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A handy little guide I was working on today between alerts. Still finishing it, but I thought I'd post it now to get feedback. Since Infiltrators are now much more viable with the changes to Nanoweave, I've been playing them a lot - to great success. I'm probably not the only one who was hoping PU2 would revitalize them, and it most certainly did! It had fancier formatting, but the forum ate it, so this is a tad messy. Table of Contents 1.0 - Knowing the weapon [WEPN] 1.1 - Bolt-Actions [bOLT] 1.2 - Semi-Automatic [sEMI] 1.3 - Scout Rifles [sCOU] 1.4 - Submachine Guns [sMGs] 1.5 - Grenades [GRND] 2.0 - Positioning [POSI] 3.0 - Targetting [TRGT] 4.0 - Behind Enemy Lines [bHND] ======================== 1.0 - Knowing the Weapon [WEPN] In short, every rifle has subtle differences between them, and techniques which might work for one particular rifle may not work for another. Even rifles in the same category have noticeable differences which can require changes to your playstyle to get the most out of them, especially amongst bolt-action rifles. Generally, as a sniper, you want to kill enemies in one shot. Bolt-actions are the only weapons capable of one hit kills in the game, though their efffective range differs - some can kill enemies out to 300m, others are only effective within 50m. Semi-automatics are more difficult to use, and generally less rewarding at long range, but can be used as impromptu battle rifles, especially the short range KSR-35. If you play a more aggressive style, the semi rifles may be preferable, or even the scout rifles. ======================== 1.1 - Bolt Actions [bOLT] Bolt-actions come in four different varieties for the Terran Republic - none of them are unlocked by default, though players with the Alpha Squad package start with the handy SR-7 bolt-action. It is highly encouraged that, if you want to snipe, acquiring the SR-7, or better yet the RAMS, should be your first weapon purchase as an Infiltrator. M77-B The M77-B is, well. Meh, at best. It is essentially only around for a completionist to Auraxium. While it has the fastest reload speed of the three long-range bolt-actions, it sacrifices muzzle velocity and has to deal with a significantly higher bullet drop. You'll generally want to keep the stock scope, and while you can headshot enemies out to 250m with it, you should trend towards picking targets within the 100-150m range (from one Tower landing pad to the other) in order to hit them reliably. 10x+ scopes are overkill. SR-7 The SR-7 is, again, 'Infiltrator's First Bolt-Action'. It's well-balanced, and only gives up a tenth of a second in reload speed over the M77-B for a significantly higher effective range. Like other sniper rifles, it comes with a high power scope by default, and the scope can not be removed. This particular rifle can one-hit any enemy within 250m. Generally, in heated engagements (24-48v24-48) you will be able to kill anyone that renders around you. The main drawback to the SR-7 over the RAMS is a slower muzzle velocity, making those long-range kills a bit harder. For attachments, because of the average velocity, 12x scopes are not exactly useful - you'll have to arc up to the fourth or fifth dot in order to make the kill at those ranges, which is NOT very convenient or easy to get a hang of! RAMS .50 The big daddy of TR sniper rifles, and definitely the marksman's choice. Boasting the highest muzzle velocity and the longest effective range, the RAMS also has the fastest chambering time of the three rifles. The only drawback is that the RAMS has the longest reload of the three, clocking in at a whopping 5.6 seconds when reloading an empty magazine. While using the RAMS, if you see an infantry unit, you can kill it - it is a one hit kill to the head out to render range! As a result, you can hang back significantly farther then most other Infiltrators, and can use that valuable 50m gap difference between other bolt-actions to snipe with impunity. As a result, the RAMS gets the most out of high power scopes - you can generally decide which one based on your preference, or the situation around you. It is, however, important that you bring a suitable sidearm when using the RAMS - you will not be able to defend yourself if you are ambushed using the RAMS. The Repeater is a good sidearm just for that kind of situation. TSAR-42 The only bolt-action rifle available to TR that can use regular 'assault rifle' optics. This is for the cocky, and supremely skilled to use. The most important thing to take note of is that the rifle has terrible spread while firing on the move, even ADS'd, so it is not like the DMRs available to Engineers and Heavy Assaults. Another thing to note is that it has no scope sway, and can headshot out to 200m - you can comfortably use a 4x scope and engage enemies at mid-long range with lethal effectiveness. However, being a bolt-action rifle, getting into any kind of major gunfight with it is discouraged, and it is best used to pick off stragglers and loners attempting to flank a friendly position. The TL;DR M77-B is alright for beginners, but upgrade to the SR-7 or RAMS ASAP unless you want the Auraxium. Effective out to 250m. SR-7 is a good starting point for Infiltrators, but the slow chambering speed encourages careful aim. Effective out to 250m. RAMS is the preferred marksman rifle, with the highest muzzle velocity and fast chambering speed, but the worst for mid to close range engagements. Effective out to render range. TSAR-42 is an oddball, and effective in mid-long range engagements only, due to a lack of high power scopes. Effective out to 200m. ======================== 1.2 - Semi-Automatic [sEMI] Semi-autos are the bastard children of the Infiltrator class. They're essentially accurate versions of the DMR used by the Engineer and Heavy Assault - as a result, they do very poor damage, and are not capable of OHKOs like the bolt-actions. I am really only covering them because TR Infiltrators start with one. 99SV The standard issue sniper rifle for TR Infiltrators. Much like the M-77, drop it like a hot potato the moment you have the ability to purchase the SR-7 or RAMS .50. The main pro to the 99SV is that it has decent muzzle velocity and a large magazine. That's really about it. It's generally only effective in fights where you would be using DMRs with your Engineer or Heavy Assault, and the lack of versatility hurts it severely. Only if you are a completionist should you give this any more time then the absolute minimum needed to get an upgrade. KSR-35 This is slightly better, essentially behaving like a 99SV without the drawback of unnecessarily high zoom optics and scope sway. It can be used similarly to a TSAR-42 as a high power battle rifle, but can't get one-hit headshots. It is, however, a slight upgrade from the HSR Heavy Scout Rifle. Generally, you can use this at any time, but it is highly preferable to use a decent 2x - 3.4x scope so that you can engage targets at a safer distance. ======================== 1.3 - Scout Rifles [sCOU] HSR-1 The HSR-1 is essentially an Infil-only DMR, with similar performance to the AMR-66 available to the Engineer and Heavy Assault class. Aside from slightly higher move-accuracy and better hip-accuracy, however, you may as well stick with the semi automatic sniper rifles. Really just... redundant, and not worth the investment unless you are a hardcore completionist. SOAS-20 Do you like the T5 AMC? You doooo? Good. The SOAS-20 is essentially a carbon copy of the T5 AMC, but with even less horizontal recoil to worry about. The only drawback is the lower magazine capacity and no Advanced Foregrip unlock, but it's a fantastic choice for an Infiltrator that likes to get their hands dirty but don't want to use our crappy SMGs. Definitely preferable to the N7 PDW for short-mid range engagements. The Compensator / Suppressor choice is important, however. Suppressors have a very negative impact on ASRs like the SOAS-20, so do be careful - you're cutting your effective range by almost a third and losing a ton of damage. The Compensator is the better choice, provided you know where your next move will be. ======================== 1.4 - Submachine Guns [sMGs] Armistice The only real redeeming weapon in this field is the Armistice. With a blistering high rate of fire, the Armistice boasts the highest DPS in the game. However due to the inaccuracy and recoil, you will need to use the entire magazine to kill your opponent. It has terrible ammo economy, and has a razor thin margin of error compared to the other first-gen SMGs. With the laser nerfs, extended magazines are almost a necessity on this gun, and it doesn't gain much benefit from any of the muzzle attachments. Hailstorm At the other end of the DPS spectrum is the Hailstorm. The weakest of the six Empire SMGs, the Hailstorm barely even outguns the NS PDWs. The high magazine capacity is, frankly, not worth giving up a huge chunk of DPS. A beginner's SMG at best. Avoid. NS-7 PDW The PDW seems like a dream gun for the Infiltrators, but really, it's redundant and more or less a 'meh' gun. The only SMG weaker then the Hailstorm, its main advantage is the damage fall off and virtually lack of recoil - it packs a decent punch against other SMGs outside of close quarters, but it's easily trounced by the automatic scout rifle in almost the same range bracket due to the gap in DPS and accuracy. It has a niche role, but a good Infiltrator will not really plan to be in that niche - you're not going to be engaging every target from behind at precisely 32m away. MKV-S This weapon looks on paper to be pretty terrible, but it is an upgrade from the NS-7 if you prefer to keep your weapon suppressed - its muzzle velocity and damage fall off are both superior to all of its predecessors after suppressors are factored into the equation. It can even outpunch a suppressed ASR at most ranges to boot, and the higher RPM puts it just a smidge under the Hailstorm for damage output. If you prefer using a suppressor or liked the NS-7, in short, the MKV is perfect. ======================== 1.4 - Grenades [GRND] Decoy Grenades are generally useless. If you're being stealthy, it alerts everyone. If it's a gunfight, no one is going to even notice. Save the 150 certs. EMP Grenades on the other hand are incredibly valuable in a teamwork aspect, and especially for Saboteur types, however it requires coordination. EMP Grenades essentially strip all shields off of enemies and friendlies alike, shut down any active abilities - namely Heavies' NMGs - and are generally very unpleasant to be hit with. A Saboteur throwing one in the backdoor while the squad pushes in through the front can make a meat grinder into a one-sided demolition derby. If you cert into them, just take care in throwing them around, and make sure you or someone else can take advantage of the enemy's vulnerability, otherwise it's a waste of infantry resources. ======================== 2.0 - Positioning [POSI] It should be obvious at this point that Infiltrator weapons are not suited for fair engagements. The entire point of playing Infiltrator is to play dirty. Shoot enemies in the back, engage them from ranges they can only harmlessly pepper you with bb pellets at. Never give them the chance to set the terms for engagement. There are some basic key guidelines to remember for both snipers and saboteurs. 1. Engage at Range - Remember the effective range of your primary, and stick to it. Don't go into a building with a RAMS, and don't try engaging in close quarters with a TSAR. Don't try to pepper them ineffectually with a SOAS or PDW either. If enemies are barely within render range, odds are your M-77 and SR7 will not be effective either. 2. Flank - Never engage head-on if you can. Rookie infiltrators will always keep their focus on the front line, which leaves them more likely to be attacked by other rookies, or becoming collateral damage to the copious amounts of high explosives and rapid fire weapons. Try to position yourself so that you are at least 90 degrees away from the enemy, and preferably engaging them from behind if at all possible. 3. Silhouettes - Never run along the crests of hills or stand on top of large, exposed open areas - namely, stay off the damn Tower landing pads!. The moment an Infiltrator breaks the horizon line, every other Infiltrator can see them, and most of the hapless schmucks engaging in close combat will see you as well, and adjust their own positions accordingly (if an enemy Infiltrator doesn't just pop your head off). Use ravines, trenches, and ditches to move from position to position. If you need to crest a hill or ramp, turn on your cloak before you do. When you're settling into snipe, make sure you have a background behind you to help blend in against. 4. Blend In - Not with the enemy, but with the terrain. Use shadows and obstacles in the terrain to blend in. The cloak is not 100% effective, but if the area behind you is varied and detail-heavy, you will be much more difficult to pick out then a cloaker running across a plain road or wall. 5. Know where to go - Before you even take your first shot, familiarize yourself with potential escape routes. Know which ways lead away from the enemy, and which leads to a new vantage point. If you get caught and don't know where to go, you're as good as dead. ======================== 3.0 - Targetting [TRGT] The most important thing about Infiltrators is accuracy. If you don't have good accuracy, you're going to die, a lot, and you are not going to have fun. Patience is key to this as well. Generally, it is important that you kill your target as quickly as possible. Hit indicators and the sound of missed bullets are very easy ways to give your position away. 1. Use the VR - Familiarize yourself with the effective range of your weapon, as well as how much you need to adjust your scope vertically. Those dots on the high power scopes are there for a reason! Familiarize yourself with how big the target is, and roughly where it aligns with the scope in order to score a headshot. 2. Start Simple - Go for those oblivious, prone characters just standing in position while they tunnel vision in on someone else. Start with them, then once you're in the rhythm of things, start aiming for the more mobile types. 3. Avoid Weavers - Weavers are the guys who KNOW you are around, and/or obsessively change angle abruptly and randomly. Wait until they calm down or become more predictable before engaging them. The last thing you need is an aware player to know of your existence and possibly position - they are the bane of Infiltrators. If you are using a bolt-action, they are generally the least appealling targets due to the difficulty involved in headshotting them from range. 4. Prioritize - Aim for medics, engineers, Infiltrators. Light assaults are generally highly mobile and not very appealling targets because of that. Heavy assaults may have their NMGs on, and can lay one hell of a hurt on you if you miss. Medics are the lifeblood of an infantry force, and if you see one vulnerable, take advantage of it. Engineers are also important - if you can kill a MAX's pocket-engi, that MAX is effectively out of commission and increasingly vulnerable the longer he goes without one. That said - never engage MAXs. Even a RAMS headshot is just tickling them. 5. Terminals - Nothing incurs as much rage as sniping people idle at a terminal of any kind, and nothing is quite as effective when your outfit is engaged in a vehicle fight! Just be prepared for the kind of furious wrath normally reserved for hackers and aimbotters if you decide to target them. ======================== 4.0 - Behind Enemy Lines [bHND] Or "What do when team pushed back?" 1. Ammo Replenishment - Ammo Bandolier is vital for any kind of prolonged flanking and sniping. The first three tiers are cheap, and give you three magazines total for both weapons. Unless you're going the 'saboteur' route and using an ASR or PDW, you should have Ammo Bandolier on at all times. You can use enemy ammo packs to reload as well, but this can be risky at the best of times. 2. Hacking - Avoid hacking terminals in major facilities unless preparing it for a major assault. It will be noticed, and at higher population areas, the risk is not worth the reward which will be quickly undone and just serve to alert the enemy that you are around. Turrets, on the other hand, are a-ok. Most people don't even pay attention to the color, but if you plan on being stealthy, avoid hacking manned turrets. 3. Running Man - aka. Pick off all the stragglers. Don't hesitate to dump ammo into the guys hiding behind vehicles or running at the back of a foot zerg. No one will mourn their loss, and if they do turn around to revive them or root you out, you just bought your friends valuable time to prepare for their arrival. If they don't, you'll be in a prime position to flank them and pick them off at will once they run into your teammates.

Being a Squad Leader is one of the most rewarding things you can do in Ordo and it can be fun as well. In this thread I will essentially be going over how to be an effective Squad Leader, their tools, equipment and giving tips on how to be an effective one as well. This does not cover everything as of yet, it's just going to cover a few basics to get some gears turning. I will update this post periodically. A good guide to PS2 leadership is here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/1bnnjz/guide_warfare_in_planetside_2/ It's a good read if you have time and want to learn more. ________________________________________________________________________ Squad Composition Having variety in your squad is important. Having too much of one thing will make your squad more specialized and in most situations will cause your squad to be ineffective in what you want them to do. While this is something that you, the Squad Leader has less control over, you can request people to switch classes. Most people within Ordo are happy to oblige. Here is an ideal list of squad composition along with an explanation of how specific classes are used in combat during a squad setting. A better understanding of how each class can be used will allow you to be a better Squad leader. Medic: 2 - 4 Heavy Assault: 2 - 4 Light Assault: 1 - 3 Engineer: 1 - 2 Infiltrator: 1 Max: 0 - 2 Medic: Medics are a very versatile class. They can easily fit an assault, defensive and supportive role. The rifles they are given by default are some of the most useful weapons within the TR army. They have the ability to keep your squad members alive and revive them. Having at least 2 allows them to revive each other in case one goes down. Having up to 4 allows you to easily keep your squad up and running. Medics make good squad leaders due to being able to hang back in a supportive role to command and still be useful to the squad. Heavy Assault: As the name states the Heavy Assault has the equipment needed for it’s job. The class specific machine guns allows the Heavy Assault to lay down suppressive fire and mow through the enemy with ease. In addition to that the rocket launcher enables to the Heavy Assault to be Anti Armor, Air and Max. Having at least 2 in your squad can take down a Sunderer or tank with ease while up to 4 allows you to keep the enemy armor away. Light Assault: This unit is often overlooked as not useful to a squad. Being purely offensive, in the right hands a single Light Assault can quite literally be a flanking nightmare. The jetpack allows this unit to get to places that the enemy least expects. They can flank in any number of ways, you just have to put your mind to it. They are most effective with shotguns and certing twice into C4. This unit can take out Max units with ease and in the right hands they can take out entire squads. Having one in your squad is useful for having a strong flanking unit to cause chaos. No more than three is recommended as they have no support tools and abilities. Engineer: Often seen driving vehicles, repairing turrets and friendly Maxes, the Engineer plays mostly a supportive role in a squad. What makes them useful is their Ammo Pack ability and turrets. They are the sole providers of ammo in a squad and keep the squad from running low on ammo during a firefight. Their Anti-Infantry MANA Turret is excellent for providing suppressive fire while assault and excellent at interior defense against soft targets. The Anti-Vehicle MANA Turret is a good alternative for outdoor engagements against armor. Keeping no less than one in your squad ensure that you won’t have a shortage of ammo and your Sunderer will be repaired when needed. No more than two are need for a squad as it would cause your squad to lose offensive capability. Infiltrator: This class has a variety of uses. Their primary use in a squad would be hacking terminals and turrets. While they can be counter snipers, when given the order their primary goal needs to be squad support. Hacking terminals allows allies to spawn vehicles, resupply special gear (C4, Grenades, Mines) and change loadouts without needing to go to a friendly terminal or sunderer. They also have a motion tracker beacon wish is useful for surveillance in large facilities or watching the squad’s back. At least and no more than one per squad is good. One can hack terminals and do what the squad needs for Infiltrator support, any more than that then you lose the offensiveness and squad support tools the other classes bring. Max: Slow, but have the most firepower and armor among all infantry units a max suit can provide a squad with the much needed firepower to breach a room and more. These units bolster a lot of firepower especially with their Lockdown ability. They can be excellent on offensive and defensive situations. They are highly effective against enemy armor, infantry and aircraft with the right combination of weapons. They work best paired with an engineer to provide them with armor repair and ammo. A well certed Max and Engineer is a strong combo on the battlefield. These units are not necessarily required for a squad, but having one provides extra fire power and up to two allows you to cover an area of specialty the other is lacking. Having more than two and your squad will lose much needed mobility and support tools and equipment. It’s best if light assaults switch to Max than other classes if needed. ________________________________________________________________________ Orders Giving orders to your squad is essential to keeping them engaged in what the platoon is doing. It gives order to the platoon and directs their focus to where it is needed the most. In addition to that it allows the platoon lead to focus on the bigger picture than the little details. Keep your orders short and simple. Remember KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. - Platoon lead: Big picture a generalized over look of everything what's happening now and what needs to be done in the future. - Squad lead: Small details, what's happening right then, there and now. While the future is important, they rely on the Platoon Leader for direction without question. While the Platoon lead gives a general order for each Squad. As the squad leader it's your job to do the fine details. Example below: The platoon just arrived at the front gate of a hostile Amp Station VIA Sunderers. Platoon Lead: "Alpha take out the Vehicle Shields, Bravo Take out the Interior horizontal and vertical shields" Alpha Lead: "Alpha 1 through 4 get West, 5 through 8 get East, 9 through 12 get South" Bravo Lead: "Bravo 1 through 3 get East, 4 through 6 get West" All shields are down and the Sunderers move inside the Amp Station and deploy. Platoon Lead: "Alpha I need you to guard the point and the sunderer. Bravo I want you to capture outlying points" Alpha Lead: "Alpha 2 through 6 guard the upstairs objective, the rest guard the lower and Sunderer. I want those vehicle terminals hacked" Bravo Lead: "Bravo 2 and 3 pull Harassers, everyone load up and move out to waypoint" Alpha captures the point guarding it and the Sunderer, Bravo moves out and captures outlying outposts effectively denying the enemy a means of locally obtaining vehicles. The base is halfway captured and the SCU shields just went down. This gives us more control over the base than what we had before. Bravo Lead: "All outposts captured, Orders?" Platoon Lead: "Move back inside and guard courtyard, don't let those generators get repaired" Alpha Lead: "Alpha 7 and 8 take out the SCU, everyone else stay" Bravo Lead: "Bravo, spread out focus on guarding base generators" Base capture ticks down and the Amp Station is ours. Platoon Lead: "Clean up, repair generators, then load up to move out to Platoon Waypoint" The Platoon Lead gave more generalized orders, while the squad lead directed his squad on a more detailed basis. This allows the Platoon Lead to plan and focus on the entire area of operation than trying to focus on each individual detail. This also gives more order and direction to the people within the squads than everyone running around and it being a cluster Ffff. Without the base being captured we gained the majority of control over it by taking their means of spawning vehicles and capturing the surrounding outposts. Don't be intimidated to give orders to your squad. Be firm when you give your orders and do not second guess yourself. Follow your Platoon Leader's orders and do not argue with them, you would expect the same respect from them if you were leading the platoon instead. ________________________________________________________________________ Squad Management To have a squad that works efficiently and effectively, proper squad management is essential. Its a lot more simple than one may think, but you must assert your authority as the squad leader. Which means you could look like an asshole if done improperly. Which goes both ways, being overly zealous when you booting people is just as bad as not managing the squad at all! Its a thin line to walk, but having a well managed squad can mean the difference between you and everyone in the squad having fun, to running a cluster Ffff and you getting irritated that no one is listening. Closed Squad: Closed squads tend to be easier to manage due to everyone being in your outfit and being on TS3. But that does not mean some people won’t wander off and do what they want. If someone wonders off, tell them to get with the squad. If some people are refusing to follow orders, remove them from the squad. These take a strict hand to manage and get the point across. Most outfit members don’t have this issue, thankfully. But there are times where people would rather play solo than with the squad, but are for whatever reason in the outfit’s squad. Theres times where it might make you look like an asshole, but when a squad sticks together they tend to have a much more enjoyable time. TLDR/Tips: - Remind people who stray off to stick with the squad. - Try to keep side chatter to a minimum so orders can be heard. Don’t cut it out entirely, that’s just awkward and people want something fun to do during the down time. - Individuals refusing to follow orders? Remind them they are playing with in a squad and to follow orders. - Remove people who consistently refuse to listen and follow orders. Save yourself and your squad from a headache. - If people would rather play solo, remove them to free up space for someone who wants to play with a team. - Even though we are an organized Outfit and need to help with capturing Bio Labs and such, squad members want to have fun. Banging our heads against the wall trying to capture a Bio Lab from the NC for 3 hours is NOT fun. Its a waste of time and will kill the squad. Open Squad: Managing an open squad can be the difference of having fun to having a miserable time. Open squads take the most effort to manage since you’re playing with public players, or pubbies. These players are trained in the art of Call of Duty and need direction, otherwise they won’t know what to do or where to go and will wonder off. There are often times where they won’t listen and thats where you need to cut them out. These tend to be less organized than a closed squad due to pubbies. Don’t stress yourself in making sure they are following every tactical command in the book. TLDR/Tips: - Give direction to the squad. Use waypoints and the squad objective to give direction. - Use in game squad voice chat to command the squad. - Check global map periodically to check for people on different continents or facilities. Remove them from the squad and replace them with someone new in your area. - Ensure the squad is having fun. Pubbies want to kill people, not capture empty outposts. - Occasionally ‘Pimp’ the outfit on squad voice to get more recruits. “If you enjoy playing with us join us on Ordoimperialis.com!” ________________________________________________________________________ Tools ____ Squad Waypoint: Using this gives your squad direction. You can do a lot of things with a squad waypoint. You can use it to tell your squad where to move, mark areas and immobile targets. Theres no secret to what the Squad Waypoint is used for, but it is often forgotten and even under used. The other squads in a platoon cannot see your squad's waypoint, but the Platoon Leader can. ____ Spawn Beacon: This is an essential for being a Squad Leader. Lets get into the basics of the squad beacon, its essentially a back up spawn for your squad. Lets say you don't have a spawn close by or your Sunderer explodes. This enables your squad to quickly deploy at your location and regain control of an area. But they can have other effective uses as well. Using a squad beacon an individual can get to places such as the top of a building or to an enemy Sunderer that's heavily guarded. Soldiers can use teamwork with dropping and breach the enemy lines to clear out a fortified building and destroy the enemy's primary spawn point they are assaulting or defending from. These beacons do not need to be heavily certed, even just one cert into them to obtain them is very useful and highly recommended.The first cert into them is 30 certs then 100 and it goes up by 100 cert increments from there. ____ Rally Point: Similar to that of the Way Point, the Rally Point can give your squad direction by dropping colored smoke on a given location on the map. Smoke is Empire specific, so only TR can see it. It can be seen in world, on the minimap and on the world map, if you’re in the area of it. Rally points are often overlooked as being useless and they are rarely used for anything but 'party smoke' There are four different colors, Green, Orange, Purple and Yellow each one is 50 certs each. Once used the smoke has a 5 minute cool down period before you can drop one of the same color. Which means you can drop 4 rally points at a time. Some uses for it are - Using it as a rally point for your squad (obviously) - Marking objectives - Marking the area the enemy is assaulting from - Marking enemy Sunderers that need to be destroyed - Marking bombing runs for aircraft Theres a large variety of uses for the rally point, you just need to use your brain and be creative. Keep in mind of what smoke is already active on the field and what smoke you’re about to deploy. Other squad leaders might be using smoke to mark targets as well, so certing into more than one smoke is recommended. ____ Squad Objectives: Accessible by highlighting an Objective and holding the Q button to bring up the radial menu, Squad Objective can give your squad an attack or defend command. Viewable by your squad only, the Squad Objective has a set of carrots that box your designated objective on the minimap and on the Hud display. This is useful for giving your squad visual direction instead of just verbal. As of right now only ‘Lettered Control Points’ work for this. ____ Command Channel: Not quite the most useful of the tools for the squad leader, it can be used to request reinforcements or listen to what the entire Terran Republic army needs. As a squad leader this cert is not essential unless you're running a squad outside of a platoon. 100 Certs You can use /leader to talk to other squad leaders and platoon leaders, it doesn't have to be on the same continent. You can also use /order to send a request for reinforcements to your location, keep in mind you can only use it once every 3 minutes to prevent it from being abused. There is also a voice chat for the command channel, it tends to be a cluster Ffff. ____ Request Reinforcements: Another tool thats not essential to leading a squad, it allows you to place objectives on the world map to give the entire TR army an objective at where you place them. Its simple enough, it puts an attack or defend objective at a specified location on the continent map that all friendlies can see. Theres a 5 minute cool down before you can place another one. ________________________________________________________________________ TIPS Will update regularly. - Pick a class that does not put you directly into combat so you can focus on giving orders and leading your squad. Medic is a good choice, its a good supporting role and keeps your squad alive. - Keep orders short and simple. Remember KISS, Keep it Simple Stupid. - Keep your squad working together as a team. You have more ability and control over this than the Platoon lead. - When giving orders be firm and do not second guess yourself. - Do not question your platoon lead, follow your orders and if needed give suggestions VIA Tell in game or PMs. - Give your squad direction with waypoints and rally points. - Listen to your squad and their needs. - Cert into Spawn Beacon and deploy it when you can to give your squad an additional respawn point. - Manage the squad if it’s open, kick pubbies that are not following the squad and orders. Check Continent and Global map for stragglers. - Use Rally Point to mark Targets of importance for ground and Air. Typical usage is Pop Smoke on an enemy sunderer and broadcast “/re hostile Sundy at (color) Smoke” - Wolf Shaman - Be Observant about what smoke is currently active and what smoke you are about to deploy. Multiple smoke certing is recommended for minimal overlapping with other squad smoke and staggering cooldown timers. - Wolf Shaman - Squad objective is useful for directing open squads with pubbies so they have a visual marker to run to. - Wolf Shaman ________________________________________________________________________ If you have any tips or anything you'd like added, tips, suggestions or otherwise, feel free to post in this thread and I will update when I can. This is a working progress so do not assume this is everything about being a squad leader. There is much more.

Flash + Scout Radar (UPDATE: radar is no longer active when not in use.) (Flash With attached Scout Radar System) The Scout Radar system on the flash is possibly one of the most useful tools for small group and solo work. I use it a lot for late night base capping, and for solo/small group capping territory on the fringe away from the main zerg. The Scout Radar system is unique in the fact that it sends the detection information to all friendly units in the area, even while the flash is left sitting someplace and unmanned. IMO It is something that Everyone should have at least 1 point put into and equiped at all times when not using the Wraith system. --- (Equipment selection screen - Flash - Utility) Detection Range Starts at 25 Meters. Tiers are 25, 50, 75, and 100 Meters. Cert cost starts at 50, then increases to 100, 200, and tops at 500 for Tier 4. It uses the Utility slot on the Flash, the same that the smoke, Turbo, Fire Suppression, and the Cloaking device uses. --- Tactics. I typically Place the Flash between myself and the most probable direction the enemy is likely to come from. Most times that is the spawn room. I look for a spot that hostiles are likely to overlook or not go in their quest to try and clear me from their cap point. Since the flash is small, it will fit in buildings, and sometimes, that's a good place to stash it in behind some boxes. It mostly is a matter of the area you're working in that will determine where you place your Flash. For this example, I used North Grove Post on Amerish as It was the place I most recently used this tactic. The Spawn is the building to the North Placement of the Flash Flash is hidden by the box on one side, and obscured by the bush on the other. Hostiles are likely to miss seeing it from both sides of the building heading towards the cap point. With a Single point put into the Radar system, You get 25 Meters Radius (50M Diameter, 1936.5 square Meters, 65449.8 Cubic Meters!) You get a nice early warning and direction system for you and anyone around you. Here's an example of where hostiles will start showing up on your minimap from where I placed the Flash. Note the waypoint range on the screenshots. ^^ Going through the building to attack the from the west Side ^^ Going along the east Edge with a possible route of entering the south east of the capture building. Now I have 2 points put into the radar right now, so I have 50 meters to work with. That will cover the whole building that the Flash is parked next to, as well as all the way back to the cap point itself. Now, If you had max points put into the Radar, the range would probably cover the whole base, letting you know exactly where the hostiles are, how many, and where they're moving, and you'll know exactly where to go to ambush them before they get you. If you are running in a group, You can add a second or third flash and form a sensor net that can cover more ground!

This week's tips are Engineer: >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Jxh6TGOpU

Started recording about halfway into the op. >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3F8ccZYRD0

>http://youtu.be/NLSUqMNHyHc (Survivability during engagements) >http://youtu.be/02hNBoukE8A (Wingman work)

Needless to say, if you haven't looked at this spreadsheet you really need to. It gives lots of details on the weapons of all factions in a much more useful format that just glowing bars. However, aside from the fact that there is some imbalance, unless you understand the raw numbers the spreadsheet won't do you much good. I will focus on explaining the "Gun Stuff" tab here. You are on your own for the rocket stuff, although I will say all the standard launchers are the same. Let the thread begin! First, a quick note about player health: All infantry classes have 500 Health. Every class but Infiltrator has 500 Shields. Infiltrators have 400 Shields. The "Nano Weave Armor" cert increases the health by the percent listed in the cert's given level(10%, 12.5%, 15%, 20%, 25% Respectively). Secondly, acronyms and terms: ADS means "Aiming Down Sight". COF means "Cone of Fire". ROF means "Rate of Fire" "Hip" means firing when not aiming down your sights (so you are using the big ol' crosshairs). Thirdly, all of the columns can be specified by field using the drop-down menus (so for example, for faction you can select TR) and then sorted by clicking their name. You can toggle between ascending or descending. Some columns don't like to sort well, such as the damages when the shotguns are around, but most sort just fine. The first three columns should be self explanatory. If you need help understanding "Name", "Faction", and "Type" you have bigger issues to worry about, so lets look at damage. Max Damage / Min Damage These two columns go hand in hand with how damage works in Planetside 2. With the exception of shotguns, sniper rifles, MAX weapons, and for some reason the TR MCG, weapon damage is a function of distance. You have the maximum damage that persists up to a given distance, then a minimum damage which occurs at another distance. For explanation lets look at the three default Assault Rifles (what the medic's use). T1 Cycler: 143@10m -> 125@65m NC1 Gauss: 167@10m -> 143@75m Pulsar VS1: 143@10m -> 112@115m What this means is that from 0m-10m the weapons do their maximum damage. Then the damage tapers off in a linear manner until the minimum damage distance, at which point they level out and just do the minimum damage from there on. To give a better visual depiction, I have made a nifty chart. These three rifles also start to hint at the characteristics of the rifles. The NC rifle always will win if all other things are helt the same (ROF and all shots hitting the same location). Its lowest damage occurs later than the TR's distance wise and is the same as the other faction's maximum damage. The VS rifle does the same initial damage as the TR rifle, but its minimum damage is lower. However, the minimum damage doesn't happen until almost twice the distance. Within 70m if the ROF was the same and all rounds hit the target, the VS rifle would beat out the TR. Beyond 70m, the damage dealt by the VS rifle continues to decline further, so the TR rifle would win. Most importantly this should explain what the "@XXm" portion of the stat means. Fire Mode A simple one. This lists the fastest fire mode that can be selected on the weapon. If a weapon has semi, burst, and auto, it will be listed here as "Auto" Short Reload The best term for this is a "Tactical Reload". This refers to reloading before your weapon is completely empty. As such, the only action that is require is to change magazines. It is in units of seconds. Pump action shotguns are not listed as they allow for shell-by-shell reloads. Shell-by-shell reloads have the benefit of being interrupt-able; you can fire while doing them. Long Reload A "Full Reload". This refers to reloading after you have fired off all of the rounds in your weapon and your chamber is empty. This is longer as you have to swap out magazines and then either work the charging handle / bolt or hit a bolt release. Magazine Size How many rounds each magazine can hold. Extended Magazine cert increases this. Ammo Pool How many rounds are carried on your person. Ammunition Belt cert increases this. Vertical Recoil This is how much the muzzle of the weapon will climb per shot. I stress the per shot part because while a given weapon may have a lower recoil value, if it fires much faster than the other weapon you are comparing it too you will be off target much faster. I have no idea what the units on this are so unless we can figure it out, use these numbers as comparative values only. Lower is better. *Update* I think the units are degrees/shot *Vertical Recoil is not always vertical. See "Recoil Angle"* Horizontal Recoil Min/Max This is the range that your weapon can move from side to side per shot. As with vertical recoil, I don't know the unit on this but it does seem to be the same as with vertical recoil. It may be degrees/shot. Recoil Angle Min/Max This is the angle between which the "Vertical"l recoil will occur. If you picture an upside down T, the vertical line is 0 degrees, the left point is -90 and the right point is +90. If a weapon has a distinct horizontal pull it will occur between these angles. The majority of TR weapons do not pull and have "0/0" listed in this spot. They recoil, but it is more random bucking than a distinct drift. I find this to be a good thing as a upwards recoil is easier to compensate for while trying to stay on target. Recoil Horizontal Bias Angles too confusing? This is a simple symbol that shows a weapons tenancy to drift in a given direction. ← = → is balanced horizontal, ← is always left horizontal, → is always right horizontal, and ← > → or ← < → is unbalanced horizontal that will shake left and right, with an overall bias in one direction. The majority of TR weapons are "← = →". Recoil Decrease Recoil Decrease is the amount of recoil countered in units of Degrees/Second. Recoil decrease takes place after a short delay (generally equal to a weapons time between shots) when you have stopped firing. Basically think of this as "catching your breath". When you stop firing, even for a brief period, this is how fast your weapon will get back to its point of aim. First Shot Recoil Multiplier Very simple. This is how much your recoil values are increased for your first shot. ADS Move Speed Multiplier Also very simple. This is how much your move speed is multiplied by when you are aiming down your sights. It is always less than one, which means you are always moving slower than normal. Typical values are 0.75 and 0.5, which correspond to 3/4 and 1/2 movement speed respectively. Cone of Fire (CoF) This is one that spans 11 columns and 4 sections of the spread sheet. There is a reason for it though! It is very important to gun performance. But first, what the hell is a "cone of fire"? Well it isn't a volcano or waffle cone flambe. It refers to the area your bullets can occupy at a given distance. For those of you who were in our SL faction: Remember when i would go on about "conical spread" and say "the spread is Xm in radius at 200m"? That is CoF. Basically, picture a cone with the pointy part glued to the muzzle of your gun. When your bullets fly outward, they can occupy an ever increasing area, a circular slice of the cone, at a given distance. This picture, although from Planetside, should help with understanding. While massively exaggerated, it gets the point across. So the numbers in these columns have to do with what your CoF looks like when you are in a given stance, moving at a given rate, and whether you are aiming down your sights (ADS) or not. Now the Numbers! The listings are divided into 4 categories: Stand ADS, Crouch ADS, Stand Hip, Crouch Hip. Knowing what ADS stands for, this should be pretty self explanatory: Stand ADS: You are standing and aiming down your sights. Crouch ADS: You are crouching and aiming down your sights Stand Hip: You are standing and aiming from the hip Crouch Hip: you are crouching and aiming from the hip. Then there are the movement modifiers: Still, Move, Sprint, Jump. You don't see them in all categories because they don't exist for all situations. FOr example, you can't sprint while crouching or aiming down your sights. Still: You are not moving. Duh. Moving: You are moving at the normal pace. This speed is reduced when crouching or aiming down sights. Sprinting: You are sprinting. Duh Jumping: You are jumping. Duh. Now you might be saying "But wait! I can't shoot while sprinting!". That is correct. You come to a stop and shoulder your rifle first. However, when you sprint your CoF expands. Think of it as the effect from breathing heavily. After you stop sprinting, your CoF will slowly contract to the level that corresponds to your level of movement and stance. Jumping is the same way. Note that some weapons, such as the SMG's and pistols have the same values for moving and still when aiming down your sights. Ok, so no you know what the columns mean, but what do those numbers really mean. Well that is the angle of your base CoF in degrees. They look small, but remember that a cone gets bigger as it extends out. For example a CoF of 0.3 degrees means your bullets can be anywhere withing a circle that is just over 1m in diameter if your target is 200m away. That is a big circle! Curious how I found that number? Basic Trigonometry! If you look at a cone from the side, it looks like a triangle. Cut that triangle in half at the tip and you get a right triangle. Now since you have cut the cone in half, your angle is half as well. You can now use this to find out how big of a circle your bullets can occupy at a given target distance TargetDistance x tan(CoF/2) = Radius of Bullet Circle for the Given Target Distance Yay Trigonometry! Just remember that this gives you the radius, not the diameter. Multiply the radius by two to get the diameter! I left it out of the formula to keep the equation as simple as possible. CoF Bloom/Shot: Just like a flower gets larger when it blooms, so does your CoF when you shoot. This is how much your CoF will expand with each shot. To my knowledge it is also in degrees, which knowing that the other things are in units of degrees would make the most sense. This section is divided into ADS and Hip columns and if you notice the bloom while hip firing is usually twice as much as the ADS value. SMG's are an example of an exception, as they have the same value for both. Lets look at how this effects your CoF. Using the CoF example from earlier (which matches the NC and TR SMG's, hence why it was horrific at 200m). They have a bloom value of So if your target is at 100m, your bullet circle is 0.52m in diameter. Now you fire a burst of 5 shots. Lets see how the circle changes. Here is the diameter of circle your round can end up in, approximately: 1st Round: 0.52m Diameter 2nd Round: 0.61m Diameter 3rd Round: 0.69m Diameter 4th Round: 0.78m Diameter 5th Round: 0.87m Diameter Well, That Escalated Quickly. To put that in perspective, imagine a person as a rectangle. A person who is 5' 9" tall and 15" across at the torso is a 1.75m x 0.38m box. After just 5 shots the circle that your bullets can land in is over twice as wide as their center mass. Assume the center mass is 0.55m (22") tall and your bullets are going above and below center mass as well, if they even hit horizontally. Keep in mind that the values used were for standing still and aiming down sights with an SMG. They also assume that the gun can magically stay right on target. To put it in perspective I made a little target based on these measurements. Assuming your gun was aimed exactly at the red dot, which is centered on the center mass of the target, and did not move, the rings represent the circle your shots could fall within for the target at 100m. Rate of Fire (ROF) This is an easy one. This number is how many rounds your weapon can fire in units of Rounds Per Minute (RPM) based on the cyclic speed of the weapon. In other words, if you never had to reload, this is how many rounds you could spit out in one minute. Bullet Speed Exactly what it sounds like, this is the speed of your projectile in meters per second (m/s). While this directly means how fast your bullet can reach the target, it is an important factor in how much your bullet will appear to drop. A slower projectile will seem to drop faster than a faster projectile that has the same drop rate. In reality they drop just as fast so it is when they drop, but read on for that part. Bullet Drop This is the rate your bullet will drop. At first it was thought these numbers are in m/s, but then you have bullets making it maybe 85m. If you assume these are accelerations, things make much more sense, so I will assume the units are m/s2. For small arms there seem to be three drop rates: 11.25m/s2 for all NC & TR non-sniper rifles 7.5m/s2 for all sniper rifles except the VS Spectre and Phantom 0m/s2 for all VS weapons except the four bolt-action sniper rifles. This basically tells you the maximum range your projectile can go if everything else is held constant: fired perfectly level from flat ground. Using the person measurements from before as an example, if I fire a shouldered rifle from 1.5m off the ground (shoulder height) you could combine this with the weapon's bullet velocity to determine when it will hit the ground. 1.5m at 11.25m/s is 0.133 seconds (2/15ths of a second). So if my rifle has a projectile speed of 640m/s it can make it 85m before hitting the dirt. Actually doing the math on that, there is no way these values are in m/s of drop. Assuming these values are in m/s2 you can use simplified kinematic equations for the time it takes for the projectile to reach the ground from shoulder height and then use the projectile speed to calculate how far they can optimally go. 0m = 1.5m + 0.5(DropRate)(DropTime)2 So from this height: 11.25m/s2 Drop Rate: 0.5163 Seconds 7.5m/s2 Drop Rate: 0.6324 Seconds So the distance before these rounds will hit the ground can be found by multiplying the projectile speed by the time. For the sake oc comparison lets use the same projectile speed for the two different drop rates (the Gauss Rifle for some reason has the same projectile speed as the three top-end bolt action rifles...) Using 650m/s as a projectile speed: 11.25m/s2 Drop Rate: 335m 7.5m/s2 Drop Rate: 411m This is why you need to compensate for distance by aiming above your target for long shots. The slower your projectile the more you need to compensate! Ok. That is the end! I hope you all found this informative enough to be worth your reading time. Remember that stats alone do not make the weapon "good" and that rate of fire has a large effect on things. This spreadsheet can make finding a weapon that fits you easier. Find a weapon you are good with and enjoy the fight! (Also Vanu put some damn pants on.)

TR Optics Pictures are taken in WG Spawn area. One showing zoom mag, and one showing impact point. Found out that the DMO did not hit where I thought it would hit. There is the 1x FOV. Standing in front of center spawn tubes at WG HDS 3.4x DMO 3.4x ACS 4x TMS 4x S3 6x (no sway) Updated 23JUN13 - Added 6x