As one of the best military simulation games, Squad is a multiplayer FPS with a strong tactical and realistic aspect. Developed by Offworld Industries, Squad has been available on steam early access for many years and it is updated on a regular basis.
The game takes place in large open environments that can host up to 80 players (40vs40). The gameplay revolves around the team play of small squads. The team behind the game had previously worked on the Project Reality mod of Battlefield 2, a mod that made the battles more realistic.
Communication is the basis of this game! It allows for an original game experience and an immersive setting. Squad, despite its appearance of a military simulation game, is also a game of strategy and tactics with hard to learn mechanics, especially for new players, so here are our Squad tips, a beginners guide in 2020 to help you get better at the game.
Squad’s gameplay
If you would like to know how to get better at Squad, you should firstly understand its gameplay.
First of all, the battles in Squad are between 2 teams. Then, if these teams are separated into squads, this means that it is better to distribute the tasks. The goal of the squads in a game is mainly to capture the opponent’s points or areas to make them lose tickets.
In order to succeed in this task, it is necessary that some players are in charge of the rest of the players, these are the squad leaders, in order to set up strategies and avoid that everyone rushes without thinking on the flags to be captured.
The objectives of leaders consist of coordinating with each other and managing a squad. The members of a squad must accept and carry out the orders of the leaders without any discussion; otherwise, the leaders have the right to kick the players of their squad. If a leader “doesn’t suit you” you can always discuss with him and/or change squad.
It is important to keep your leader informed of any situation, if you see or hear an opposing vehicle or infantry, make sure to inform him, so that he can communicate it to the other squads.
It is very strongly disadvised to be a leader and you are a novice, it is advised to be a leader only after 100 hours of play. On some servers, taking a lead with less than a certain number of hours of play is prohibited and punishable by a server kick!
One of the main squad beginner tips is that we suggest playing as a Medic for a while because it’s easy to manage and every team needs more than one Healer.
Communication is everything
Communication is the cornerstone of Squad. It is advised to play this game with headphones, because if you don’t do so, the team leader will kick you out after several minutes of play. Squad, as its name implies, is about playing as a team. Each squad has a total of nine players. One of them becomes the team leader and the others must follow his orders.
However, don’t be discouraged, Squad has one of the best game communities, if you have a question or think there is a problem with an order most squad leaders will listen to you, so don’t be afraid to communicate.
If you are new to the game, you should know that It’s hard to be a Squad leader, because you’ll have to be in constant communication with other squad leaders and your squad-mates.
As we mentioned earlier, communication is a must, so make sure to communicate everything with your teammates and your squad leader, because every piece of information can turn the situation around and help your squad win the game.
Squad’s maps
Just like any other multiplayer FPS, learning the maps is important for beginners. Learning the maps of Squad is one of the optimal ways to master the game. Not as big as Arma maps, but not as small as Battlefield maps, Squad maps are really huge. The game offers numerous maps with many versions. So playing Squad over and over is important in order to learn them and always remember where your main base and squad-mates are.
In addition, it is better if you manage to learn how to call enemies’ locations. To do so, open the map and you will find out that there are 9 grids just like a keypad in all the maps of Squad. If you manage to learn this, you can call out enemies in locations easily.
The game mechanics
Even if Squad is a military FPS, it is not about doing kills, as they are optional, especially for beginner squad battles, what matters the most are the objectives. Your goal in a game will be to win it by making your opponent lose tickets.
In order to do so, you can destroy enemy vehicles, which will make them lose between 1 and 28 tickets. You can also capture opponent points, which will cost them between 28 and 52 tickets. In addition, you can concentrate your attacks on enemy FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) to destroy them, by doing this; your opponents will lose 20 tickets.
Please note that killing an enemy costs only 1 ticket, thus beginner squad battles are not based on the number of kills. If you want victory and you are not a killing machine, then you better focus on what makes your opponents lose all their tickets.
As we saw earlier, the thing that makes you lose the most tickets is the capture of points. It is, therefore, necessary to explain how to capture the latter, but above all to know which points are attackable by your team, and which ones are attackable by the opposing team.
First of all, it is important to understand the logic of capture; which is one of the main squad beginner tips. The points must be captured in sequence, first, second, third, etc… You cannot capture the last point before you have captured all the previous points. Note that the previous explanation has its limits. Indeed the latter is only valid for the beginning of a game and does not take into account non-linear map compositions.
To make it easier for you, just bear in mind the following details:
- A point to defend is marked with a purple shield
- A point to attack is marked with an orange arrow
There are two ways to capture a point:
- The point has never been captured: an allied player is enough to capture it, if this point is not attackable by the opponents; a player on the point is enough regardless of the number of opponents present in the capture area.
- The point belongs to the opponents: the capture of an opponent’s point is done in two steps:
- The first phase during which the point is uncaptured to put it back to neutral. During this phase, you must have three more players than the opponents in the capture area to be able to capture the point.
- Once the point is cleared, it must be captured: you just need to outnumber the opponents to finish capturing the point.
Other Squad tips for beginners
You are new to the game, looking for Squad beginner tips; we have made this additional list for you:
- If you are a new player, never pick the squad leader role
- Play Shooting Range mode to practice and get familiar with the game
- Don’t forget to pick a Kit as they are limited by the amount of players in your Squad
- Both Rifleman class and Medic class are recommended for new players
- One player is enough to capture a neutral flag
- You need at least 3 players to capture the opponent’s flag
- You win the game when the enemies lose all their tickets
- Every respawn costs you a ticket
- A ticket can be saved if the medic revives a downed teammate
- The best way to make enemies lose their tickets is by capturing their flags
- Once injured, bandage yourself and then seek a medic to restore your HP
- Bear in mind that Rallypoints are temporary spawn locations for the squad
- Use shovels to construct or deconstruct the deployables
- The Squad Leaders are the only ones who are able to place FOBs, Rallypoints, and deployables.
- Never take any vehicles unless your squad leader tells you to do so
- Weapons and tools in Squad need some time to equip, reload and unequip, so to avoid being caught off-guard, you must learn how to plan your actions wisely
- Squad is based on communication and teamwork
Squad is a great game despite being difficult, it gives you the opportunity to make new friends and learn teamwork. Its tactical and realistic aspect will enable you to enjoy a challenging yet fun multiplayer game. If you are new to the game, then you should play carefully, practice a lot, follow the orders of your squad leader, communicate and get the most of this Squad beginner guide tips in order to get better at this amazing tactical FPS.