Duties of Squad Leaders (SL) and Platoon Leaders (PL)1. Squad Leaders1. Certifications and other requirementsBefore getting into the in-game requirements you should get TeamSpeak (TS). Though the in-game voice chat is used for commands, TS is used to discuss strategic details or other private stuff that not everyone has to hear. Use Push-to-talk for TS and bind it to an unused button.
Having said that, let’s get into the in-game certifications and requirements:
-Beacon level 1, best is maximum
-One smoke, best is 4
-Command channel
-Taking off, flying and landing with a Galaxy
-A Microphone
2. Setting up a squadA squad is started by inviting a second player. The squad leader can now invite players or open the squad for other players to join. There are a few options you can set:
Private squad: This option seems to be very bugged. At the moment it prevents players from auto joining and makes inviting impossible at times. The squad will still appear in the squad list.
Show outfit: This will show the outfit tag (RE4) in the squad list. Always enable this unless you want a squad that is not related to the re4pers.
Only accept Friends/Outfit: With this option you can limit the players that can see the squad in the list. Important: This does not prevent auto-joining or joining by invite.
The text field is the name that shows up in the squad list. Use something like “RE4 on Indar/Esamir/Amerish” or “RE4 Alert”. When we are running multiple platoons, you should set the description to “RE4pers 1st/2nd/3rd platoon”. Make sure to keep it up to date when changing continents or objectives.
When all the options have been set, press the button to the right of the text field to enable recruitment. Your squad will then show up in the list.
3. Getting the squad to be with youOne of the most important things to know about being a squad leader is the spawn mechanics of your squad members. Spawnpoints are limited in Planetside 2, but the default spawn for your squad members will always be the one closest to the squad leader. Even if you are on another continent, the game will allow/suggest squad members to spawn on your location. The only exception to that are squad vehicle spawns which only work within one continent. The consequence of that mechanic is that the squad leader has to follow platoon orders no matter what. He has to be the first one to redeploy and reach the new objective, even if that means leaving a tank behind, getting a Reaver and flying to the waypoint. If the squad leader is there, the rest of the squad will have an easy time following.
So much for the normal spawning methods. With the beacon and squad vehicle spawn there are two more methods available that work somewhat different. The beacon can be placed everywhere as long as there is line of sight to the sky. It will allow squad members to droppod in the vicinity of the beacon every 150 seconds at level one, with 15 seconds less for every level (90 seconds at max rank). The beacon should be used when short reinforcement times are required, when Sunderers are not available or endangered or to get in elevated positions with more than just a light assault. Beacons can be destroyed easily if the enemy has access to them. Make sure they are in difficult to reach locations or well protected by friendlies (Protip: Never trust your teammates). The second spawn option is squad owned Sunderers and Galaxies. When they are driven/piloted by a squad member, everyone from the squad can spawn inside as long as they are on the same continent. A Sunderer placed on a point can provide heavy weapons support and spawnpoint at the same time, giving troops an extremely short reinforcement time. Galaxies can be parked at the flight ceiling, where they are difficult to spot, cannot be hit by lock-ons and are almost impossible to kill with flak. On the other hand they can be used as close air support. They have an enormous amount of health and Bulldogs provide enough firepower to take care of a lot of infantry. On top of that, Galaxies will magically draw attention (read: Bullets) to them, forcing the enemy to make a choice between taking a beating from the air or not having men available for the ground fight. Keep in mind that a squad leader piloting a Galaxy cannot place his beacon.
The logistical part of getting your squad to where it should be is pretty straight forward. Getting your squad to actually follow you is another thing.
4. Leading a squadA squad is a quite manageable unit compared to the 48 players of a whole platoon. In the past it was usually the platoon leader who was convincing 48 players to follow their objective. However, the squad leader has more tools at his disposal than the PL. He also gets his orders by the PL and usually has only one objective to take care of. It should be the SL responsibility to lead the squad on a tactical level, being aware of the squad’s situation and making it follow objectives at all time.
Every squad has its own voice channel. Quite often I hear chattering in the platoon chat that is in no way related to the platoon. (e.g. hearing another squad leader putting down his beacon) 36 players (75% of the platoon) don’t care! I know the squad chat can be unreliable at times, but for that we have TS! Invite people to it.
Leading as whole is not really learnable from plain text. Therefore, all that I can provide are some basic guidelines that should help you to succeed.
Be present. Letting your squad go for the waypoint and hardly say anything will not make them follow their orders very well. If you ask for a very specific tactic after 15 minutes of radio silence, it will probably not work.
Be short, precise and determined. Orders in voice chat should always be like that. The first two things are to prevent misunderstandings and voice channel/brain overload. The third is more of a psychological thing that has not a most likely will never be scientifically proven. Despite this being a game I simply believe that the moral of your squad will be better if you at least sound like you’re convinced of what you are doing.
Point things out. This is an addition to “being precise”. Don’t expect your teammates to use their brains, especially when playing NC. Use your squad waypoint and smoke to mark important spots, rally points and high priority targets. Always call them out over voice. You can also mark points and generators by holding Q over them.
Keep your squad together. Twelve guys is quite a number if you look at them standing lined up. A whole squad that is focused on something can fight against a much bigger group of enemies than twelve lone wolves. Holding a single room with one squad against +24 enemies can be done for a very long time if every squad member knows his spot.
Always have an active task. Don’t let your squad wander around when your objective is completed. Even if their new task is to stand at a certain spot or sit in a Sunderer. Getting them back together can be time consuming
Know your squad. Have at least three re4pers with you that can provide equipment and vehicles or complete special tasks. Try to have a useful combination of classes in your squad. 12 infiltrators will have a hard time with many jobs, so will any other squad that doesn’t have a useful mixture. Of course there is more than one possible combination but here is one example.
3 Medics, they stay back and keep the squad alive
1 Infiltrator, provides recon
4 Engineers, ammo and locking chokepoints with their turrets
4 Heavies, killing stuff, sucking up damage, killing MAX units.
Depending on your situation you can put MAX units or light assaults in there, even squads that have 10 of on class (hint: Lock-on squad, tank squad, demoralizing with 10 snipers) can be very effective if you want to specialize.
Sort bad players out. Keep checking from time to time if someone is not following orders. You should deal with such situation by first issuing a warning, telling them (even by their names) to follow the orders or they’ll be kicked. Give them some time, after that, the players that didn’t respond should be kicked. This ensures having quality players in your squad, and also frees up some slots for other players to join. However, be patient with low level players. They shouldn’t be doomed just because they are new to the game. Give them a few personal advice if necessary.
Confirm orders of the platoon leader. This will on the one hand give your squadmates a second chance to hear what they have to do (though they should hear it again when you give more exact orders later) but it will also help preventing misunderstandings. In times of unreliable in-game chat this can help save a lot of time.
If you go afk, have a disconnect or leave the platoon, try to find a new squad leader or notify your platoon leader. Don’t just leave the squad nor give the squad lead to someone without telling him
2. Platoon Leaders-Make sure there is a volunteering re4per in every squad leader postition. Never promote someone without asking him/her first and check from time to time due to SL disconnects. All squads must be called Re4pers (you can add things like "on Indar", "Alert Platoon")
-Use the leadership voice and text chat ingame to coordinate with other outfit platoons. Dont be shy. If someone annoyes you there (thre are some few assholes), just mute him.
-Be short and precise with your orders, but speak slowly and understandable. Often people dont seem to follow because they simply dont understand you. PS2 has international players with a different english language level. NEVER INSULT PEOPLE!
-You as PL are also responsible for discipline in Platoon and TS. If you see some fight between platoon members, clear it out. If there is too much chatter and off-topic on TS, tell the people to be more silent. Use TS to share important information and reports from your SLs and give them inside to your plans. TS is mainly to coordinate, not to chatter.
-DONT ZERG (=massive steamrolling overpopulation that rolls over the map). Try to have fights with equal population. Everything that comes over 55-60% NC is no good fight anymore. It happens often that randoms follow your paltoon and create a zerg with that. If you see that, change your position or split up your platoon into 2 or 4 parts. Galaxy drops are also a good way to change the scenario. Check population on the map and counter enemy zergs with your platoon to create 50-50 fights or attack installations when you are sure that the enemy will reinforce it. For bigger installations (tech plants, biolabs, amps) 55%-60% in offence are ok, especially in alerts.
-Use your waypoints as precise markers on the map. Point out enemy sunders, friendly sunderer deployment zones or squad objectives. Smoke is less usefull, because its most of the time bugged on the minimap.
-Flank the enemy. Thats the key in PS2. Do that big-scale on the lattice-map, medium scaled with tank platoons and small scale on base defences/offences like max rushes. Try to point out good flanking sites for your people. Usually there is always an unproteced way to get in the enemys back. Use you waypoints for that. Bigger forces can be beaten when you flank them.
-If your platoon has difficulties to achieve some goal, group them up and lead with your avatar. Set up a max-rush on defence when you seem to lose an installation with 50-50. Do this when the clock sais 1:30 at latest. NC maxes are the best when is comes to close combat. Max rushes should be your main weapon in biolab, tech-plant or amp-station fights. Enjoy the VS whining on global chat after that
-If you have to leave, give the platoon to some officer (PL or SL) that voulunteers. Soldiers are allowed to take PLs jobs, if officers (PL or SL) are online to have an eye on them. If both is not the case, disband the platoon. For that every squad leader needs to disband his own squad (command in chat-box is: /squad disband). The PL should disband the last squad by himself. Dont just cancel the platoon because it will create zombie-squads that are called RE4 but are leaded by some lvl 5 random guy at the end.
