Why DON'T you Squad Lead?

Bad things tend to happen when I lead. We get lost, people die and I end up somewhere cold, without my pants!

We could give the squad leaders 50xp per squad member kill or something, that should get more squad formed.

Although its questionable if the squads will be any better, cause the guy in charge isn't really out for anything more than the XP/certs.

That's pretty relative. If you are used to fighting with and leading capable and willing teamplayers, then switch to leading lackwits frustration leads to stress. Of course if you are only used to playing with lackwits then there is no stress. Further more the constant faff of having to administration the kicking of random not following/disruptive random versus running with an outfit that self manages because they know where they need to be and what to do. 2 voip channels to follows. Frankly if it isn't causing stress you are not leading properly.

I will do both, but the issue I'm having to overcome, is while in squad lead I am happy to do it, because your job is to monitor 12 people and, well basically babysit them... in Platoon lead, you can't lead 48 people, you need to be focused on leading 4, the 4 squad leads. I tend to start trying to manage 48 people, and wear myself out.

I don't lead public squads because I hate arguing with short sighted people who think defending a base being attacked by a heavy force requires going to that base... instead of counter attacking from another base. Also, children. I'd rather play in a squad with adults who can understand the strategy and tactics being relayed rather than kids and (most) teenagers who have no concept of anything but the FPS side of PS2.

I'll stick with my outfit, they know the benefit of flanking, counter assaults, sneak attacks, and other ways to deal with the enemy who have the advantage.

I don't own a mike. But if I did, I would feel real nerdy talking to the computer, especially if my wife is around. I ashamed of my nerdy hobby, and I want her to think I'm surfing for porno instead.

Bring back contribution based capture xp, turn up and do nothing? get minimal xp(50xp), turn up and score big get max xp (500xp). *also tie in length of time in said hex.

Bring back defense xp. Again contribution based. While a base is under enemy hack any xp you earn during that hack goes towards a defense/recap xp amount.

Introduce command rank
5 cxp per squad member kill
250-1000 cxp per facility cap provided 80% of the squad is in the hex
No award of normal xp for base caps or recaps to squad leader (self sacrifice)
XP waypoint this is the waypoint either set on the leader or designated by the leader where the squad receives a bonus of 5% xp of action within that region/area.

Command rank 1 - Regional command channel access 1million cxp
Command rank 2 - Continent command channel access 3million cxp
Command rank 3 - Continent command channel access and continent /orders 7million cxp
Command rank 4 - World command channel access and continent wide /orders 11million cxp
Command rank 5 - World command channel access and world wide /orders 18million cxp
Command rank 6 - World command channel access and world wide /orders, Artillery 40m radius 3 hours timer 4000damage massive resource cost. 30million cxp

All this would encourage both leadership and following

We have rush lanes (and none of the other stuff from PS1 lattice). I don't need to do anything but farm because we'll win once the pop goes high enough.

I think this is probably the answer, mostly.

Leading a guild/outfit/whatever, platoon/warband/raid can be seriously non-relaxing thing (even for the few that genuinely enjoy it).

Leading a public one is largely for a very special breed of masochist.





I always remember back in WoW when Warsong Glutch first came out, I was leading a guild group, but we had one drop out so there was one random in each game.
This fella drops in to the map, runs about aimlessly for a bit (in which time we capture 2 flags) then proceeds to DEMAND I transfer group leadership to him as we weren't doing well enough (we'd literally captured the two flag in the in quickest time possible - with 2 Druid runners) and call me all sorts of silly names when I said it was a guild group and pointed out we were easily winning!

So basical the reason why is people.

I do, but I try not to. the main reasons being:

• Stress: open platoons are hard work, at least until you have kicked all the non-teamplayers.
• the sound PANK! just after you open the map to set the objectives for the squads. headshot and the waypoints aren't set. you get back in the game and someone has written "can we get a waypoint please"
• No incentive: its extra work,so where are my extra points?

[Private] Because I hate having my expectations not met. Specifically because people like to whine more about failing rather than thinking of solutions.

[Public] It's a lot of work for a group of lackeys that typically only comply when it's convenient.

[Personal] If I had to deal with TR command on a routine basis (mattherson) I think I would strangle a box of kittens.

On a more useful, constructive note... the reason I feel general co-ordination of non-outfit players is so poor is because your solo player has pretty much all the same level of information and mobility that a squad leader has at hand.

The command structure worked ok-ish in PS1, because if you wanted to know where the fight was going to be, you had to keep an eye on the /comall (s) coming down. Initially there was no hotspot indicator, no thermal presence maps, etc. etc. If you wanted a fight, you had to allow yourself to be guided by those who had this information. That leads to better coordination as a default position.

Roll forward some changes in PS1, and taken in to PS2. Now you IA in to action, fall back to the next nearest base, then just look at where the big glowy dots are and instantly cross-spawn 4kilometres across the map to a fight of your choice. It's like everyone has CR5 as soon as they start the game. If you're just looking to shoot at things, then you're quids in.

Maybe that's the reason in a nutshell why squads are full of ambivalents. They're not expecting those players they're playing with to necessarily be any good. They're not relying on them. So they just go where they want, when they want and shoot at stuff.

And that's not fun to try and lead.

If you removed the free logistics, removed a lot of the map insight, and tied that to squad lead instead ... well, then maybe randoms would have more of an incentive to tag along with their squad. But of course, that's not the game ethic SOE want to cater to really... is it? Keep it simple, stupid.

#1. The answer to this is the MAG(PS3) Frago system- it worked for leading MASSIVE groups, it'll work on the smaller scale in planetside 2.

-Anyway
I am on Waterson, and I dedicate myself to leading Random platoons

my belief is that randoms can be a effective fighting force, and you dont have to be part of a outfit to be deadly effectifve- and that' what i've set out to prove over the past year+

I've been leading random platoons since my MAG days- I tend to lead platoons far more than i do squads..


Dealing with randoms isn't too bad- you just have to watch out for rogue Squad Leaders, and platoon hijackers nad ursurpers


and indeed, playing mapside 2 doesnt pay the certs much

However, when you're coordinating with your entire faction on Command Channel to win a alert- it's Awesome. (The VS have come a very long way on the strategic level on Waterson- I hope they can keep it up-I've also done a little bit of training for other people and introduced them to leading, communicating and using Command- and it's awesome watching their forces work on Waterson- you feel like part of a bigger picture.

Early on i had issues with people on command who tried to shut up every one else and get no one to use it- they seem to have stopped

Now, the only issue i deal with is those who tell me that a platoon of randoms is more worthless than a outfit squad - and that if you're not part of a outfit, you're useless and in the way. Those arguments have gotten very heated -


As for leading, getting Platoons to follow isn't too bad- and if you try to make sure your Squad Leaders have mics and are ACTIVELY speaking and not silent all the time- you will go very far.
See, what a lot realize is it doesn't take much...

I am a bit dissapointed I'm one of the only , dedicated random platoon leaders(although I'm not adverse to joining an Outfit i've been part of outfits before), and have been doing this since leading Companies of 127 under the name Zapon on MAG......the mechanics never really change..

Yes, the Leadership spots need far more tools, (FRAGOs would be nice,- AKA you select a objective, your squad or platoon gets extra XP for being at the waypoint and get a bonus when getting kills, capping, etc.. ), a easier time coordinating with other platoons(how about COMPANIES SOE? How is it MAG had 127 man armies but PS2 only goes up to 48? Lol, what about shattering all the records?(not counting clans and outfits for both cases))


platoon leading is the main thing i do these days- unless i'm taking a break from leading as i do sometimes, in which case I'm mainly a galaxy pilot...

I'll say this - I think randoms are the most underestimated force in this game- and I feel you guys should see what you can do about leading. As some have noted, all it takes is various styles of how you lead- so try seeing what's out there you can use.

If you write off all of your faction minus outfits, you're writing off the majority of your effective fighting forces..and these days we need more forces, not less.

I like those ideas. I'm not sure about CXP for squad kills though. I worry that you'd find squad leaders just take their squads to a bio lab every time? Plus; it rewards leadership skill based on the squads skill and ability to kill stuff, rather than necessarily the strategic reason for capturing a base (if there is one!).

Ideally; I would reward CXP based on the amount of resources your activities have helped bring in. I don't know how you'd calculate this exactly, but something along the line of if you re-connect a base (to allow resources to come in) you get a %multiplier of that resource figure per "tick". If you capture a resource rich base, you get a high CXP tick off that. If you take a remote outpost somewhere worth nothing much, then it's worth less. You get a tick for up to half an hour after which that's it (say).

Likewise; defending a facility gives you an CXP tick from that base (assuming it is connected), again capping at half an hour.

It needs work though. I can see how again that the idea mainly rewards big base fighting; though I have catered to some degree for tactical 'linking'. It'd also need modifying for servers that are heavily skewed towards one empire; though I guess normal XP doesn't...

For me:

• I often know the right way for the team to achieve victory, but am terrible at communicating that to teammates in a constructive manner.
  • Sometimes I'm just outright wrong.
  • Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm wrong or not, because I offer advice based on my personal capabilities which may or may not be better tactics for the average player.
• Constantly monitoring the map is less fun than just fighting, but is basically required to always get your squad to the right place at the right time since you have to be a few steps ahead to account for Player Delay.

I'm a hopeless loser and i have poor leadership skills. So i decide to follow.

Plus i don't have a spawn beacon.

I dont lead because PL gets thrown at me every alert or when player x gets tired or doesnt know what to do. I was a fulltime raid leader in Rift and WoW. I have a few moments that I like to fill in flying my lib or just having fun away from the 48+. So unless I have to or am asked to I stay away from SL and PL

Here's an example of why I don't like public squads/platoons.

I logged on a few hours ago and most of the main VS Miller outfits/players weren't online. I started a small squad with myself, [VC]BewareOfTheLeopard, [IVRI]Gornn and [VC]Alox. I opened it up to the public pretty soon after I started it. [DIG]OptimusPr1me and Dramonicas, both people I know, along with some other pubs/low BR outfit players joined. At this point our squad consisted of 4 BR100s, Alox at 96, Optimus at 99 and the rest below 40. One guy from FRC listened well and tried to help me defend some Bio Labs.

I was moving the waypoint and talking over voice comms. IMO I was giving reasonable but not super demanding orders. If I was with VC and UBAD we'd be doing stuff like coordinated Lancer fire, but obviously I didn't expect the pubs to do that. As far as I could tell, the randoms looked at the BR100s leading the squad and decided "**** those guys, they have no idea what they're talking about, I'm just gonna go ghost cap **** on Amerish".

At a few points the squad was actually all in the same hex, but nowhere near the waypoint. If some random kid is screaming at you to charge a defended base or some ****, then yeah I understand why people ignore them. But what does it take to convince a public player that their squad leader knows what he's doing?

I don't care about any of those, I just want my faction to be effective and I believe retaining and helping new players is essential to that end. Honestly I'm not sure there should be cert rewards for leading, I think leading should be done out of altruism and a desire to help.

For me its easy. I don't enjoy leading for the sake of leading. I'll leave that to the ones that enjoy it. I lead my private outfit squads all the time, but I don't want to put forth the effort and all the work that goes into squad leading for pubbies. I have certain expectations out of the players in my outfit squad that I can't expect from random pubbies.

I also don't like using the in-game comms and forget to relay instructions to both (our outfit uses TS and has for the past 10 yrs, not going to switch to SOE's just to make it easier on the randoms that want to join).

I've been told I'm a pretty good squad/platoon leader, but I don't do it because (in order of importance):

1. It feels more like work than play. It just ends up being "paper pushing" instead of shooting the enemy. That was one thing I liked most about BF2142 - I had the ability to just look at an objective and designate it on the fly.

2. I'm not in an Outfit right now. Being in an Outfit facilitated my promotion into the command position. Often I was the only one who would take the reigns when asked by a leaving squad/platoon leader because it's you duty to keep your Outfits squad running.

3. Lack of rewards / tools. If there were better incentives, I wouldn't mind leading as much.