The chain, the weakest link, you know the cliché. But what is the weakest link in the grunt squad?  Is it the rouge member who never follows orders?  Is it a commander that leads by the seat of his pants never having a bigger plan?  A squad can only follow what a commander lays out for them, a truly organized squad that is.  If the men are ready to fight, armed, and acceptable to be lead, and the commander does not know what to do or where to go, then the fight is already lost.  This page, more than any other, will be debated by many for the points it will try and make.  Simply because NO ONE leads the same way.   Here is the quick list of squad leader responsibilities that will make anyone a better commander, even if they pick only one or two to heed.

 

 

1      A Leader must always appear to have a plan.  Even if you don’t you must appear to know what you are doing, and especially what the next target is.  The squad looks to its commander for information, and they expect him/her to have it, at all times.  To this end, watch the map, stay mentally ahead of the game, and have your NEXT target in mind while attacking your current.  (this is an old pool players trick, thinking about the NEXT shot, setting it up, assuming that your current one is.. In the pocket) 

 

2      Never Order, Always Ask.  In the end, you really wield no true power whatsoever.  Also, commanding people you otherwise rarely interact with around the battlefield could look a little pompous.  So whenever possible always remember to ask for things rather then demand them, and when you get them, be sure to follow it up with a thank you or  TY, and you will be appreciated for your kindness

 

3      Don’t hesitate to kick squad members.  If you are running a tight squadron, and some of the people are lagging all over the map, not listening to orders, don’t think twice about warning them that if they don’t get in line, they’re on their own.  The ones who want to play tactically will tighten up and come join the squad.  The others will probably leave of their own volition.

 

4      An SL’s most important job is keeping the squad together.  Everything else is secondary to this fundamental rule.  When you squad lead you are NO longer an individual, you ARE the squad.  The things you so as a single soldier are not as important as keeping your squad together and informed.  That is an SL’s greatest, hardest task.

 

5      Understand you MAY BE WRONG.  (a good plan right now is better than a perfect plan 5 minutes from now)  Things change fast on the field, what may have worked 5 min ago may end up a disaster now.  If a current plan isn't working, change it, change it fast if you have to.  Make sure everyone knows what's happening.

 

6      Once you have a Plan, go with it.  Don’t get distracted by ‘pretty targets’ you find on the way.  If your goal is a northern base, then get to it ASAP.   You cannot be everywhere at once.  Unless what happens stops you from actually getting to target, then maintain your current heading and stick to the plan.

 

7.      Don’t put up with back seat leaders.  If they want to run a squad, let them go and run one, being SL is tough enough without every order being questioned in open chat.  Private tells from soldiers who have differing ideas are ok and you want ideas from them.  But constant nagging that you’re ideas are wrong in open chat (ESP in teamspeak!) and theirs are better helps no one, even if its true.  It causes aggravation quicker than anything else in the game.  Boot them.

 

8      Use Whisper Keys in Teamspeak.  Set up whisper keys to be in contact with your officers so you can bounce ideas back and forth about targets and other information without putting it out on the main chat channel.  Also set up respond macros in teamspeak bindkeys so that you can instantly assign a key to the last person that whispered to you (like backspace in game) so you can send / receive information from particular soldiers.

 

9      Use the Three R’s when planning an attack.  Radical, Reliable & Regrettable.  Look at these three ways to attack any situation.  The radical is of course along the lines of rolling in guns blazing, which may be possible if there are less forces than you previously expected.  The Reliable is what you will more likely fall back on as you approach the base and see that the Radical is impossible.  Something more akin to a dagger or recon attack.   Regrettable is where will you will respawn, and how you will attack AFTER your team is wiped out in the initial run.  However, have ALL THREE in mind as you begin your assault.

 

10     Try to respect other commanders with differing points of view.  Everyone plays the game differently, there is no single right way.  Make sure to listen, REALLY LISTEN to other commanders ideas before writing them off as not nearly as good as your own.  There is ALWAYS more than one way to attack any situation.  And NEVER openly insult other commanders decisions over open chat, that’s just low class.  If they made a bad mistake, the squad already knows it and doesn't need you to show them how smart you are by picking on the guy.

Commander Responsibilities

& How to Maintain Order

BF2 Command Screen

 

That’s a WHOLE lot of data there folks for one lonely commander to sort through as he mulls over satellite imagery of the enemy and decide where to send air strikes / supplies.

 

It’s how the Commander USES this information that can help win the fight for his team.  This often means that the commander cannot fight to anywhere near his full ability as a solder and must back off and do his greater good far back from the battlefield.

 

Under no circumstantces should he ever be flying while commanding

 

 

Commander

Battlefield 2 Specific Instructions

For Commanders

 

The list at the top of the page was created over a painfully long time for Planetside.  However, the ideas set forth in it are very relevant to all games that use a hierarchy of players to keep organization up, and chaos down.  It goes before this list because it is those ideas you should have down, especially having a plan, and working out the Three R’s which hardly anyone does.  Because NO ONE likes to think what will happen once we’ve been wiped out, and have to regroup.  It's a classic chess error of tunnel vision that you see your path, and nothing else, you take it, lose your queen, and are left with no contingency and falter in the fray.

 

·          As commander, your #1 job is to KEEP THE UAV’S UP as consistently as possible.  Keeping them as close to the main front line (if any) as possible.  The team in the field use the UAV more than anything else to negotiate their surroundings and rout the enemy from their holes.

 

·          As commander, your #2 job is to SPOT THE FREAKING NME (enemy).  Once you pull a scan you cannot look away or all the spots will have disappeared.  You scan, then you right click on each one from the highest level like a crazy person trying to get as many spotted as you can.  Especially the ones closest to the front line, and/or lone wolves near vital flag points far from any friendly units.

 

·          As commander, your #3 job is to BOMB THE SHIT OUT OF THEM.  Once you have a target, more often than not, it will be around a certain flag, and there will be some friendly duking it out alone or vastly outnumbered with them.  On pubs, people are to be considered non focused and will not take note of Artillery strikes friendly or enemy.  But with an organized team, everyone should have their eyes and ears open and the commander may send a strike in right on your head if he sees 5 NME around you.  When the commander sends a strike, he will ANNOUNCE the BASE NAME or NUMBER as he sends it out so you as a soldier can see if you’re in the hot zone and haul ass out of there.  Do NOT get pissed if he drops a load on you, he does NOT want to do it, but sometimes you have to blow up some friendly units to make an omelet… mmmmmm omelets!

 

·          Oh yeah, and throw supplies around a lot, especially on broken equipment like Artilery and UAV’s cos it will fix them up pronto.  Other than that, don’t be greedy with supplies, place them at each friendly base near the front lines for your soldiers.

 

Commander

Squad Leader

Soldier