Squad Tactics

[Grind]

So a squad is going to be made of 4 people right? And do we know if that includes a 5th person to be squad leader or if it's just 4 people flat out?

For now I'll just say it's 4 people and keep it to that.


So I'm going to go through at set up a squad and kind of send them on a fake mission to go through how they could handle something. (Not sure why anyone would want to read this, but I like thinking about stuff like this and maybe it could start some discussions on how to handle your squad)

I'm going to do this thinking of only PvP, since the only PvE I can think of right now (even though I'm sure they'll have some really fun PvE stuff) is set up a tank and then 3 other random people to shoot stuff.

OK, before I get started, how awesome would it be to have 1 squad of enforcers covered by 2 squads of snipers?!?! to run in as an enforcer and just watch everything around you die from sniper fire would be sooo amazing :D

anyway,

I'm keeping the classes to their basic roles (though I know you can differ a HUGE deal), so the enforcer has high armor and big guns, the avenger has medium armor and medium ranged guns, and the phantom is sniping. And i'll be thinking of them as fighting all on their own so they have no support from anyone else. (maybe think of it if a just a couple of your friends jumped on to fight for a while and you had a nice group set up and had really good communication and everything)

I'm thinking either:

1 enforcer 2 avengers and 1 phantom. I'm going to send these guys straight into battle at the front lines and see how they handle it. The enforcer runs in first and gets noticed by the enemy who begins to lay down some heavy fire on him. The avengers then come up behind the enforcer and return fire using as much cover as they can find. The sniper is either in the far back (possibly found a nice hill or building to snipe from), or just as back far as he can get compared to the rest of the fighting taking cover behind whatever he can and only revealing himself to take a shot and then get back into cover. If everyone in the squad stays focused, they can lay down a really good base of fire and keep the enemy pinned down. The enforcer could take cover and possibly heal up(if there will be any sort of healing from med packs or something) while the avengers lay down cover fire and possibly throw a few grenades or something (again if that's in the game). However if the enforcer dies in this situation the lighter armored classes are kind of left on their own with no big guy to hide behind. So we go onto another option

: 2 enforcers 1 avenger and 1 phantom. Since I'm guessing enforcers will have not only a good deal of armor but also be able to deal some damage even while they're under heavy fire. These guys I'm going to send on somewhat of a suicide mission, they will attack the enemy at the front lines, they will do this by running straight at the enemy and just keep running until the enforcers are behind the backs of first enemies they reach. In this sense the enforcers kind of detatch themselves from the squad, they are no longer just sent out to fight the enemy, they have been unleashed on the enemy and are on their own to kill as many as they can before death. This way the enforcers will kill anything and everything that is shooting at them, but even if they are not paying attention to it, they do indeed have people helping them. The avenger will stay at his weapons maximum range and let the commotion of the enforcers take the brunt of the enemy fire. And any enemies that seem to be firing on the enforcers without any fire being put his way (as in the enforcers haven't noticed that person which leads the enemy to easily shoot down the enforcers) the avengers job will be to kill those enemies to try and let the enforcers last as long as possible and focus on killing while not getting overwhelmed by people they aren't paying attention to. The phantom will be basically with the avenger, maybe a bit farther back just for their own saftey, but they need a clear view of the action. The phantom will have to pay attention to the entire area and check on every enemy that the squad is fighting. The job of the phantom will be to find any enemy that is the most threatening to the enforcers or to the rest of the squad. Many times they will find themselves firing on the same enemies as the avenger since that person freely firing on the enforcers is pretty important. However if phantom notices someone spraying rockets all over the place or possibly another sniper ready to kill anyone in the squad, these people should be taken out as soon as possible to have the squad last as long as possible. This entire tactic (if you want to call it that that ) revolves around unleashing enforcers on the enemy and letting them screw up whatever tactic they are trying by just rushing straight in, to the point where the enemy in uncomfortable (which is why I said not to stop until they got BEHIND the line of enemies). Then just living as long as possible while killing everything in site. Kind of a suicide team to stop an assualt or something, but hey if you got a good squad of players to do it, they could very well do the same thing and come out alive.

[OmegaGryphon]

Squad tactics is one reason I really loved Planetside. To actually have an ffect on the outcome of a battle even though you might not be in any fight personally. Or on the front lines.

Stratigically dropping power supplies to enemy bases. Being able to plan the best rout of attack... how best to counter a force...

I really hope Huxley will support high amounts of tactics.

[CarnaGe]

awesome write up Grind! I've never really thought about such thing, although I've done some minor thinking about how to best form a squad using different classes etc.

[Grind]

Originally Posted by OmegaGryphon

Squad tactics is one reason I really loved Planetside. To actually have an ffect on the outcome of a battle even though you might not be in any fight personally. Or on the front lines.

Stratigically dropping power supplies to enemy bases. Being able to plan the best rout of attack... how best to counter a force...

I really hope Huxley will support high amounts of tactics.

I don't think anyone knows what specifics the battlefields will have, like special power supplies that power their bases defense or something (though apparently if you win a certain battle it will shut off the power somewhere in the capital of the enemy). As to finding the best rout of attack and getting people together to counter attack and all that good stuff, I'm sure it will be supported just because you can make squads and all that. It's really up to us though to keep it organized and think up strategies and actually put them into play. They can't force us to be organized (though sometimes I wish there was a way they could), but if enough people try to keep it organized I'm sure there will be plenty of awesome squads out there.

[Seraphim]

Squads aren't all about going in guns a blazin and just killing everything in your path until your all dead. Any purpose is best served with minimal casualties on you side.

A squad with 1 enforcer, 1 avenger, and two snipers can go a long way if used correctly. Have the snipers heavily cloaked find a way to cut into and through the enemy lines with minimal resistance through scouting.Then circle around to where most of the fighting is going on. After that you can get to a favorable position behind the enemy and unload upon there backs until they are all dead. Even if they realize they are getting shot in their backs and turn around to fire at you, they are still getting shot by your teammates infront of them.

I personally think that something like that is more affective than going in for a straight out run to the enemy with only alittle cover fire. the same thing that they do with messing up a tactic can be done with a good defense/fallback position. though the one thing my tactic needs is some cannon fodder at the front lines.

[Grind]

I definetly agree that squads who take their time to set up positions and stay alive work extremely well and pretty much better than running in and shooting. So don't get me wrong I was just making squads up that seemed fun at the time lol, even if they aren't very practical.

If I was going to make a squad more along the lines of setting up positions and then taking out the enemy I would strongly think about having 2 phantoms to easily surround the enemy. (still sticking to the basics where phantoms are the stealthy snipers, even though I know that an avenger or enforcer may have the ability to stealth behind the lines and do the same thing)

[Seraphim]

Originally Posted by Grind

So don't get me wrong I was just making squads up that seemed fun at the time lol, even if they aren't very practical.

We dont really know if the squad ambushing around the enemy is any more practical than just running in and gunning with a enforcer or two. I was just trying to throw in another way for squads to be used while questioning the ones you suggested. Also the occasional suicide mission is extremly fun .

[Grind]

Squad: 4 phantoms, the main thing I would try to do is put the phantoms in a good spot where they have a good view of the enemy and can get a lot of kills or be in a good position to spot where enemies are for other players, while finding a way to keep each other protected.

One thing could be to place them all pretty close together facing the main line of fighting and have them all focus on one general area (they would find an area where they have cover from most directions, leaving only the area they are shooting at open). This way they would all be shooting in the same direction and anyone in that field of view would probably be killed quickly. This would obviously draw a lot of attention to the snipers so they would have to kill a few people then change positions, then rinse and repeat. This would pretty much just be used to help hold off an attack, or to assist in a main line attack where the majority of enemies are concentrated in one area, or you want to open up a certain area for teammates to easily run through and get positions.

Another way would be to place them far away from each other, but still in their snipers range so they could fire on people attacking their squad members. You could put them in a big circle surrounding the enemy (getting into position using the stealth ability, as long as it works like regular stealth, pretty much turning you invisible). This way they could have a main area of fire (the center of them all) as well as being able to shoot at people around them (to the sides and behind themselves if anyone is there). In this strategy each sniper would have to constantly check on their squad mates to make sure nobody is about to blow their head off. Once the squad had gotten a few kills I'm sure enemies would be looking for them, so constantly checking on your squad mates would probably be enough to keep you busy and get you a good amount of kills while screwing up the enemy because when they go to kill a sniper, they get fired upon from 4 different directions. And if multiple enemies start attacking the phantoms, the phantoms under heavy fire can take cover and let the free phantoms take out the hostiles. This way the enemy usually won't even be getting shot at by the sniper he is trying to kill, but rather he is getting shot from somewhere he isn't looking. So if the phantoms keep up good communication and always keep their squad covered, they could most likely sit in their positions until a large enough force came to simply overwhelm them. Even then they could hold out for a while if they had good cover to duck behind and pop out only to shoot, and good use of the stealth ability could make them even harder to kill. BUT then maybe an enemy has heat vision goggles, then you have to get back down to basics and use your cover the best you can.