Planetside 2 Squad Leader Manual Introduction This document is... a handbook to help individuals lead a single squad successfully a reference manual on the ins and outs of squad leadership This document is for... those interested in leading squads Basics Required Certs Spawn Beacon S AMS a.k.a. AMS Sundie Helpful Commands /squad invite [player] invite a player to the squad /squad kick [player] kick a player from the squad /tell [player] message send a player a whisper message /r message respond to a player who just whispered you the <delete> key starts a 10 second countdown to redeploy /suicide skips the 10 second countdown to redeploy; costs a death Useful Skills know how to drive a sunderer know how to pilot a galaxy know how to fly as light assault
Role of a Squad Leader Your role is... to empower your squad to set appropriate goals for your squad to enact sound tactics to achieve those goals to maintain appropriate discipline Empowering leaders are confidence inspiring positive not negative Appropriate goals are achievable valuable impactful Sound tactics use... the right classes the right plan the right instructions Appropriate discipline is... meant to help you achieve your goal meant to help your squad have fun
Empower your Squad Inspire the confidence of your squad by... breaking the silence every 2 3 minutes keeping the chat relevant giving your squad direction letting them know that there is reason to your madness (see: The Right Instructions ) acknowledging the feedback from your squad Be positive by... welcoming new players congratulating your squad mates reminding them that what they re doing is significant Avoid these negative and demoralizing things excessively micro managing everyone in your squad assigning blame to your squad to your faction to the game or devs forcing players into a losing fight negative talk in general
Setting Appropriate Goals Achievable goals are... ones that your squad can achieve, given the current numbers when joining a fight, try to predict the number of friendlies vs number of enemies if your faction will be equal or greater in strength, then that fight is achievable look at both the percentage and the number of friendlies/enemies A territory with 92% Enemies and 8% Allies where there are 1 12 enemies is an appropriate fight to join if you have a squad of 12 At worst, the Enemy has 12 players against the Allies 1 player Adding your squad will turn it into a 13v12, which is achievable ones that your squad can achieve, given the terrain numbers are not everything, factor in the terrain and location defending a location with slightly inferior numbers is often easy Biolabs, Quartz Ridge Pass, the Octagon, and Splitpeak Pass are easy to defend conversely, attacking the above locations is often hard even with superior numbers Advanced Tactics are needed to break these locations while on offense Valuable goals are... ones that are important because of the bonuses it provides Tech Plants, Biolabs and Amp Stations give useful bonuses to your whole faction Tech Plants allow you to build the Main Battle Tank Large Facilities give substantial Infantry, Aerospace or Mechanized points i.e. allows you to get more items, vehicles, aircraft ones that are important because of the territory itself Territories like the Bulwark are huge and help during continent capture alerts Easy to defend territories can hold up large numbers of enemies with very few allies Crimson Bluff Tower, Howling Pass Checkpoint, Regent Rock Garrison, Scarred Mesa Skydock, Vanu Archives, Crossroads Watchtower, Quartz Ridge Camp, Indar Excavation Site The Bastion, NC Arsenal, Splitpeak Pass, West Pass Watchtower, Auraxis Firearms Corp, The Ascent Eli Forest Pass, The Octagon, Saerro Listening Post, Esamir Munitions Corps ones that are important because of the position on the map [Advanced Strategy] Territories like the Crown block many Lattice Links Territories like West Pass Watchtower block the advance onto a major territory i.e. Wokuk Amp Station Territories like Regent Rock Garrison do both i.e. Peris Amp Station
Impactful goals are ones where your presence will sway the tide of battle due to the numbers if joining a fight will balance the numbers, then that is impactful joining a fight where your faction already dominates is not impactful look at both the percentage and the number of friendlies/enemies A territory with 60% Allies (48+) vs 40% Enemies (25 48) does not need your help Joining this fight is not impactful A territory with 40% Allies (25 48) vs 60% Enemies (25 48) does need your help Joining this fight will likely even the fight (32 vs 48 becomes 44 vs 48) Joining this fight is impactful A territory with 5% Allies (1 12) vs 95% Enemies (48+) does need your help But joining this fight will get you slaughtered It is neither an achievable nor impactful fight to join Exception: other outfits will join the fight with you A territory with 50% Allies vs 50% Enemies might need your help if the territory is swinging in your favor, then they don t need you if the territory is swinging against you, then they do need you It is reasonable to believe to join the fight either way, because the situation can change very quickly Joining this fight will likely be impactful ones where your presence will sway the tide of battle due to the terrain [Advanced Strategy] even if numbers are against you, choosing the right terrain will allow you to be impactful some positions allow you to do massive damage with few forces the cliffs between Hvar Tech and Quartz Ridge can be used to take out tanks the mountain across from Crimson Bluff Tower can be used to take out air
Using Appropriate Tactics The Right Classes Squad Balance is generally key 2 3 medics (one per fire team) 2 3 engineers (to drop ammo and for turrets) no more than 1 infiltrator (for terminals and pulling sunderers at enemy positions) 1 2 light assaults (to create confusion and odd attack angles) 3 6 heavy assaults (absorb damage, take out tanks, kill stuff) Some situations call for squad imbalance when taking out armour, you need lots of engineers and heavies The Right Plan Organize and Mobilize General Principles Always be ready with the next step Know the next target before the current base caps Know the next fall back point before the current base is lost Be decisive Avoid long delays Consult your fellow NCO s/officers if you need advice The Sunderer Crash Ask for a willing volunteer to pull an S AMS Sunderer Load up and Go Pros Easy Keeps the squad together Cons Easy to get ambushed or wiped out on the road Easy to react against As long as terrain or enemy forces are not in the way The Direct Re Deploy Ask your squad to redeploy or /suicide Spawn on the target Get a spawn beacon deployed on a high place Pros Fast and Easy Cons You might deploy into a spawn camp You are limited by distance A nearby territory needs immediate reinforcements
The Galaxy Drop Ask for a confident galaxy pilot (or do it yourself) Load up and Fly Have an Infiltrator ready to hack the vehicle terminal and pull a Sunderer Drop on the capture point or another target of interest Get a spawn beacon deployed on a high place Pros Easy Keeps the squad together Avoids ambushes Cons Can be slow Requires a redeploy Possible to get stuck without a sunderer and kicked out of the assault you need to move across the map you need to regroup the squad terrain is a pain The Squad/Beacon Deploy Relocate yourself to the target ahead of time take your light assault and fly a reaver or other aircraft or drive with a flash or direct re deploy yourself Deploy a spawn beacon Ask your squad to deploy on beacon OR use Squad Deploy Pros Very Fast Instant relocation of squad once current objective is done A spawn beacon is ready right away Cons If you get killed, tough luck need to reorganize time is of the essence The Armor Push As for the Sunderer Crash, but with armored vehicles (Lightnings, Harassers, Vanguards) Ensure that Harassers and Vanguards have gunners If there s a specific reason why armour is needed Only if you know how to lead an armour squad
Execution Strength in Numbers keep the squad together hit the target en masse, and let maxes/heavies go first pick each other up call out targets (default key Q ) and focus fire on enemy vehicles/maxes Use the Terrain call out the choke points to defend call out to take cover when enemy air is present move your squad with you from cover to cover Spawn Options keep your beacon deployed make sure sunderers are always available make sure that backup sunderers are available make sure that there is a way to pull more sunderers easily Stay on target when assaulting a small outpost keep your squad on point when it is in a room keep your squad watching the point from cover when it is out in the open when assaulting a large outpost spread out your troops to cover all the points if it is a small fight watch the points and communicate where backup is needed focus on a single point if your squad is in a large fight when assaulting a main base during Biolab Assaults go for the SCU Shield Gen and SCU first to stealth cap, take down the SCU before taking any of the points during Amp Station Assaults go for the two main shield generators, at the same time if possible split up your squad or coordinate with friendlies during Tech Plant Assaults in a small fight, go straight for the point and camp it in a large fight, pick a single objective and stick with it a generator, the point, the roof/nest, etc The Right Instructions are... spoken in your natural voice do not try to sound artificially official or mature people can tell when you re faking it spoken concisely instructions need to be short, so people can follow them if you need to explain your plan, it should only take one or two sentences spoken with confidence don t tell people that you re not sure, especially in public squads
Maintaining Discipline Good discipline is respecting the squad leader listening to the squad leader responding quickly to the squad leader s orders Good discipline helps achieve goals... by keeping everyone focussed on the same goal by giving people confidence in your abilities to lead Good discipline helps people have fun by preventing the everybody is waiting at the warpgate for you scenario by helping people win Good discipline is achieved by repeating orders to make sure people have heard telling people that they will be kicked if they fail to follow orders kicking people from the squad if fail to follow orders kicking people from the squad if they are disrespectful to the chain of command kicking people from the squad if they are disrespectful towards other players Disclaimer: I do not claim to be a good squad leader, although I have certainly led many squads. These are my thoughts. They work for me but may not work for you. Adapt accordingly.