what don't you get?

[dtacs]

Like you as in 'you're a cool guy' or like as in mimic you?

[whatshisname55]

What about spotting enemies? I seem to be blind in this game because I almost never can find an enemy that's shooting at me, and often times my squad members start shooting at the enemy before I can even find out what direction the bullets are coming from. Not to mention the suppression effect, once a bullet hits 3 meters from me on the front of the giant rock or block of cement I'm hiding behind, it all goes to hell.

[PFunk]

Good SLs have to be good squad members to begin with. If you know how every kit is meant to operate in a unit and on its own then you can start to know how to mesh a unit together. Often as I've played so much organized PR I really enjoy stepping back and letting an SL tell me what to do as a simple soldier. Knowing how to just tell when someone or something needs to do something or happen is part of experience. Its just a matter of knowing the game inside and out. Same goes for maps. You have to know how people play maps, where the critical areas are and finally just how to look for things. If you pick good terrain when moving and holding position it cuts down on where a shot comes from. Incorrect selection of terrain often leads to the "so where are they?" syndrome. This is caused by having too many places you're vulnerable at. If you keep yourself covered it cuts down on the threat. Good SLs aren't psychic, they just know how to put themselves in danger in a way that they can generally understand and predict and therefore be better ready to adapt to it.

Be good at communicating, knowing how to condence words into easy orders and how to communicate missions to your troops. Knowing how to tell them what they're doing in a way that gives them a chance to adapt to it. Knowledge feeds soldiers so involving them gets them thinking and keeps them from being absent minded. Engaged troops aren't gonna do something you don't like cause they hear you talking, you are part of it with them instead of just being mute until you set a new move marker.

Knowing how to push and not just sit still. I've seen so many times squads bunkering up at a FOB with emplacements, especially on INS mode, and not pushing or actively engaging, just sitting and shooting. This behavior is counterproductive. Defending a point is good but on Asad Khal just turtling the entire IDF team on one FOB halfway between the main spawn and the Mansion isn't gonna do anything but burn tickets til Hamas drops arty on you and destroys your fob and pushes you back to your base. Be bold and push, within reason. Sometimes you gotta be reckless to move up, but only when sitting still and rallying forces is just going to make you a fat target for Area Attack.

Experience is the helper of SLs. Often guys in PR are just new to this style of play and they're new to leading, to telling people what to do, and they're new to thinking on a level beyond the grunt level. Some more mature and olderplayers have been in games like this, have done competitive play, are clan players, and are overall just older and wiser. Time, experience, playing with other good players, all develop someone to the point where they can lead. It depends on the guy but it just takes experience.

Know the game through and through, know how to think beyond the next few moves, know how to see past just yourself but the whole team and your whole squad, and develop new instincts that are unfamiliar. Time is your friend, no shortcuts. Some are better at it but mostly its just time and confidence.

[Arnoldio]

Only problem i get with pubber squads is when i say "Supressive fire on that position!" i hear 3 shots then they look back at me, or one fires, rest doesnt, guy gets killed.

Even if i keep repeating the often dont do shite, but i never set rules at the start of the round either, maybe i should say "No bs or im kicking."

[shribey22]

My biggest problem with squad leading is how I tend to lose the initiative after we come under fire. It is not unusual to lose one or two guys in the firefight and we have to stop our forward movement to heal them up. This problem happens a lot more in insurgency when we are attacking a cache... by the time we get those two guys up and healed, the insurgents we killed have respawned and sprinted back to where we defeated them. A lot of times I have had success with just leaving the dead and pushing on until we get the cache... but I know how much it sucks to go down early in a firefight and have to wait some 4 odd minutes for a medic. Ideas? Suggestions?

[dtacs]

Take it slow on Insurgency. TG etc. have 4 hour round times meaning an average of 34 (stupid psyrus) minutes per cache so you can be as slow as you want. Rape them with SAWs and more importantly: cut their supply lines by searching for dogboxes.

If someone dies keep moving. Never ever use an incendiary on a cache. Its always faster to fire at it until it dies and take yourself with it. You get 25 tickets back, often more than you lost trying.

Remember: Smaller numbers have a higher chance of success, but huge amorphous team blobs cannot be beaten.

Good luck.

[Psyrus]

I personally don't get how other squad leaders can remain so calm when their team is not on objectives and stuff... that personally sends me into conniptions (not really but you get the point).

I've taken a leave of absence from my local server because the gameplay is about as good as falling into a pit of blunt, rusty steak knives but I've seen that even on TG (which I now really enjoy when I can stay up late enough) there are squads that are insistent on making that fob 900m from anything remotely relevant to the battle.

I personally believe that most people struggle as good squad leaders because they play in a reactive style, rather than (imo) what should happen which is a proactive (planned) approach, obviously mixed in with reactionary tactics dependent on the battlefield situation.

Edit:

Take it slow on Insurgency. TG etc. have 4 hour round times meaning an average of 20 minutes per cache so you can be as slow as you want. Rape them with SAWs and more importantly: cut their supply lines by searching for dogboxes.

Your math is out. With four hours they get roughly 34 minutes to dawdle to each cache, which is why I reacted as I did being used to 2 hour rounds (and thus 17 minutes per cache)

[drkstr]

Sometimes I end up with a squad that needs to be micromanaged. The more attention I spend micromanaging, the less attention I can give to the big picture. Do you have any suggestions to get an inexperienced squad up to a sufficient level of self management (keeping in mind the cost to value of time spent "teamwork training" vs time saved micromanaging)?

[goguapsy]

Like you as in 'you're a cool guy'

Yeah... How?

[dtacs]

Don't act patronizing or act condescending to them. Rather than telling them what to do, offer a suggestion that makes it sound like they're the important one in the op.

Also if you have a free spot in your squad, invite them in and show them how you run a squad, often some people who also SL can take away good attributes from others. However some people who have a yearning for leadership and control can find it impossible to be in a squad with an inferior or clearly bad squad leader, but one that still doesn't want to admit it.

Just remember, when in a squad with another regular squad leader, don't cowboy their squad. Respect their orders and decisions blindly. In the absence of proper orders, suggest some or give small incremental ones to other members that don't relate to the big picture.

[Tiger1]

WEll, I don't get one thing, how do you make other SLs like you?

You earn their respect.