Enjoy guys. I'm away until Tuesday so will miss the free weekend madness!
Nice guide here written by one of our members over on the forums:
Hello fresh Squad players and welcome to the community! To start this out, please remember that Squad is in its Alpha stage still, which means all content is subject to change and issues/bugs/glitches may happen. So the best tip I can give you is to have patience - both inside the game itself and outside of it. To start with a disclaimer, this is not an official guide / post / anything, I’m just a random drunkard trying to ease the pain of new players coming in to a game with a relatively steep learning curve.
Squad is a great game. But what keeps us regulars coming back to it and loving it so much are the players in it - the community. It is indisputably the best aspect of the game and a great team, a great Squad Leader even can make even a losing fight enjoyable. So please remember that there are
A LOT of new players playing this weekend and the level of gameplay can be very varied as everyone's trying their best to learn the ropes. There is going to be a small army of experienced players playing as Squad Leaders to help keep the gameplay fluid and as close to normal level as possible, so give those guys some credit and try to be a good squad member - you're most likely in good hands with a Squad Leader that is brandishing some sort of [Clan Tags] but there are naturally plenty of other great players & leaders that are not with any specific group. If you find yourself in a good squad, enjoy the moment and feel free to ask any questions you have when the situation isn’t too hectic, people are keen to help. It’s common for squads made of complete strangers to “click” and keep playing for multiple rounds in a row, seek for those opportunities and you’re going to have a good time.
WHAT IS SQUAD?
At its best: A deeply strategic and immersive teamwork focused experience that creates memorable moments and is thoroughly enjoyable through a whole one to two hour match.
At its worst: A ******** of a complicated team deathmatch with no strategy or team play to be seen and where the points don’t matter.
What creates the difference between the two?
You (andtheother79dudes)
GAMEPLAY TIPS
Loading screen image with all the controls etc.
SPAWNING
There are 3 ways to spawn in Squad, Main Spawn, FOB and Rally Point. 2 latter ones are placed by the players. This means some players need to sort them out while others get straight to the fight. This might mean you have to sometimes wait a few minutes before you’re needed to spawn at the start of the round so please listen to your Squad Leader before you spawn in at Main. **Don’t spawn at round start unless asked to** - This is a purely logistic issue/choice from the Squad Leaders on how many vehicles they want to use. Some simply won’t have a place to sit. Be patient, you’ll get to the fight sooner or later.
PROTIP: Rally Points are squad specific spawns with 10 spawns until it runs out. Try to always leave the last spawn for your Squad leader so he can place a new one!
DYING
Squad has quite long spawn timers to reward kills and decrease the clown-car effect of spawning, making each player’s life more valuable than in other games. You should **ALWAYS** stay in the downed state from 30 seconds to a minute because you won’t be able to spawn any quicker anyway and that gives your medics a chance to pick you up and save that precious ticket.
SPOTTING ENEMIES
It can be extremely hard to pinpoint enemies in your first games as you have no idea where they’re coming from so listen carefully to your squad calling them out and possibly them being marked on the map. Remember that the map markers for enemies are placed manually by Squad Leaders and are not 100% accurate. To spot them yourself, think of a logical way they should be coming from and stop for a while and observe, any movement is easier to pick up when you’re standing still yourself. Getting this right takes time and patience, don’t be frustrated if you get the feeling that the “trees are shooting you”. Use your compass at the bottom of the screen to call the enemy locations with directions like “Enemy infantry North West, 200 meters (estimation), multiple”.
VEHICLES
In Squad vehicles are extremely important to the outcome of the fight. Each vehicle has a ticket cost associated with them that your team loses upon losing the vehicle. For any of the bigger vehicles, APCs and Humvees etc. the cost is very high so you should treat them with respect and try to keep them safe at all times and only engage when you think you have the advantage. They are not tanks and driving one into a town with enemies will lead into its swift destruction. Each vehicle has to be claimed by a Squad Leader to be used by their squad either by the Squad Leader entering the vehicle or remotely by having 2 squad members next to the vehicle and the Squad Leader claiming it from his radial menu.
Protip: E to start the engine
WHAT ****ING TICKETS?
Tickets are the way the winner of a match is determined in Squad, typically both teams start with 500 tickets in AAS mode and the one to run out first loses. Each player “life” is worth 1 ticket, Vehicles anywhere between 2 to 35 tickets depending on the vehicle. FOBs (the big spawn points) are worth 20 tickets. The Objectives have a varying cost on them as well depending on the map layer. Capturing a neutral flag doesn’t cost the enemy tickets but taking one that the enemy is controlling decreases the enemy tickets and even gives some back to your team. Controlling the majority of flags on the map also makes the enemy team “bleed” tickets = lose tickets over time.
TEAMKILLING
Teamkilling is heavily frowned upon by the community and intentional TKs can and will get you banned from many servers. Accidents happen and it’s normal to occasionally mistake a friend to a foe – just remember to apologize and it’s usually fine! It's an intense game, tempers will rise, but try to find a way to solve the situation that is not TKing anyone. The playerbase is very mature compared to other shooter games, unbelievable but true, you can actually talk to people usually. TKing – Don’t do it. Trust me on this.
TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS / HOW TO FIX ERRORS
Squad is an Early Access game in its Alpha stage. Sometimes things go wrong. Here are the basic tips to help solve a majority of issues. It’s impossible to say what will fix what as every system is unique and an untold amount of things can go wrong, but these should help. If issues persist, seek proper Support either on the official forums or Discord (links at the bottom).
Clearing the Cache –This is your #1 solution to all Squad related problems, launch the game, go to Settings – Game Settings and click the “Clear Cached Data” and restart your game. This is especially true for returning players who have had a previous version of Squad installed at some point.
Verify integrity of files in Steam – In Steam library right click on Squad – Properties – Local Files – Verify Integrity of Game files.
Restart Steam.
Turn off all skins in the in game settings (you might not have skins, they were a limited thing and a little broken atm and cause issues)
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
Restart your computer.
I HAVEN’T PLAYED THE GAME BEFORE - SHOULD I SQUADLEAD?
Short answer & personal opinion: No.
If you create a Squad that makes you the Squad Leader and there are certain expectations of you as a player in that role. It’s not like other games *cough battlefield* where it’s just a title. Here it actually has a meaning and you’ve got some responsibilities. You're essentially one of 4-5 Squad Leaders in the team and together you are the driving force and the strategic hive mind guiding your team. This requires some experience in the game so please DO NOT CREATE A SQUAD = BECOME A SQUADLEADER IF YOU'RE PLAYING YOUR VERY FIRST GAMES. I only say that for the benefit of everyone in the game, even if you believe you're Patton reborn, at least observe a more experienced Squad Leader for a few rounds before trying it out yourself. No one is perfect in their first game and it can be very stressful / demanding so you need a certain attitude going into it.
If you're interested in trying it out anyhow, check out some of the SquadLeading guides to get a few tips on it. Nothing is stopping you from doing it in your first game but I can guarantee you that you and your teammates will have a better experience if you try to grasp the basics first and when you feel fully in control you can drop yourself in the deep end and try out SL:ing!
LIFE SKILLS 101 BY HERHI
A couple situations you might find yourself in and my personal opinion on how to fix the situation:
"My squad isn't communicating"
Any number of reasons might cause this, you might all be new, people might not have mics, the Squad Leader might not know he is the Squad Leader. Try asking politely if you have a plan or what’s going on and people might wake up. If nothing else, the Squad Leader should always be able to communicate and be the one talking a lot. There are differences in how much players want to micromanage as SLs, but some standard of communication is to be expected. Otherwise, leave the Squad and check out another one. If the same repeats, considering switching to another server as communication is crucial to both the gameplay and enjoyment of the game.
"No one has made a squad and the game is about to start"
Just keep waiting, someone will eventually gather the courage to do it. DO NOT create a squad on your own if you don’t plan on being the Squad Leader and give the role to someone else who joined the squad. This is extremely ****** and causes unnecessary hassle. Have I mentioned patience?
"I don't know where I should spawn"
Ask.
"I was kicked out of a squad"
The SL can kick anyone they want whenever they want. Maybe you did something wrong and he didn’t bother to explain it, maybe your microphone wasn’t on and he thought you couldn’t communicate, maybe he made room for a friend / clanmate. Don’t worry about it, just hop into another one. Rarely is it a personal vendetta against you.
“My Squad Leader seems to be intoxicated”
Good. He will lead you into great adventure.
“My Squad Leader is an *******”
Is he really? Or is he telling you what to do because that’s what he is meant to do.
If he actually is an *******, just leave the squad and join another one, no need to make a scene.
“I was kicked / banned from a server – all the moderators are power hungry ********”
No they are not. All good Squad servers are run by communities and usually only trusted members have moderator rights on a server. They are there to make the game more enjoyable for everyone on the server – usually at the cost of their own enjoyment. Believe me, they would rather be playing the game rather than hunt evidence of disruptive behavior. If you feel your kick / ban was unjustified, almost all servers / communities have their own Discord channels where you can bring it up. Remember to be polite, it could’ve been an honest mistake of someone’s fat fingers.
TL;DR
Patience is key.
The community is what makes the game great - don't be an *** and you won't be treated like one.
ENJOY THE FREE WEEKEND MADNESS!
This was supposed to be a brief guide but there's so much to talk about that I'm surprised if anyone read this far. There is A LOT of stuff I've left out and is out there for you to learn on your own. If there are any pressing concerns or blatant misinformation on my post there, feel free to point it out and I'll get it sorted.
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