Project Reality Forums

Everyone who has played in pubs have encountered this problem. It's understandable that teams often lack balance, because in their essence they are composed randomly. Lack of balance may be the cause of your team failing miserably in both Asset (constantly wasting) and Inter team communication (silent mumble SL channel) and even in Squad layout (1 inf sq per 32 players) department. It happens and it will happen, but it's in your hands, squad leader, to get the best out of the given situation. That's why I wrote this little piece of advice. And by the way - did you know that you have the power to (indirectly) kill a tank by only typing nine symbols in team chat? Read on if you want to know how and why to do that and much more.

Ask yourself: Why do you state the obvious, bitter truth and risk ruining morale for 5 other guys that you're supposed to lead? I think that it's not that hard to overcome your human needs to socialize (read: to whine) for the greater good. I want to encourage every squadmember to stand up against this scenario and tell your squadleader to start doing something to help instead of whining and potentially ruining the game/mood for other people. In some situations I as a squadmember like to observ my whiny squadleader (even sitting in Mumble SL) that keeps on talking and talking about how bad everything is, but doesn't even try and do some teamwork with other squads that are in Mumble (even SL chan).
On morale. I've seen it work wonders. A cheerful and in the same time serious and open minded squadleader (you can say the same about a squad) can turn the tide of the battle and make a difference, even in team-level.

Ask yourself: Why your team isn't communicating?
Is it because they are not using Mumble (or any other 3rd party comm software) or is it their mentality?
Wicca once noted that the worse thing in PR is "my squad, my vehicle, my battle" mentality. Of course it's natural and understandable to stand by your team, your vehicle and do good in your battle, but by doing only that people sometimes forget that there are other squads with the same goal. They even forget to check their map. It's an invaluable tool, and can be used in many different ways - by showing your squad your battle plan with lot of markers (you should tell them to look in their maps) or by simply checking if the guy 500 m ahead on the hill is a friend or foe.
By concentrating only on your squad and your objective you may unwillingly "hurt" some other friendly squad; countless times I with my squad have been running few hundred meters to a truck or a jeep just to get it stolen right by our noses by some guy who doesn't respond in chat or isn't in any squad.

Anyway, If it's their mentality than you probably should give up, but if not than the lack of 3rd party comm-ware shouldn't stop you from doing teamwork. You have your trusty radio and good old team chat. It's not that hard to mark every contact you see, for me it takes about 2 seconds (practice makes it faster); it's can be done so fast even when your squad is engaging the contact. And don't forget to type the location of that tank you saw for a second with your corner of eye while getting airlifted somewhere, it can and usually will make a difference. Is it only nine symbols (tank C5kp3) in chat? Knowing exact position of your potential target sometimes is half of the battle.
I've seen teams starting to bloom with teamwork in the middle of round because a determined squadleader didn't give up and continued to communicate. Or he started the communication between squads.

Ask yourself: Why can't I take the initiative and start communicating with other squads? Is it because I'm a shy person? That shouldn't be true. At least if you're using a microphone. Remember, was it so hard to start communicating with your squad when you started to play Project Reality? It's actually the same with your team - only you have to check your map more often. Which is a good thing. Of course there are some downsides for being in Mumble SL channel or constantly looking at chat. For example, I noticed that my situational awareness isn't as good as when I'm not in SL channel. But that just me (and you) - a small but essential portion of The Plan and The Team. It's usually more useful to relay any info to your team than to have ultra keen awareness, at least in bigger, more empty (think Kashan) maps.
Remember, as human nature is inert, you'll sometimes have to make the first small push in order for your team to start their communication engines and begin the roll for victory or at least have a good, fun and rewarding match. Try it and don't give up if you don't receive a response. That doesn't mean that your team didn't read the info.

TL;DR version:
Don't whine, it just makes things worse.
Try to look at things from your teams perspective and check your map often. SL's - try to use your map often by telling your squadmembers to open it and guide them through your plan with markers. If they know the plan and the way, they will think about what to expect and theoretically they'll be more ready for things to go bad.
Take the initiative and start communicating with other squads. People are inert, don't assume someone is not into doing teamwork just because he's not doing it. Talk to him/her, don't be shy. "Hey, squad leader five, this is squad leader six, you have a full squad straight north of you, 100 meters" can make a difference. Or "Squad five, you move in from East, we're gonna catch their attention from West." It's proven that the team who communicates the best (keep it short, essential, useful) usually wins.


P.S.

I have a feeling that there could be some threads that share the same idea as mine. Repetition in this context isn't a bad thing as the problem still exists and will exist (until there's a magical mindreading plugin for teamstacking).

Trust no-one, always have a plan in the event that they fail.

Its impossible to rely on others, even when you've played with them for hours and hours. Thats my philosophy, but if yours works then by all means continue employing it.

dtacs wrote:Trust no-one, always have a plan in the event that they fail.

Its impossible to rely on others, even when you've played with them for hours and hours. Thats my philosophy, but if yours works then by all means continue employing it.

True, it's good to have a back up plan. But don't say it's impossible to rely on others, I do believe you have worked and, for example, attacked an objective with another squad while communicating with them.
Btw, maybe talking face to face in-game may solve your trust problems. But seems that there isn't a problem after all. One can communicate and work together without trust, right?

I agree more than once but using SL channel and encouraging others to do so it can get it rolling.

To involve other squads just ask them a question 'Sq 2 all quiet with you?' or 'Sq1 you need a crate?' then they realise they're not alone.

If SL's are quiet I use their SL's name as it's easy to forget your squad number.

When I command I try to give people confidence to speak to me so I can keep the information flowing from SL to CO, then CO to team.

dtacs wrote:Trust no-one, always have a plan in the event that they fail.

Its impossible to rely on others, even when you've played with them for hours and hours. Thats my philosophy, but if yours works then by all means continue employing it.

Good first statement.

But the second; Just because you have played hours and hours together, doesn't mean your going to be able to rely on them. That time has to be spent specifically training together as a group and practicing your roles to be able to rely on them.

Just having a plan in mind and stating what you are going to builds confidence. Other SLs start to recognize you and start giving support and intel. A seemingly dead team can grow into a coordinated one after a simple plan is formed, i've seen it before multiple times on the NwA server where I mostly play. Remember confidence is very infectious.