Community Suggestion: Make More Speciality Squads

What I mean by a "speciality squad" is a special squad who specializes in special tasks. For instance, you could have a "Tank Squad" that is comprised of MBTs and Lightnings with the sole purpose of staying in your tank and blowing stuff up. You could also have an "Air Force Squad" with the purpose of providing help from the sky. You could even have a "Stealth Squad" full of Light Assaults and Infiltrators to get into a base and cap it stealthily. You could even go further and distinguish by ability, such as a "Stalker Squad" or a "Sniper Squad" or an "Engineer Squad" or a "Turret Squad" or a "Drifter Squad" or even a "Rocket Squad". We need more of those. We need people who are excellent at playing a single class to excel with others who play that class, and to get more done. This isn't meant as a discussion, just a suggestion to do more things like this. I'm not truly listening if you say "Scroffel that is the dumbest idea ever!" but you guys are gonna say whatever you want.

I feel ya, and no, not a bad idea at all.

I'm kinda worn out leading though. I hope folks take you up on your idea. Such niche squads like that can be a lot of fun.

Yeah, truly. It'd be epic to be part of a Pilot squad, as cancerous as that may be. Imagine all flying in a formation, wing to wing, everyone playing their part, owning the skies, while you have convoy after convoy of vehicles driving on the roads, patrolling bases, getting ready to attack. Devasting Heavy squads to instantly destroy any vehicle that comes in its path, and as you look around, you notice something out of the side of your eye. A flash of light glimmers, and you realize you are surrounded by Stalker Infiltrators. You run for the hills, trying to get away from them as you hear the sound of footsteps and cloaks. You hear a loud bang! A sniper has hit you in the chest. You flee to a building. You get inside and keep running. You turn the corner and see Engineers on their turrets, aiming at the door. They fire down the hallway, bullets ricocheting off of the walls. You are low on HP, and just when hope seems lost, a squad of medics comes to assist you. They patch you right up, and you head back to the vehicle convoy to embark on yet another journey.

HOW AMAZING IS THAT?

I see no downsides. Easier overview for PLs, easier to find likeminded players, and less time spent looking to do what you want to do. Shouldn't be hard to implement either as they already have a squad tag system in place.

Its a community suggestion. Aimed towards the community. It doesn't need implementation because it is already there. I am just suggesting those in the community do it. It'll be a ton of fun, but I understand what you are saying.

Has been done before. In fact my outfit did it a lot. I wonder why it never was kept up...

Oh yeah because the command tools to do even remote formation flying or assigning a target to simultaneously attack arent there.

Because sticking to one speciality was both boring and often meant that after succeeding you were useless.

Mechanics and command tools need to be added for this to work properly. There is no magic teamplay wand that can suddenly make this right.
If this was the way forward and was as awesome as you suggest, why didnt people stick with it? We know there were outfits more than willing and able to do this and that tried these things.

AirHounds squad would be great! 4 ESFs, 2 Libs, Galaxy will make sky a hell.
Or ArmoredFist (4 g2g lightnings + 2 g2a lightnings + repairing sundie)

These kind of fun squads are rarely seen in game. 99% of squads are the infantry squads ("get to the point, capture, hold, redeploy").

You arnt running with the right squads, because I do this all the time

different servers. I'm @Miller

Idk. We don't have the BEST tools to do this, but it can still be done. Your most important tool is your voice. Walk everyone through it, get the experienced to walk em through it. You shouldn't have to rely on mechanics in the game to get everything done. If it was a movie, there would be a part where he is stripped of his suit and kicked out of the New Conglomerate, and then he remembers the dead Tony Stark from old "Mar-vel" films saying if he is nothing without the suit, he doesn't deserve it. Then he saves the day.

My point is, we don't need it. It'd help, sure, but we can work without it if we just try. We can't keep saying "No that won't work because it needs the tools and mechanics to do so." And besides, there is a command for simultaneously attacking a single target. It is called commanding your maggots to simultaneously attack the same target.

My point is that we do need it. If it doesnt stay fun or is only coordinateable when nothing is happening and goes to crap the second something does then theres no point in it.
If it were a movie then after being stripped of his suit he would have to beat the baddies by talking 11 blind men into painting something so stunningly beautiful with their fingerd that the baddies spare him, only he has to do it while the blind men will try to talk the others into painting what they are painting.

You are better off giving them the tools, like brushes and vision.

And the reason I keep saying that it wont work is because it didnt work when it WAS done! At least not until A: an imbalance was fixed (like the Sunderer hordes) or B: wasnt fun for more than a few minutes.

why are you such a "fun sponge realist"? I don't care if it didn't work in the past. Now that it has been done, people will enjoy it more. They look back at it with fond memories, and it won't work if you don't want it to. Maybe hoping it will work isn't enough, but most of your comments, unless directed to your own thread are downers. Can you give another suggestion to make it work, something without adding more mechanics and stuff, which they probably won't do?

Its about mindset. If everyone wants it to work and tries hard, then it will. Imagine if Planetside started out like this: everyone had to find a place where they fit in, everyone used their voice to communicate ideas, strategies, and dangers, and everyone taught the new players how to roll wit it, Planetstyle. If that were the case, it would be much easier to settle into this game, with all the people trying to help you. Guess what? That dream can be a reality. We have to start it. We build up the community from the ruins up, and keep it going. We have the good players here on the forums, and they just need to listen to this and try it. Imagine if everyone who read this made a squad like this. This would be the most fun game ever. It's up to us.

Stop waiting for the devs to fix this game. Its time for us to do something up it.

You arnt running with the right squads, i do this all the time.

(well less and less lately, as is obvious, no1 plays anymore)

Great idea.

Planetside classic did this, infact each position in a squad could be assigned a certification, and you could not even join the squad without that certification.
For example the reaver in PS1 was an NS vehicle, there were no ESFs.
To fly a reaver you needed the Air Cavalry certification, if this was set as a prerequesit in a squad and you didnt have it unlocked you couldnt join the squad. This was supposed to ensure that only pilots joined the pilot squad for example.

In all honesty it wasnt well utilized but the concept was sound.

Could i suggest a spoiler warning in future, thats like one of the biggest spoilers in recent movie history.

Idk what year this is but he is definitely dead by now. (good save)

I think it is a good idea. Even the simplest two men team is more powerful than the two players individually: an HA with a Medic, a Max with an Engineer, A concealed sniper with a stalker/spotter and so on - moving on something more complex just a few HAs together equipped with air lock-on launchers can easily deny the sky to enemy aircraft by coordinating their attacks.

Sadly the only thing I have seen working so far is a Phoenix NC squad operating from the spawnroom (aka "The only safe place from where using a Phoenix") and that can be devastating on parked enemy Sunderers.

I TK people who do that. They are the supreme gaylords of the NC. Two wrongs don't make a right, but at the same time, I don't care about homosapien extinction. But yeah, we need more of this. It combats certain issues of the game that the devs won't balance. Vehicles are reduced to dust because they get insta hit with a volley of rockets at the same time, ESF and Liberators can't fight off volleys of AA rockets, MAXs are obliterated, any infantry unit is "disassembled" inhumanely, the works. Squads can make the game much better. We gotta just start it up.

Tell ya what: I'll be doing this stuff on Emerald. I'll suck cuz I am playing on a potato with less than 4 GB of memory, but I'll try to get the ball rolling and seeing more speciality squads and just plain old mixed squads. I'll sell this stuff to the casuals and randoms and make them want in on it, then I'll bring it into the foreground with squadplay.

If we can change the mindset of the average Planetman into a tactical super machine, we can change the game.

If you play VS invite me. InexoraVC