Excellent Squads, excellent teams

[wuschel]

Hi,

I have seen some reports on terrible squads and teams. I do, of course, have the same experience. However, I want to say that I have experience the other side more often.

Personally, I find that the best squads I been in were those I have learnt the most about the game, and those were teamwork and support was coming from all members of the squad.

I made this experience while leading a squad for the first couple of times. Of course, there were too many situations were I was simply not able to make proper decisions - and it was then when the experience and dedication of the other squad members came in. Nothing worse than beeing Squad leader and forgetting where the rally point button is, because You under such high pressure. Or on how would be the best way to attack a position.

The best I have been playing with

- had some very experienced and starters in them
- wanted to have fun, and did not wait for special assets to get it
- had a friendly leading / co-playing style
- helped out their SL and commander
- kept their personal interests below the interest of the team
- searched actively for teamwork (VOIP or in few cases chat)
- had some fun chatter from time to time (at least in the only round when our squad had 0 kills and 0 deaths ).
- in general compensate the weakness of the single members through the teamplay

And I must say, I found those squad quite often. So thanks for playing with me



-- Wabberjocky

[ZiRo]

Yes, Yes, Yes. Excellent post.

Those are -the- ingredients for a great squad.

[UntenablePosition]

Thank You.
It is game, but its' a game that is more fun if you win and teamwork leads to winning.
A little advice, Wuschel, don't let the pressure get to you.
2 rules of stress relief.
1 don't sweat the little stuff
2 it is all little stuff

IMHO it is vitally important to support the new / inexperienced SL.
Don't tell him what to do but be ready with suggestions and tips so you can share your knowledge/experience.

[ZiRo]

UntenablePosition- It's become more clear as I've read your posts that you're actually one of those SL's that I dislike.

Just because we promote a more 'laid back', giving members some thinking space, giving them the opportunity to contribute in their own way, rather than getting on their back because they weren't behind the tree you would have stood behind, doesn't mean we don't win.

I regularly lead a successful squad. I have regularly squads with >5k points. My retention of squad members is excellent. My catalogue of public players that regularly join my squad if they see me playing, is fantastic. I've even been asked to lead a squad before the round even began or a shot fired, purely because of my credentials in the previous round.

I'm not saying I'm the dogs bollocks. I'm just saying I manage just fine by being a nice SL. Compliance can be won by being friendly, it doesn't need to be enforced by being an ********. Being an ******** doesn't make you more successful either, it just makes the games of your squad members less enjoyable.

[UntenablePosition]

UntenablePosition- It's become more clear as I've read your posts that you're actually one of those SL's that I dislike.

Just because we promote a more 'laid back', giving members some thinking space, giving them the opportunity to contribute in their own way, rather than getting on their back because they weren't behind the tree you would have stood behind, doesn't mean we don't win.

I regularly lead a successful squad. I have regularly squads with >5k points. My retention of squad members is excellent. My catalogue of public players that regularly join my squad if they see me playing, is fantastic. I've even been asked to lead a squad before the round even began or a shot fired, purely because of my credentials in the previous round.

I'm not saying I'm the dogs bollocks. I'm just saying I manage just fine by being a nice SL. Compliance can be won by being friendly, it doesn't need to be enforced by being an ********. Being an ******** doesn't make you more successful either, it just makes the games of your squad members less enjoyable.

what are you talking about ?

Don't sweat the little stuff and it's all little stuff.

sounds like a laid back approach to me


I can make the same claims about my SL skills and I only play this name on the weekends so I don't "represent" more than 50% of my playing time.
I have gotten top ranked squads w/ no effort at all, simply left the squad I was in, grabbed my trusty Combat Engineer kit and started digging in a good place.
All of a sudden I have a full squad, medic included, pulling security on the stuff I just dug.
Then I say something totally Arseholish like " OK, good deal, thank you gentlemen,lets go over there and see what happens ".

Compliance can be won by being friendly, it doesn't need to be enforced by being an ********.

Compliance ? Enforcement ? What are you talking about ?

I'm not fighting my squad members to win compliance and I don't need to enforce anything.
I seek cooperation not compliance because I am not truly the leader, I'm some guy at a computer and you only follow me because you WANT to, not because you have to.
( OK sometimes you HAVE to join the only squad left but you know what I mean )
There are times that a more agressive tone is needed but, for me anyway, that is a rare occasion.

In closing I would just like to say that since you have never played with me Ziro, and seem incapable of understanding what I have written about leading squads, I would like to invite you to be in my squad some night.
I am on xfire so if you want to actually learn a fact, as opposed to just calling me names, look me up and find out for sure if I am an "********" squadleader or not.

[ZiRo]

what are you talking about ?



sounds like a laid back approach to me


I can make the same claims about my SL skills and I only play this name on the weekends so I don't "represent" more than 50% of my playing time.
I have gotten top ranked squads w/ no effort at all, simply left the squad I was in, grabbed my trusty Combat Engineer kit and started digging in a good place.
All of a sudden I have a full squad, medic included, pulling security on the stuff I just dug.
Then I say something totally Arseholish like " OK, good deal, thank you gentlemen,lets go over there and see what happens ".



Compliance ? Enforcement ? What are you talking about ?

I'm not fighting my squad members to win compliance and I don't need to enforce anything.
I seek cooperation not compliance because I am not truly the leader, I'm some guy at a computer and you only follow me because you WANT to, not because you have to.
( OK sometimes you HAVE to join the only squad left but you know what I mean )
There are times that a more agressive tone is needed but, for me anyway, that is a rare occasion.

In closing I would just like to say that since you have never played with me Ziro, and seem incapable of understanding what I have written about leading squads, I would like to invite you to be in my squad some night.
I am on xfire so if you want to actually learn a fact, as opposed to just calling me names, look me up and find out for sure if I am an "********" squadleader or not.

Since you're obviously capable of writing English which makes sense, you could practice that in future posts. The reason for my misunderstanding was because I took your opinion to be that you need to be controlling of your squad.

I wasn't calling you an ******** directly, however I apologise - but I ask you to try to write more clearly in future.

I took your post in my thread the wrong way, hence 'It is game, but its' a game that is more fun if you win and teamwork leads to winning.' was taken the wrong way.

[UntenablePosition]

OK
But I don't see how the statement that teamwork leads to winning is negative or in any way not fun.
The mod is designed to encourage teamwork, hence the scoring system which rewards players if they stay together.
I perhaps should have included the IMHO caveat but that makes me wonder, is there something wrong with winning that it is not, all things being equal, better to win than to lose ?

My real point was that I was glad to see Wuschel having such a great time and that it is important for the more experienced players to assist new players or players that are new to roles such Squadleader.

[wuschel]

double posting

[wuschel]

I think You two are on the same side of the story: Victory through fun and team spirit. And if not, well, You are toast, the game is lost - but You did Your best.

The reason I post again that lately I fell into the situation to teach a rookie squad leader. Having taken the roles of my previous mentors, I realized how important it is to encourage and advise those guys who step up to take some good heat. Also, it is important to realize that back then, when I was a rookie, I also flipped over one or so transport trucks. Give the aspiring SL the assurance that he will fail some time, but that he has to fail in order to learn. In order to fail, the rookie squad leader has to make decisions. And for those he needs suggestions of more experienced squad members.

The more I took up a role of a squad leader, the more I grasped its importance: In my humble opinion it is the best position to play in, for the spectrum of tactical and strategic decisions give You the biggest influence over the battlefield. And not only the performance of the team is highly dependent on a squad leaders decision, but the quality of overall gameplay, or simply the game feeling.

That said, it is crucial for PR to "train" new squad leaders, teach them how to communicate and lead in a good way, and have a good laugh together.

My advice for fresh Squad Leaders: Tell Your Squad Members that You are a little green and You need their help. It will take some beating and time, but then, once in a while, You will lead Your squad to be the best in the round.