Fast Assault squad
Posted: 2007-08-01 01:45
Sometimes known as resorting to Vanilla tricks, but useful in the overall game in getting a strategic edge on the other team either in the start, or in the middle of the game.
First off, right at the start of the map make it clear that you want either a APC or a Humvee. Even better if it's both, but no tanks, no attack helicopter, maybe a littlebird for extended distances between points, but nothing slow. Get a Crewman kit if you're getting a APC, because you as Squad Leader do not want the time delay communicating between yourself and the driver. If anything, get your Officer kit after you've had time to breathe, but for the time being: GO!!! You know your game plan, and can make the instant decisions to get your squad to your objectives through whatever opposition might try to interdict you.
For your squad, it's good to have at least one H-AT, Medic and Rifleman. Marksman or Snipers can help out a lot in defense and offense, but if you're in a vehicle-heavy map, you want most of your slots filled out by Combat Engineers for mines and C4 where you don't have H-AT, Medic or Rifleman. Call for supplies using Binoculars or extended optics of your APC to get a supply box falling before you reach it to change kits and reload. Do the same for Artillery to clear out a position before swooping in on it.
Depart your main if you've got more then 3 people, or if more then 20 seconds has passed from the start of the game. If your squad members or unsquadded teammates are taking to long to load up, just leave them. They're too slow to keep up with your pace anyways. Honk your horn, spam "Get in!", yell at them in a urgent manner in VOIP, get their attention. Let them know before game, and during the first 20 seconds that you're in a hurry. They can catch up or spawn in on you later.
Burn rubber or boots to your first objective and take it with as little delay as possible. The rest of your team will take the closest of two captureable Attack points, so go for the furtherest if there is two. This speeds up the total process. Know your shortcuts beforehand, and use the boost(Sprint key) on your vehicle to edge out a few more seconds. Know how to take uneven surfaces to either avoid getting caught on them, or transistion across them smoother. Hit the brakes(Decelerate key) to come to a faster stop, and spam "Bail out!" including yourself to get the flag down faster. Have your people close by to the vehicle unless enemy has somehow infilitrated this far into your own territory this early.
Once the flag goes down, grab anyone who can ride with you that might have caught up. Squad members take priority, but don't wait around. Stay no longer then 10 seconds once the flag is down. Tear out to the new location. Again, know where you're going and all the shortcuts. Your first two points are almost always uncontested unless the map is short or under heavy enemy control to being with.
Your third flag can sometimes go down without contest, but expect trouble. Breakneck sprint to this flag, but keep your eyes and ears out. H-AT, forward units, APCs, cars and choppers can all meet you at this point. If you're in a APC, you stand a good chance of beating at least one of them, which is what you'll usually be up against. If you're in a car, you stand a better chance of beating the other team to the third flag, but you're much more vulnerable. Use any available cover that doesn't take too much of your speed away as you get to under 200m to the flag.
After the first flag falls, and sometimes between second or third, depending on the map, you want to put up a Rally Point if you're not crewing a APC. If you're on a map where the first flag is contested, get your Rally Point up then. Throw it out further away if you think you stand a chance of being wiped out before you get to your more favorable, closer-in Rally Point. If you're in a APC, the APC is your Rally. Take good care of it, and hang back with the exit door of your APC away from where you think the enemy might be to avoid getting your reinforcements slaughtered. Having a second Crewman in your squad as a gunner is usually a miracle, so practice a little with your APC's gun systems so you can drive and fire to support your squad. If you're lucky enough to have a gunner in your squad, hop out and take cover if you feel like it's relativly safe to get the flag down faster. You can usually get the fringe of a flag and still provide cover using the long-range optics of your APC, but keeping the APC alive if you're the driver is priority 1. Losing a APC or car will kill your fast assault. Don't get in the gun of your car at all if you're the SL. You'll be unrevivable if you do get shot, which happens 95% of the time.
Once you get to a point in your assault where fighting the enemy is a very real possibility, you want to make sure you avoid doing so at all possible. Let the other squads behind you hang them up. You want to sneakysneak as fast and as quietly as possible to the next flag, which will assuredly be in enemy control. Depending on the map, you may or may not have enemy inside the next points. Usually on larger maps, if you can get around unnoticed, you'll have the place all to yourself minus maybe the Commander building assets, or a sniper. You want to be faster then the leading edge of the enemy and try to have more people then they do so you can snatch their flag back to neutral before they can neutral yours. Best case scenario is you get their flag under your team's control, and can either play defense or move on without much hassle, but it rarely works out like that.
For taking a enemy flag from them, behind their lines or after getting their attention, you don't want to engage and give away your positions unless you can get the kills or it's just unavoidable to have to fight. The capture radius for a flag is huge, with lots of hiding spots, so staying hidden is easier then it is in Vanilla. Try to hide yourself as Squad Leader to keep the pressure on the team returning to secure their backpoint. Rally Points at this point of an assault are rare, since you're not only going to be behind the enemy's line and thus subject to passer-bys seeing you get 100m from the point, but you're often times more useful just staying alive on a piece of the flag to help expedite capture, or hiding away from it as a spawn point. This may seem suicidal to your squadmates at times, but if you can hang up two tanks and a APC for 6 infantry, it's a priceless expenditure of the other team's resources compared to what you'll lose in squad members and tickets. The more enemy you have on you, the less that'll be opposing your team further towards your own territory. Hanging up one tank with 6 people for 5 minutes is more then acceptable, especially if said tank is too busy to notice one of your tanks or a aircraft getting a bead on it.
A fast assault squad usually has spent itself at this point, having lost all speed and initiative and getting bogged down in either a control point defense, or in delaying tactics with the enemy. Maintain a APC or car while engaged in these, where the APC is preferable for movement, armor, weaponry and spawns/kits. If you have to, defend while another squad secures the next point ahead of you, but be ready to move if the other squad's flag neutralizing allows you to leapfrog to the next point after that one. Speed is what you do best, so if things go bad for the other squad, you can always react and come back to defend or assist in the capture.
If you can hinder a enemy's advance by blowing a bridge, harassing their armor, or holding a control point that is the vital link in their capture chain, do it. Face-to-face firefights shouldn't be your method of engagement most of the time. Let the slower squads grind into the enemy. Find ways around and either nip at a opposing squad's flanks, or just bypass and set up spawn/rally points that let you take back points and/or hinder the enemy's ability to fight the main body of your team's slower forces. Remember that once engaged, the other team usually has tunnel vision, which makes it easier to skirt around their sides.
If in your movement you encounter a enemy squad that you can overpower, take into consideration how much time it will take to wipe them out, versus losing your vehicle, exposing your position to them, and whether or not killing them might help slow them down ala destroying a Support Truck or Rally Point. Don't stick around to mop up if the enemy is being stubborn. Kill as many as you can, but if it looks like wiping out one or two more infantry is going to take more then a few extra seconds, mount back up and go. Leave them bleeding and broken and let other people know they're there. Destroy their vehicles and Rally Points as a priority to slow them down, but once again if it takes too much time to do so, don't.
Don't be afraid to play a little dirty. It's war. It might not be glorious to shirk a firefight, but if your actions helps your team get the initiative and the win, it'll all be worth it, especially if your team's name is in the spotlight later on as Top Squad from all their flag captures.
Oh, and, "Go, go, go!"
First off, right at the start of the map make it clear that you want either a APC or a Humvee. Even better if it's both, but no tanks, no attack helicopter, maybe a littlebird for extended distances between points, but nothing slow. Get a Crewman kit if you're getting a APC, because you as Squad Leader do not want the time delay communicating between yourself and the driver. If anything, get your Officer kit after you've had time to breathe, but for the time being: GO!!! You know your game plan, and can make the instant decisions to get your squad to your objectives through whatever opposition might try to interdict you.
For your squad, it's good to have at least one H-AT, Medic and Rifleman. Marksman or Snipers can help out a lot in defense and offense, but if you're in a vehicle-heavy map, you want most of your slots filled out by Combat Engineers for mines and C4 where you don't have H-AT, Medic or Rifleman. Call for supplies using Binoculars or extended optics of your APC to get a supply box falling before you reach it to change kits and reload. Do the same for Artillery to clear out a position before swooping in on it.
Depart your main if you've got more then 3 people, or if more then 20 seconds has passed from the start of the game. If your squad members or unsquadded teammates are taking to long to load up, just leave them. They're too slow to keep up with your pace anyways. Honk your horn, spam "Get in!", yell at them in a urgent manner in VOIP, get their attention. Let them know before game, and during the first 20 seconds that you're in a hurry. They can catch up or spawn in on you later.
Burn rubber or boots to your first objective and take it with as little delay as possible. The rest of your team will take the closest of two captureable Attack points, so go for the furtherest if there is two. This speeds up the total process. Know your shortcuts beforehand, and use the boost(Sprint key) on your vehicle to edge out a few more seconds. Know how to take uneven surfaces to either avoid getting caught on them, or transistion across them smoother. Hit the brakes(Decelerate key) to come to a faster stop, and spam "Bail out!" including yourself to get the flag down faster. Have your people close by to the vehicle unless enemy has somehow infilitrated this far into your own territory this early.
Once the flag goes down, grab anyone who can ride with you that might have caught up. Squad members take priority, but don't wait around. Stay no longer then 10 seconds once the flag is down. Tear out to the new location. Again, know where you're going and all the shortcuts. Your first two points are almost always uncontested unless the map is short or under heavy enemy control to being with.
Your third flag can sometimes go down without contest, but expect trouble. Breakneck sprint to this flag, but keep your eyes and ears out. H-AT, forward units, APCs, cars and choppers can all meet you at this point. If you're in a APC, you stand a good chance of beating at least one of them, which is what you'll usually be up against. If you're in a car, you stand a better chance of beating the other team to the third flag, but you're much more vulnerable. Use any available cover that doesn't take too much of your speed away as you get to under 200m to the flag.
After the first flag falls, and sometimes between second or third, depending on the map, you want to put up a Rally Point if you're not crewing a APC. If you're on a map where the first flag is contested, get your Rally Point up then. Throw it out further away if you think you stand a chance of being wiped out before you get to your more favorable, closer-in Rally Point. If you're in a APC, the APC is your Rally. Take good care of it, and hang back with the exit door of your APC away from where you think the enemy might be to avoid getting your reinforcements slaughtered. Having a second Crewman in your squad as a gunner is usually a miracle, so practice a little with your APC's gun systems so you can drive and fire to support your squad. If you're lucky enough to have a gunner in your squad, hop out and take cover if you feel like it's relativly safe to get the flag down faster. You can usually get the fringe of a flag and still provide cover using the long-range optics of your APC, but keeping the APC alive if you're the driver is priority 1. Losing a APC or car will kill your fast assault. Don't get in the gun of your car at all if you're the SL. You'll be unrevivable if you do get shot, which happens 95% of the time.
Once you get to a point in your assault where fighting the enemy is a very real possibility, you want to make sure you avoid doing so at all possible. Let the other squads behind you hang them up. You want to sneakysneak as fast and as quietly as possible to the next flag, which will assuredly be in enemy control. Depending on the map, you may or may not have enemy inside the next points. Usually on larger maps, if you can get around unnoticed, you'll have the place all to yourself minus maybe the Commander building assets, or a sniper. You want to be faster then the leading edge of the enemy and try to have more people then they do so you can snatch their flag back to neutral before they can neutral yours. Best case scenario is you get their flag under your team's control, and can either play defense or move on without much hassle, but it rarely works out like that.
For taking a enemy flag from them, behind their lines or after getting their attention, you don't want to engage and give away your positions unless you can get the kills or it's just unavoidable to have to fight. The capture radius for a flag is huge, with lots of hiding spots, so staying hidden is easier then it is in Vanilla. Try to hide yourself as Squad Leader to keep the pressure on the team returning to secure their backpoint. Rally Points at this point of an assault are rare, since you're not only going to be behind the enemy's line and thus subject to passer-bys seeing you get 100m from the point, but you're often times more useful just staying alive on a piece of the flag to help expedite capture, or hiding away from it as a spawn point. This may seem suicidal to your squadmates at times, but if you can hang up two tanks and a APC for 6 infantry, it's a priceless expenditure of the other team's resources compared to what you'll lose in squad members and tickets. The more enemy you have on you, the less that'll be opposing your team further towards your own territory. Hanging up one tank with 6 people for 5 minutes is more then acceptable, especially if said tank is too busy to notice one of your tanks or a aircraft getting a bead on it.
A fast assault squad usually has spent itself at this point, having lost all speed and initiative and getting bogged down in either a control point defense, or in delaying tactics with the enemy. Maintain a APC or car while engaged in these, where the APC is preferable for movement, armor, weaponry and spawns/kits. If you have to, defend while another squad secures the next point ahead of you, but be ready to move if the other squad's flag neutralizing allows you to leapfrog to the next point after that one. Speed is what you do best, so if things go bad for the other squad, you can always react and come back to defend or assist in the capture.
If you can hinder a enemy's advance by blowing a bridge, harassing their armor, or holding a control point that is the vital link in their capture chain, do it. Face-to-face firefights shouldn't be your method of engagement most of the time. Let the slower squads grind into the enemy. Find ways around and either nip at a opposing squad's flanks, or just bypass and set up spawn/rally points that let you take back points and/or hinder the enemy's ability to fight the main body of your team's slower forces. Remember that once engaged, the other team usually has tunnel vision, which makes it easier to skirt around their sides.
If in your movement you encounter a enemy squad that you can overpower, take into consideration how much time it will take to wipe them out, versus losing your vehicle, exposing your position to them, and whether or not killing them might help slow them down ala destroying a Support Truck or Rally Point. Don't stick around to mop up if the enemy is being stubborn. Kill as many as you can, but if it looks like wiping out one or two more infantry is going to take more then a few extra seconds, mount back up and go. Leave them bleeding and broken and let other people know they're there. Destroy their vehicles and Rally Points as a priority to slow them down, but once again if it takes too much time to do so, don't.
Don't be afraid to play a little dirty. It's war. It might not be glorious to shirk a firefight, but if your actions helps your team get the initiative and the win, it'll all be worth it, especially if your team's name is in the spotlight later on as Top Squad from all their flag captures.
Oh, and, "Go, go, go!"
Though you (and i) are fairly good at it 