in BF2 the VOIP works like this

people can choose to join a squad

squads can only voice comm with other members of their squad, except the squad leader who can communicate with his squad as well as the commander.

commander communicates with squad leaders only

lone wolfs - unknown/none

squads are comprised of members you "want", you can boot someone from your squad with one click (as a squad leader) you can also password your squads so that you don't get pubs.


in our case, it will take playing on unranked servers, cycling commanders and squad leaders to see who best suits each role.
teamwork is huge in my book. if you intend to play only to have the highest frag count (and nothing else) then you might want to consider lone-wolf.

voice communication is another thing I love, although I might not always be first on my team playing cs:s (mostly because I never play it) I do always give away my position to my team, tell them of enemy movement, let them know what's going on constantly, help with manouvers, and try and emplore tactics.

it's frustrating as it's normally a waste of breath, for all the info I give to my team, about 1% have any inclination to work together.

 

[PickledGecko]

So any squad leader can access the top down view or just one "General"? Can he access the top down view wherever he is or are there restrictions? Also, in a video I saw someone fire artillary, what restrictions are there for that, do you still need a player to call for artillary on a specific spot?

 

[Mr. Redundant]

So any squad leader can access the top down view or just one "General"? Can he access the top down view wherever he is or are there restrictions? Also, in a video I saw someone fire artillary, what restrictions are there for that, do you still need a player to call for artillary on a specific spot?

Only the commander can access the RTS like top down view, the commander is a "field commander" in other words he is a regular soldier (picks a class, fights, mans vehicles etc) however he has the added commander mode, where he can watch the battlefield coordinate squad movement and has special abilities like

UAV: launches a UAV drone that has a small radius radar that blips enemies in the radius, shows up to all members of your team.

SCAN: scans the entire map, and shows the location of all enemy units (besides spec ops class, as it is the only class that can not be picked up via scan) to the commander only, for help when coordinating attacks, finding tricky enemy positions (snipers etc)

ARTILLERY: the commander can order an artillery attack (as long as your artillery has not been destroyed by enemy spec ops, c4.. )the only thing that can destroy it btw is that c4) the attack is pretty devestating and kills all units in the area, friendly or not.

SUPPLY: the commander can drop supplies down to his men (dropped via parachute) if they have no support/medics, or simply have run out of ressupplies themselves.


every ability has it's own individual timer, ala "Command and Conquer's" special weapons.
they recharge/reload over time, and can be re-used as much as you want.
--------------


squad leaders can issue orders on their map, by bringing up the map and right clicking a popup menu with general orders will appear. (attack, defend, move etc)
each command will have an audio command (MOVE HERE) and a visual aid that can be seen by the entire squad, both as a colored marker on their own map (say for instance a purple blip for defend) as well as "popped smoke" (smoke will appear color dependant on the command, so you will see a purple cloud of smoke coming from the area the squad leader wants you for instance)

colors I used are examples only, I have no idea what the colors in the final build will be.

however you do not need to bring up the map to issue such orders, there is a point and click in first person as well (look at sandbags, bring up the squadroes and issue move here, smoke pops etc)

to clarify, the person you saw calling an arty strike was either a commander issuing the strike, or a player "asking" for artillery support.
as only the commander has the artillery strike as an ability.
squad leaders don't have any special abilities other than popping smoke to coordinate his squad.

 

[MilkMan12]

That is coolness...but do you have a limit on the smoke? Like Im sure colored smoke can block peoples view as well as pinpoint where enemies are so I would imagine you have a limited amount but what is that limit?

 

[Mr. Redundant]

That is coolness...but do you have a limit on the smoke? Like Im sure colored smoke can block peoples view as well as pinpoint where enemies are so I would imagine you have a limited amount but what is that limit?

only you and your squad see the smoke, no the smoke has no ammo/limit, it dissapears when you issue another order.

the smoke is a visual aid to your squad, nothing more.. it's not an actual smoke grenade, it is invisible to the enemy team (and even your own team who are not in your squad)

as for blocking people's view, its a small noticeable whisp, not billowing smoke cloud

it's like having a big 3D arrow pointing where you need to go, or what you need to do.. (think of command and conquer)

 

[PickledGecko]

So the commander and the squad leaders are different things? There is one commander per team but up to 10 squad leaders? (I think I saw someone say 10 somewhere)

 

[Mr. Redundant]

So the commander and the squad leaders are different things? There is one commander per team but up to 10 squad leaders? (I think I saw someone say 10 somewhere)

yes

10 squads per team (so 1 leader per squad)
1 commander per side.

squad leaders are given commands and aids to help command his squad

commander has special abilities and aids to command squad leaders


chain of command

 

[MilkMan12]

I saw on the Roles thread someone made a post saying that some people will be stuck with a certain role. I didnt know that there were limited roles...are there? Like in a squad there can be only 2 meds, 1 support, 4 assault etc. or can everyone be a medic if they wanted? How does it work?

 

[The Monkey]

So you have to join a squad?

 

[Mr. Redundant]

I saw on the Roles thread someone made a post saying that some people will be stuck with a certain role. I didnt know that there were limited roles...are there? Like in a squad there can be only 2 meds, 1 support, 4 assault etc. or can everyone be a medic if they wanted? How does it work?

there is no limit, not to my knowledge, there never were restrictions in BFV, if there are restrictions it might be server set... but that would be silly.

So you have to join a squad?

nope as I said earlier, you don't have to join a squad, you can play solo aka "lone-wolf" style if you wish, and it will be like playing any other game out there... well besides the fact you wont have anyone around to heal you or give you ammo (since there are no health kits or ammo boxes in the maps anymore)

 

[PickledGecko]

I doubt they would artificially force you to have certain amounts of each class in a squad. It would be far better to let people realise that a squad full of snipers simply wont get anything done.

 

[Alan Freeman]

I doubt they would artificially force you to have certain amounts of each class in a squad. It would be far better to let people realise that a squad full of snipers simply wont get anything done.

thats why it is very critical when you die to check your teamates to see what class they are before jumping into battle. to many of one class can be good in one way and bad in another.

 

[MilkMan12]

thats cool then...I cannot wait for this demo.

 

[Shakermaker]

thats why it is very critical when you die to check your teamates to see what class they are before jumping into battle. to many of one class can be good in one way and bad in another.

Good point. And take the situation you're spawning into, into consideration of course.