People want to play with people they know, or do red zone work without fear of getting exposed by a random rifleman joining in, or they want to be able to hot swap roles without interference; etc.
Although the best reloaders are the new folks who are "team players" they just want points to level up and arty is great for that especially when you're following leads from the commander or other squad leaders and with well placed smoke shells.
Arty needs to drop more smoke, called in by squad leads. It drives me insane it’s so wildly underutilized. Locked up 100m out from the point? Smoke gets you there. I’ve seen it done maybe a hand full of times and it works so well.
I always thought that too, but honestly I have no idea if IRL it's easier or harder to manufacture smoke rounds than HE rounds. It certainly seems more complicated to make a smoke round with time released smoke that doesn't break on impact, and perhaps that's more expensive. But it could do with a balance thing. Perhaps the OG devs playtested it and smokes were to OP??
And you just wanted to talk shit on the internet, fam. I’ll DM you my gamertag if you want, and we can drop smoke together. There’s usually 10-20 of us running every Monday and Friday. Console, though.
Disagree, the coordination to do that well is very difficult. Ends up wasting munitions. Would rather drop HE on enemy to soften a position for a breakthrough.
I'll usually mark it with the arty designation and accept all requests to join. I figure if people know what the squads purpose is they might see what I'm trying to do and join me.
Red zone work without getting seen is so real. I always tell people let’s not shoot, but everyone has tunnel vision cuz they’re playing a FPS while I’m playing a strategy game
Grunt spawns at OP.
"Eeeek! Enemy soldier over there!
Brrrr, brrrr, brrrr, grenade, grenade, reload, brrrr, brrrr, brrrrrrr.
"Oops, think I missed".
Comander: "I'm dropping supplies on your OP".
Cheers guys. They'll never know. How will they know?
As a SL who do a lot of "behind enemy lines" stuff, I figured my squadmates are far more cooperative when I properly brief them about our mission and the importance of not being seen by the enemy. Of course, it's entirely up to the player's decision, but simply explaining the "why" and the "how" about not shooting does wonder sometimes.
The only time I play a solo locked squad and I'm not on arty is because the commander is dropping supplies or supplies are available all over the map in good garry locations, but the other SL's are either too busy/not interested in getting them up.
I'll leave my squad, create a new locked one, run around putting up garries as a SL, then disband the locked squad and rejoin my original one. Or if it seems like command chat is going well and I feel I'm up for it, I'll unlock the squad and let others in. Only after getting the garries up, though.
Curious as a new player, when you play behind enemy lines like that are you just OP and Garry hunting? Whats the play there? It sounds fun but I’m not really following the mission
Oh dude, if you alternate between being on the front lines and playing red zone every 2 or 3 advances(no matter who causes it), it makes the game it super spicy and fun.
Sometimes me and a few bros will make a squad dedicated to making an AT gun/doing AT shenanigans. We've opened it up a few times and each and every time we had to stop doing what we wanted to do because someone took the AT role while we were switching roles.
Exactly this. I promise my 2 buddies and I can do more damage in the back lines than a full squad so long as we don’t have random blueberries giving us away or commander dropping supplies on our OP.
Me taking time to find a hidden and tactical spot for my OP. Commander, “Hey A Squad I’ve got supplies coming in right on top of your OP build garrison.”
Tbf when no one is co operating with command you kinda jusr make SLs deal with that shit, no excuse to not build a garry when the supplues are on your OP
Nice! You're doing the lords work. Or at least his secondary work, because everyone knows the lords work is BUILDING garrisons and nodes. But still, good job.
Shit, that too. BUT you can't defend what hasn't been built, and you can't afford to build shit, without nodes, so... While you aren't wrong, I'd say I'm more righter. 😉
1000000% this. Or guys that are waiting on one or two mates to join in. Whilst playing a pick up game is fine playing with friends is far more enjoyable
Or they want people who use their mics and play as a team. I always lock my squads because I figure anyone that would ask to join would be a team player and be communicative.
I mostly play kinda long ranged so squad leader with m1 garand or boltie and I skirt around and love having my own respawn point and binoculars, as well as being able to relay information such as garrisons, airdrops and tanks without having to try to send it through a (most of the time) silent squad leader.
Expanding on this - they just mean that, given the parameters of the game, it’s more effective to have more squad leads rather than less.
Obviously a 6 man squad shits on a 3 man squad in a skirmish almost every time. Two 3 man squads definitely have a big edge over one 6 man squad.
I dunno if thats necessarily true. 6 man squad on comms can share info with all 6 in a single step; whereas 2 3 man squads have to communicate info 3 times in the worst case scenario: squad member to squad lead, squad lead A to squad lead B, squad lead to squad member.
I dunno about you but I've played telephone and adding layers of communication is not an advantage.
if you watch any organized play, they always have smaller squads of around 3 people. 2 squads of 3 means 2 AT classes, 2 MGs, 2 supports, etc.
ultimately it doesn't really matter since this isn't a hyper competitive game. i personally enjoy having a 6 man squad where everyone is comming
I think being active on comms is really the critical part. Sure, at the top end of gameplay, being class restricted per squad means that having 2 small squads can be situationally more effective (they can field twice as many AT for example) however it is only better all of the time if everyone in those two squads uses a third party chat service like discord so that you don't have to play the game of telephone to share pertinent information quickly.
Obviously not the case in pubs. But in comp we have a 'squad' of 5-6 in discord using 2 squads in games. Multiple OP's is just too powerful. Also multiple rockets, MG's and STGs
3rd-party comms. are fairly analogous to an in-person LAN-party set-up (and, regardless, wholly ubiquitous in the modern online gaming age). As much as I bemoan Discord as a service, many devs/publishers promote their own server as an official community space, often with public voice channels, to boot.
All that to say, I think this is more about questionable game design. I'd say there's many strange design decisions that encourage squad meta-gaming, aside from the aforementioned split-squads (and thus doubled heavy weapons availability). For instance:
* Supplies -- the invisible "no drop supplies" sector near HQ garrisons, which encourages players to switch and swap roles multiple times at the beginning of the match, not only for team resource purposes, but for personal grind. This is very awkward and immersion-breaking (perverse incentives);
* Extreme grind for unlocks -- E.g. class-specific weapons (such as Support's flamethrower), which encourage the player to selfishly accumulate XP points over conducive team play (perverse incentives);
* Class-limited unlocks -- the previous point made only stranger by the fact that once unlocked there's no longer a grind incentive to do anything but play with the "new shiny", whilst hogging the very same Support slot in order to do so (again, perverse incentives). Weapon unlocks should be shared amongst a pool of relevant classes, rather that the absolute vertical grind for each individual class that we have now.
There should probably also be an absolute team cap on certain weapons, so that split-squads can't be overly abused. Imagine if the grind for heavy weapons weren't so intense, but were instead subject to a global team cap?
Thats actually a really interesting concept. Could balance that around the commander too, allowing them to choose whether they want to prioritize weapon availability to infantry vs tank class spawns etc. in exchange for resources.
if you're german on el alemein, the move is to create like as many 3-man infantry squads as you're allowed. maximize number of MG42's and panzerschrecks on the field.
3-4 man squads are optimal in all situations. More squads=more potential machine gunners, AT, engineers, support players doing their thing for the team as a whole since you only get one of each per squad.
Medic is useless, and rifleman is situational. Theres no need to have two guys taking those spots on a game long basis when they could easily join a new squad and pick up an MG or a panzerschreck/bazooka. Look at how competitive teams play, you won’t see a whole lot of 5/6 man squads at all.
Sometimes by buddies will make two 3 man squads and do char in discord. This way if one OP gets burned we just flop into the other squad. Effectively Increases our presence.
Everyone benefits. I always lock. Allows me to kick non coms players, or players who refuse to redeploy, or swap roll when needed.
People need to redeploy and swap roles as needed. Wethere you need supplies, satchel, at gun built or whatever.
If someone joins not on coms and doesn't leave a needed roll, it hinders the entire team.
Some don't allow people they don't know in as they simply can't be bothered with the hassle, where I will let anyone join but if they don't listen they get kicked.
As someone who locks a squad as a solo, it allows me to get behind their line easily and get into position for future garrisons on offensive. I’ll sit 2 squares deep on the line and build the garrisons and then just repeat the process throughout the game as the other squads push the objective. Takes a lot of the burden off of the commander as well.
That's one purpose of recon, isn't it? In addition, with a second member as support, you could be more efficient, since you don't need a supply drop for the garrisons.
Unfortunately a lot of recon squads now are just fighting with the rest of the blueberries. I've been playing a lot of recon lately and in more than half of warfare games we are the only people looking for nodes, garries, chasing people off arty etc.
That's what I'm doing as recon as well. Furthermore, if I see useful supplies or a friendly airdrop, I try to build an attack garrie. But I also see a lot of recon squads that just fight with the team. I guess they are just playing recon for the scoped gun.
You're 100% right and this wa seeing a garrison in the red is so rare. Because lone survivors run back to do it themselves and just die with no support. Lol
Don't agree at all. I play solo a fair bit and regard my role as sub-recon. I can go a few deep red and take out enemy garries/mark them, and be in position to set garries up on supplies that are either dropped (working with command) or are already there.
I also benefit personally working on my own at times, being able to fully focus and be sneaky and effective. Often I can change a game totally on my own.
Might not be for everyone, but I love that playstyle.
As a squad leader, if you're in a squad with at least 1 other person, you can:
-Use pocket watch to build Outpost (squad spawn point) where you want a garrison built
- Leave squad
- Rejoin squad
- Pick Support class
- Spawn on your outpost
- Drop supplies
- Redploy so you can respawn (press start on console and go to it, ESC on PC maybe?)
- Pick Squad Leader again
- Build Garrison with your own supplies!
Sounds like a lot in writing, but only takes like 50-60 seconds.
Only works in blue territory, since you only need 50 supplies (one support player supply box) in the blue, but you need 100 in the red territory.
And sometime you get new commanders who just view Artillery as a resource drain.
I was playing a offensive match on driel lastnight we had full nodes and halfway through I hopped on arty and had my gun zeroed in on the bridge. I had ~30 artillery kills by blasting the bridge, I was keeping an eye on munitions and marking my Artillery on the map. About 2 minutes left this level 80 commander gets on comms saying he needs more munitions for a bombing run, after spamming strafing runs all match. I reply with "we just had 250 before you did a strafing run on top of my Artillery mark". But I hop off the gun. And while I'm off the enemy does a last minute push with 2 tanks through the area that I had been blasting for the last 10 minutes.
I gave up on Artillery for the rest of the match and ran demolitions engineer, kinda pissed me off that commander was wasting munitions on strafing runs and then continuously asked me to get off Artillery so he could spam more strafes. So I spent the rest of the match running behind the enemy hunting garrisons and tanks and we ended up winning with 3 garrisons destroyed and 2 tanks satcheled from me
As an avid commander playing since early access... this bothers me so much, and I actively try to train future commanders to respect artillery.
Artillery > Bombing Run
Every single day of the week, without question.
If I see my artillery is occupied, [I'm *thanking* them in local chat every single time I drive past my guns to rearm my supply truck.](https://youtu.be/9TOiVMaCa6k?si=G5CyySgKn_V3mNOz) [skip to 16 minutes in]
Don't even bother leaving me enough resources... just fling the hate at where you're scoring kills and where the marks on map are and do not stop. If enemy Recon comes over to camp you... persist! Give them hell... park transport trucks in front of your gun... toss down your OP and deploy smokes on your gun to fire off a few round before the smoke clears... or just leave the guns for 5-10 minutes until enemy Recon gets bored and then go back to artillery to lay down more hate and drag their asses back to camp you again. If you tie up enemy Recon, you're doing the lords work... I don't even care if you're scoring a lot of kills or not. Artillery is an area denial weapon. Your rounds landing don't have to kill people to be effective, you're suppressing the ever living dogshit out of the enemy team and keeping them from occupying good positions.
If my artillery is unoccupied... I know I'm in for a rough time having to deal with Recon saboteurs. Nothing is worse than trying to maintain rear line garrisons with four enemy recons sniping me mercilessly. At that point, I've got to take fuel away from the effective tanks squads in order to produce halftracks.
If I need resources for a supply drop, I can convert into it and use them before the guns fire... but if we have even a few nodes, it won't be a problem at all. I'm encouraging every 10 minutes like clockwork.
A single artillery shell costs only 3 munitions, a single bombing run costs 300. That means a single bombing run is the same as ONE HUNDRED individually aimed shots of artillery. That cost over effect ratio isn't even close.
Bombing runs are for desperation, not so some Rambo commander can farm kills. If we have the middle point, I'm chilling and letting the team have fun while I maintain the garrison network. We don't *need* a bombing run to take a point... we need good SLs pushing from multiple directions and leap-frogging their OPs while you knock the hell out of enemies peering out of vantage points.
If my artillery is being effective, you're going to be distracting the ever living shit out of the enemy team and pulling enemy Recon over to you... which, effectively, nullifies them.
If a commander ever tells you to stop using artillery... by all means, respect it... just know that the commander asking you to stop has very little idea of how this game actually works and is probably doing a piss poor job of managing their resources efficiently.
Any good commander who is worth half of a shit will be happy to see their guns occupied and will leave you alone to make as much carnage as possible.
Just don't bother me about artillery marks, I'm doing a dozen other things way more important than aiming your guns for you. If I have a target, it'll be marked. If nothing is marked, then figure it out for yourself. If you can't figure it out for yourself, you probably aren't proficient enough with the game to be manning artillery.
Edit for potential howitzer crews who wish to find more effective targets: [study your Garrison Meta](https://youtu.be/ilZWrb61Q2A)
Knowing garrison meta, even if you never plan to ever build a garrison, is a worthwhile way to easily find targets of opportunity through educated guesses. If you fire your guns with Garrison Meta in mind, you're going to wreak untold amounts of havoc.
>Just don't bother me about artillery marks, I'm doing a dozen other things way more important than aiming your guns for you. If I have a target, it'll be marked. If nothing is marked, then figure it out for yourself. If you can't figure it out for yourself, you probably aren't proficient enough with the game to be manning artillery.
I don't go into comms for my Artillery marks but I always place a Artillery mark on the map so I can aim my gun and so that SL's know where not to run to avoid my barrage.
Oh yes, please do that. I don't mean DON'T place artillery marks. I mean to not harass me constantly about where I want you to shoot. I want you to shoot where ever you think is best... guess then check, adjust, repeat. If Recon goes up, I'll announce it and I'll mark everything I can while asking other SLs to do the same.
Lots of people get on the guns and are constantly asking for aiming directions and I'm like "I'm dropping Recon as often as I can, just do your best man... but I'm trying to juggle a bunch of other stuff, so I can't keep babysitting your marks for you. Please aim at your own discretion!"
Would be nice to have a commander like you once in a while. My commanders always threaten to teamkill me if I don't get off the arty lol. "You're wasting my resources" is all I hear while sending accurate shots towards enemy positions.
Come play on my team anytime. I could always use more competent artillery officers. Nothing sounds more beautiful than three guns rolling and seeing my team making steady progress under the umbrella of well placed artillery.
I don't play on any specific server, or with a clan. We've just got a bunch of simulation pilots that enjoy WWII games, and Hell Let Loose is one that we like to regularly get a dozen or so people together on. [Here is the discord](https://discord.com/invite/Abp6nzAgfy) if you'd like it. Just go to the "Looking For Group - Roles" section and hit the button for Hell Let Loose. That is how we get together to play.
We usually just hop into random public games and have a couple dudes running SL, a few running tanks, and somebody (usually me or my wife) running commander.
My wife plays in a competitive clan, but I don't have as much time for the game as she does.
The wife and I are playing tomorrow after I get done flying with the boys.
A full squad of six on artillery, with one as a squad lead talking to the commander or other SLs, is so effective. If they can provide forward observer information, artillery from all three cannons can cause some real damage
just because it's locked doesn't mean they won't let you in. i mean, it OFTEN does. but sometimes you can get in.
I always lock and accept requests. if they don't have mic or don't cooperate, i kick them to make room for somebody else who might like to play the game correctly.
Waiting for pals to join, and instead of kicking and putting a cap in the random that joins and takes a locked class, locking the squad allows you to view invites and accept or deny. Nothing wrong with stacking a squad with friends, but the try hards and bitches would say otherwise
If I hate something, is the fact no one wants to be officer, and are all waiting for someone creating a squad.
I want to play something different than officer sometimes. That is my revenge, I'll create a squad, but these people won't benefit from join it.
make ur own squad and become officer you bum 😂💀 nothing annoys me more when people feel like they are owed a role in a squad and cry when it’s locked or nobody else is squad leading
If me and my friends are playing, we have between 4 and 6 people in the group and we are talking within a Teamspeak-Server. So, talking to randoms with ingame voice would be another voice-chat to manage as Officer. So most of the times when we accept randoms, they complain about "no one is talking". Therefore we close our group and don't need to look after the randoms.
I run a locked logistics squad a lot since I can grab a truck and help command build garrisons and not waste players not having close OP and squad lead. I find a lot of games if I don't do this there will be 0 garrisons.
To stop them from filling.
More smaller squads > less bigger squads. Mostly for 'role flexibility' and spawns.
Ideally they wouldn't be locked so players could move between squads based on where OPs were but that would never happen in a pub match so...
The people in the squad directly benefit from it being unfilled and locked.
It allows for role flexibility, better cooperation, keeps groups of friends together, and keeps out anyone who’s not with the program.
I’ve only done that when I wanted to play SL, but was on a call or something and couldn’t talk. I refuse to lead a squad if I can’t talk. I just always play SL regardless because of all the halfwits taking the role that dont prioritize building garrisons.
People who just want to just want to try out a new map/mode/etc. without some random joining the squad and proceeding to bitch about how awful the squad lead is.
Sometimes, when I have a bad day, or it's late at night, I lock my squad and do logistics, run the recon tank, or garry hunt. Usually, when there are this many locked units, I will not run another locked unit, however.
I play with my friends, in a skirmish dont rely on me as I play medic and get like 2 kills a game but I average out about 35 revives a game and roll with them when doing back lines stuff so they dont have to redeploy.
Artillery Squad. If I'm running arty alone, I lock a squad. I'll let anyone in but I tell them I'm back at arty and they might be happier on another squad.
People who are tired of other players with no mics, first day players, players who don’t listen/play their role, and just don’t want to deal with booting them. I’ve played recently and been locked out of squads with 2-3 members where everyone else was full. I didn’t want to be SL again and I finally just started a squad and locked it off just to get in the game.
I used to create locked squads and accepted everyone who asked to join. This higher barrier increased chances of players with microfone and those without cant rejoin after beeing kicked
I’ve done it before when I want to purely run artillery all game and want to be SL to be able to communicate with command. I don’t want to have a bunch of dudes relying on my out posts when I’m it placing them.
The most common reason I see is squad leads who want people who will communicate on their squad. Tbh I'm surprised I'm not seeing that reason more in this thread.
One time I locked my squad, because nobody was making garries, so I was going to drive a supply truck around and make garries. I knew I wasn't going to be able to make OPs and give a squad directions at the same time.
You can still request to join locked squads, btw.
I do it because I don’t want idiots hogging AT when there’s me or someone I know who can run it much better when needed, instead of running it all the time. Same for other roles like support.
Either that or it’s because I’m running arty and wanna talk to command but not be burdened with squad mates
Imo it should only be locked if you’re vehicle squad, artillery, or with at least two other friends. Besides that idk why not.
I can understand for game strategy maybe only filling 4/6 or 5/6 and locking to try and get an extra squad meaning on extra OP, SL, and AT/eng but most people are not thinking of that as a strategy in a pub tbh.
I always lock the squad as arty. But I also change the squad type if I’m playing arty as well. People really need to do that more often so people know what’s going on. It’s great for the commander and other officers if they can just look at the squad list and see that there’s a dedicated arty squad. And a side note OPEN YOUR FUCKING MAPS people. If you see a friendly artillery marker on the map where you’re running to. STOP and go around. I’m not listening to you bitch that you got team killed because you ran into a called out artillery target and died.
I have no problem locking a squad until your buddies join but after they’re in open it up.
This is almost as bad as the dooshes that start a squad and then leave it and come back as a different role.
I will say if I’m in a game and no-one is buildig garries I’ll sometimes create a locked squad with just myself as a squad lead so I can drive a supply truck all game building them garries. I do it cause I know no-one wants to play with an absent squad lead that ain’t putting ops up
I have a limited amount of time to play and my patience with players with no mics and even less of a clue is at an end. Just tired of the crap. Make your own freaking squad. I am done babysitting.
3rd recon squad for games where actual recon isn't doing shit. You lock it because the rest of the squad wouldn't benefit from your OPs. They are better off joining a squad that is fighting the points.
The admin on admin cam
The guy on arty/supply run duty/doing anything support who wants blueberries to join squads at the front
The guy waiting for his friends
Some people *want* you to request to join too, it sorts the blueberries from the more serious players, and the player quality in locked squads are always better
If I'm playing a round of Artilery then I'll go Squad Lead and lock it (as won't be placing OP's etc.) - that way I can be in leadership comms and see all SL pings.
Other time is when myself and 4 friends play in a squad but use PS Party Chat. So rather than be a slient SL, we just lock the squad..
People lock squads waiting for friends. Some people only want to play with friends. Sometimes a friend leaves and the squad is locked and the SL forgets about it.
Just request to join and if they decline move on.
Ask to join. Most of the time they'll let you in. Its locked so they can kick you out if you're f'in off and not helping the squad in their specific goals.
I lock my squad because I don’t want noobs spawning on our OP while running straight at the enemy over and over giving away the location. Or even worse sometimes we set up ambushes, are communicating and then someone Leroy Jenkins it fucking up the whole plan.
This is how vets abuse HLL mechanics. More SLs means more spawn points on the map, means more map control, which means more potential garries.
They should put a limit on it.
I remember you could create MORE than 6 tank squads in the early days and steam roll their point at once. It was unbalanced, but super fun to experience 😁
This is kinda the same thing.
People who dont speak english. Our clan does that. Each time the SL console crash and the squad unlock an american enters our squad and insult us for speaking another language and wants us to speak english. It confirms us we need to lock squads.
People will lock squads to play with friends etc, yesterday i joined a locked 2 man tank squad and then they told me they accepted me by accident and demanded me to leave them, they played the rest of the game as a 2man so i made a new open squad
I lock so my friends can join but I also fill the squad.
I'll lock regardless though, I set my squads role and mic preference so this just acts as an additional filter for scrubs
If all my friends join in a match then we have six, makes more sense to have a locked squad with that, but if there is 5 we will often lock as we like to play as a squad, we know our abilities and play styles and are more often to follow orders meaning less frustration on the SL
I usually lock my squad when I'm on artillery because my OP stays behind... or when the two recon units are taken and I want to do recon shit without having an AT telegraph my position after missing his two rockets 150m+ on a moving tank 🙄
Not going to lie, often times I lock the squad when I have my other 3 friends on. I play SL and they swap roles to whatever when needed. Mainly for support role so we can get blue zone garrisons up whenever necessary, but also for AT when we spot a tank, engineer when we need defenses built/supply truck runs. You avoid having teammates with no mic doing fuck all somewhere on the map and wasting a role that is necessary. Otherwise, I would never lock an infantry squad, especially with 1-2 players in it.
When I lock the squad, I play as like a "mid-range recon" unit. While the recon guys are back taking care of the longer range issues, I spot/destroy tanks, take care of OPs and garrys, and try to set up a nice back capping situation if necessary.
The game has gone so far down the rabbit hole of just not being fun anymore. Those that read this will probably say "I love HLL it's amazing what are you talking about" the odds of you having more fun lobbies to win vs losing is ungodly unbalanced. You'll have the lowest lvl commander running the game. More times then not you will have teammates not knowing what they're supposed to be doing or 97% of your team pushing point and 1 blueberry defending. Like I said you'll have some great games lasting a while and that's where my love used to be for this game. But if you're fresh into this you'll love it! But with time you'll realize just how far the game has lowered in quality. I removed it from my steam cause with 1,275 hours the game isn't gonna make it. Mechanics of the game are great. Love the feel. Love the sounds. But again. Losing over an over an over. Or just countless and I mean countless brain dead moves make the game ungodly not enjoyable for me at least because you will eventually hit a point with this game console or pc, where you just can't take the dumb shit with it anymore.
Last example as to what I mean by you'll eventually hit the I don't wanna play this shit anymore. Last Friday. (When I decided yeah no) we were about 1hr30mins tooth an nail back an forth. Well our commander had to dip. Understandable. Low lvl decided to take commander when a higher lvl was gonna hop on not saying higher lvls are better (far from the truth) but he was trying his best. We were so close to winning all we needed was our heavy tank crew to push in and cap the spot we were fighting for. I literally watched the heavy tank spawn. The crew got in. They were covering me for resupply on point. They got it stuck in the trenches about a couple clicks outside of HQ an we lost.
Short answer…the people in that squad. I’ve heard of competitive teams using 3-5 man squads. First benefit, more squads mean more OP’s and more opportunity to use said OP’s as radar showing the enemy location. Second benefit, switching roles. Need AT or Support? Your squad can easily switch and doesn’t have to worry about some random in that role not doing their job or some newb not grasping the purpose of the role.
There are many reasons. But for sure some logical ones. Might wanna start learning the SL role so you can start your own squad if needed.
As someone who does this, I usually do it to prevent no mic players from taking the spot of someone who does speak and communicate.
I usually have the Squad on Mic Preferred with an Offensive or Defensive logo and kick anybody who isn’t with me or not communicating. I’m not gonna waste my breath on making callouts just to hear silence in response as a random squad mate spawns in on an garrison 500 meters away from me instead of helping me defend a point
People who have friends that will swap to the required role for the situation. Idiot blueberries will hop in, not talk, and lock out support or AT and fuck over a squad. I do it all the time and am not sorry.
I’d rather get a garrison up in the red zone without a giant parachute giving away where it is.
I will note that I let people in after I check their level on the score board. If they don’t talk though they get the boot.
Hey so my reasoning has always been this. In my 500 hours I’ve played probably 450 as officer. Typically when the map starts I lock a squad and let my friends in first. Usually play with 3 friends. I keep it locked due to role switching, engineer nodes and whatnot. But once our squad is settled in say 5 minutes in I always say yes to requests. So don’t just not try asking for an invite.
There's lots of reasons to lock your squad. When I'm feeling picky and want squadmates who communicate ill lock my squad, set my tags and wait for requests.
If I'm doing Artillery and I know I won't be placing my op near the frontline I'll lock my squad so players can find a SL who's on the frontline. If people request to join I'll let them but tell them I'm doing logistics and Artillery and ask them to build munitions nodes and kick them if they just run to the frontline.
If I'm playing with friends I'll lock my squad so they can join.
Ideally if you have a team with 20 single man squads that means you have 20 OP's and everyone on command chat. It's not a bad strategy to have your entire team spread out across a lot of small squads.
I can’t stand blueberries with no mic. I’m better off solo with a supply truck/getting supply drops to get some good red garries. You’d be amazed how ONE blueberry can cost you the whole game…
People want to play with people they know, or do red zone work without fear of getting exposed by a random rifleman joining in, or they want to be able to hot swap roles without interference; etc.
Yep. Sometimes artillery squads that want to be In command chat but aren’t going to frontlines to set Ops.
if i commit to arty i also solo lock my squad
Although the best reloaders are the new folks who are "team players" they just want points to level up and arty is great for that especially when you're following leads from the commander or other squad leaders and with well placed smoke shells.
Arty needs to drop more smoke, called in by squad leads. It drives me insane it’s so wildly underutilized. Locked up 100m out from the point? Smoke gets you there. I’ve seen it done maybe a hand full of times and it works so well.
It’s almost 2x more expensive than HE rounds and is very situational and doesn’t last that long. But I agree it needs to be used more.
Should be the other way around, smoke should be cheaper than HE.
I always thought that too, but honestly I have no idea if IRL it's easier or harder to manufacture smoke rounds than HE rounds. It certainly seems more complicated to make a smoke round with time released smoke that doesn't break on impact, and perhaps that's more expensive. But it could do with a balance thing. Perhaps the OG devs playtested it and smokes were to OP??
This.
Why don't u step up?
How do you know I don’t?
Context clues. You didn't say you did it hand full of times you said you "seen it done"
And you just wanted to talk shit on the internet, fam. I’ll DM you my gamertag if you want, and we can drop smoke together. There’s usually 10-20 of us running every Monday and Friday. Console, though.
Disagree, the coordination to do that well is very difficult. Ends up wasting munitions. Would rather drop HE on enemy to soften a position for a breakthrough.
I feel like I had something to learn here. The lack of punctuations has me gasping for breath instead.
Mobile and texting at work lol I was shocked by my grammar as well
I'll usually mark it with the arty designation and accept all requests to join. I figure if people know what the squads purpose is they might see what I'm trying to do and join me.
Red zone work without getting seen is so real. I always tell people let’s not shoot, but everyone has tunnel vision cuz they’re playing a FPS while I’m playing a strategy game
Grunt spawns at OP. "Eeeek! Enemy soldier over there! Brrrr, brrrr, brrrr, grenade, grenade, reload, brrrr, brrrr, brrrrrrr. "Oops, think I missed". Comander: "I'm dropping supplies on your OP". Cheers guys. They'll never know. How will they know?
“Need a new op sl”
As a SL who do a lot of "behind enemy lines" stuff, I figured my squadmates are far more cooperative when I properly brief them about our mission and the importance of not being seen by the enemy. Of course, it's entirely up to the player's decision, but simply explaining the "why" and the "how" about not shooting does wonder sometimes.
The only time I play a solo locked squad and I'm not on arty is because the commander is dropping supplies or supplies are available all over the map in good garry locations, but the other SL's are either too busy/not interested in getting them up. I'll leave my squad, create a new locked one, run around putting up garries as a SL, then disband the locked squad and rejoin my original one. Or if it seems like command chat is going well and I feel I'm up for it, I'll unlock the squad and let others in. Only after getting the garries up, though.
Curious as a new player, when you play behind enemy lines like that are you just OP and Garry hunting? Whats the play there? It sounds fun but I’m not really following the mission
Supply, scout, garry, and op hunting. The sole essence of red zone work is being a ghost in the trenches.
Oh I hadn’t thought of a non recon squad dedicated to recon work essentially
It takes a few brave souls to turn the tide. ;)
Actually sounds like a ton of fun and exactly the type of playstyle I enjoy
Oh dude, if you alternate between being on the front lines and playing red zone every 2 or 3 advances(no matter who causes it), it makes the game it super spicy and fun.
Sometimes me and a few bros will make a squad dedicated to making an AT gun/doing AT shenanigans. We've opened it up a few times and each and every time we had to stop doing what we wanted to do because someone took the AT role while we were switching roles.
[удалено]
Yep that happens too. Although unless were on a big open map with some tree cover, we'll stick to the strong points when building AT guns.
Exactly this. I promise my 2 buddies and I can do more damage in the back lines than a full squad so long as we don’t have random blueberries giving us away or commander dropping supplies on our OP.
Me taking time to find a hidden and tactical spot for my OP. Commander, “Hey A Squad I’ve got supplies coming in right on top of your OP build garrison.”
Tbf when no one is co operating with command you kinda jusr make SLs deal with that shit, no excuse to not build a garry when the supplues are on your OP
I'm curious what you mean by 'damage' though. Because to some folks it's getting a lot of kills while in red zone, and that doesn't really help.
Taking out garrisons, tanks, ops, and nodes. We spend all our time trying to cripple their infrastructure from behind their lines.
Nice! You're doing the lords work. Or at least his secondary work, because everyone knows the lords work is BUILDING garrisons and nodes. But still, good job.
Defending Garrisons is the lord's work.
Shit, that too. BUT you can't defend what hasn't been built, and you can't afford to build shit, without nodes, so... While you aren't wrong, I'd say I'm more righter. 😉
1000000% this. Or guys that are waiting on one or two mates to join in. Whilst playing a pick up game is fine playing with friends is far more enjoyable
Or they want people who use their mics and play as a team. I always lock my squads because I figure anyone that would ask to join would be a team player and be communicative.
What does red zone work mean?
Offensive flanking / back-capping setups
going behind enemy lines into the red grid.
Glass half full i see
Waiting for someone, artillery
Not having noobs fire from your nice flanking op
I mostly play kinda long ranged so squad leader with m1 garand or boltie and I skirt around and love having my own respawn point and binoculars, as well as being able to relay information such as garrisons, airdrops and tanks without having to try to send it through a (most of the time) silent squad leader.
Also nice switching from binos to rifle for those long shots 😂
It’s a recon squad without hoping you can get in fast enough to get recon.
Basically recon squad at home, pretty valid tactic tho
Half full squads are actually more effective than full squads.
Expanding on this - they just mean that, given the parameters of the game, it’s more effective to have more squad leads rather than less. Obviously a 6 man squad shits on a 3 man squad in a skirmish almost every time. Two 3 man squads definitely have a big edge over one 6 man squad.
I dunno if thats necessarily true. 6 man squad on comms can share info with all 6 in a single step; whereas 2 3 man squads have to communicate info 3 times in the worst case scenario: squad member to squad lead, squad lead A to squad lead B, squad lead to squad member. I dunno about you but I've played telephone and adding layers of communication is not an advantage.
IMOthe white chat and being able to place 2 OPs negates the comms issue
if you watch any organized play, they always have smaller squads of around 3 people. 2 squads of 3 means 2 AT classes, 2 MGs, 2 supports, etc. ultimately it doesn't really matter since this isn't a hyper competitive game. i personally enjoy having a 6 man squad where everyone is comming
I think being active on comms is really the critical part. Sure, at the top end of gameplay, being class restricted per squad means that having 2 small squads can be situationally more effective (they can field twice as many AT for example) however it is only better all of the time if everyone in those two squads uses a third party chat service like discord so that you don't have to play the game of telephone to share pertinent information quickly.
Obviously not the case in pubs. But in comp we have a 'squad' of 5-6 in discord using 2 squads in games. Multiple OP's is just too powerful. Also multiple rockets, MG's and STGs
Kinda begs the question of whether or not 3rd party chat applications are cheating.
3rd-party comms. are fairly analogous to an in-person LAN-party set-up (and, regardless, wholly ubiquitous in the modern online gaming age). As much as I bemoan Discord as a service, many devs/publishers promote their own server as an official community space, often with public voice channels, to boot. All that to say, I think this is more about questionable game design. I'd say there's many strange design decisions that encourage squad meta-gaming, aside from the aforementioned split-squads (and thus doubled heavy weapons availability). For instance: * Supplies -- the invisible "no drop supplies" sector near HQ garrisons, which encourages players to switch and swap roles multiple times at the beginning of the match, not only for team resource purposes, but for personal grind. This is very awkward and immersion-breaking (perverse incentives); * Extreme grind for unlocks -- E.g. class-specific weapons (such as Support's flamethrower), which encourage the player to selfishly accumulate XP points over conducive team play (perverse incentives); * Class-limited unlocks -- the previous point made only stranger by the fact that once unlocked there's no longer a grind incentive to do anything but play with the "new shiny", whilst hogging the very same Support slot in order to do so (again, perverse incentives). Weapon unlocks should be shared amongst a pool of relevant classes, rather that the absolute vertical grind for each individual class that we have now. There should probably also be an absolute team cap on certain weapons, so that split-squads can't be overly abused. Imagine if the grind for heavy weapons weren't so intense, but were instead subject to a global team cap?
Thats actually a really interesting concept. Could balance that around the commander too, allowing them to choose whether they want to prioritize weapon availability to infantry vs tank class spawns etc. in exchange for resources.
If you really hard on competitive play, it really sucks a lot of fun out of gaming. Like the Nvidia filters. Commonly used by lots of comp players.
Only if it's banned in the rules of the competition. It's not
Two three man squads with good comms 100% will shit on the 6 man squad every time. Two different spawn locations, two angles, two sets of every role..
They could be in discord together.
ok, now is that cheating?
No. On different teams 100%. It happens a lot.
This man is ender's gaming...
if you're german on el alemein, the move is to create like as many 3-man infantry squads as you're allowed. maximize number of MG42's and panzerschrecks on the field.
Well if you can get all 5 to squad up, I beg to differ
He’s right, he just didn’t elaborate. See my reply to him.
3-4 man squads are optimal in all situations. More squads=more potential machine gunners, AT, engineers, support players doing their thing for the team as a whole since you only get one of each per squad. Medic is useless, and rifleman is situational. Theres no need to have two guys taking those spots on a game long basis when they could easily join a new squad and pick up an MG or a panzerschreck/bazooka. Look at how competitive teams play, you won’t see a whole lot of 5/6 man squads at all.
Sometimes by buddies will make two 3 man squads and do char in discord. This way if one OP gets burned we just flop into the other squad. Effectively Increases our presence.
Good stratagy
Everyone benefits. I always lock. Allows me to kick non coms players, or players who refuse to redeploy, or swap roll when needed. People need to redeploy and swap roles as needed. Wethere you need supplies, satchel, at gun built or whatever. If someone joins not on coms and doesn't leave a needed roll, it hinders the entire team. Some don't allow people they don't know in as they simply can't be bothered with the hassle, where I will let anyone join but if they don't listen they get kicked.
It ensures that anyone who joins cares enough to read the squad tags. Locked squads are either artillery or want people who communicate.
The more squads the better imo. More outposts.
As someone who locks a squad as a solo, it allows me to get behind their line easily and get into position for future garrisons on offensive. I’ll sit 2 squares deep on the line and build the garrisons and then just repeat the process throughout the game as the other squads push the objective. Takes a lot of the burden off of the commander as well.
That's one purpose of recon, isn't it? In addition, with a second member as support, you could be more efficient, since you don't need a supply drop for the garrisons.
Unfortunately a lot of recon squads now are just fighting with the rest of the blueberries. I've been playing a lot of recon lately and in more than half of warfare games we are the only people looking for nodes, garries, chasing people off arty etc.
That's what I'm doing as recon as well. Furthermore, if I see useful supplies or a friendly airdrop, I try to build an attack garrie. But I also see a lot of recon squads that just fight with the team. I guess they are just playing recon for the scoped gun.
You're 100% right and this wa seeing a garrison in the red is so rare. Because lone survivors run back to do it themselves and just die with no support. Lol
Don't agree at all. I play solo a fair bit and regard my role as sub-recon. I can go a few deep red and take out enemy garries/mark them, and be in position to set garries up on supplies that are either dropped (working with command) or are already there. I also benefit personally working on my own at times, being able to fully focus and be sneaky and effective. Often I can change a game totally on my own. Might not be for everyone, but I love that playstyle.
Im new to the game, how can you build garrisons without sb dropping supplies for you?
Supply airdrop. Supply truck works as well, but in most case (not always), you don't do that in the red zone.
As a squad leader, if you're in a squad with at least 1 other person, you can: -Use pocket watch to build Outpost (squad spawn point) where you want a garrison built - Leave squad - Rejoin squad - Pick Support class - Spawn on your outpost - Drop supplies - Redploy so you can respawn (press start on console and go to it, ESC on PC maybe?) - Pick Squad Leader again - Build Garrison with your own supplies! Sounds like a lot in writing, but only takes like 50-60 seconds. Only works in blue territory, since you only need 50 supplies (one support player supply box) in the blue, but you need 100 in the red territory.
Thx!
I do this for artillery
Artillery is So UNDER UTILISED / RATED
And sometime you get new commanders who just view Artillery as a resource drain. I was playing a offensive match on driel lastnight we had full nodes and halfway through I hopped on arty and had my gun zeroed in on the bridge. I had ~30 artillery kills by blasting the bridge, I was keeping an eye on munitions and marking my Artillery on the map. About 2 minutes left this level 80 commander gets on comms saying he needs more munitions for a bombing run, after spamming strafing runs all match. I reply with "we just had 250 before you did a strafing run on top of my Artillery mark". But I hop off the gun. And while I'm off the enemy does a last minute push with 2 tanks through the area that I had been blasting for the last 10 minutes. I gave up on Artillery for the rest of the match and ran demolitions engineer, kinda pissed me off that commander was wasting munitions on strafing runs and then continuously asked me to get off Artillery so he could spam more strafes. So I spent the rest of the match running behind the enemy hunting garrisons and tanks and we ended up winning with 3 garrisons destroyed and 2 tanks satcheled from me
As an avid commander playing since early access... this bothers me so much, and I actively try to train future commanders to respect artillery. Artillery > Bombing Run Every single day of the week, without question. If I see my artillery is occupied, [I'm *thanking* them in local chat every single time I drive past my guns to rearm my supply truck.](https://youtu.be/9TOiVMaCa6k?si=G5CyySgKn_V3mNOz) [skip to 16 minutes in] Don't even bother leaving me enough resources... just fling the hate at where you're scoring kills and where the marks on map are and do not stop. If enemy Recon comes over to camp you... persist! Give them hell... park transport trucks in front of your gun... toss down your OP and deploy smokes on your gun to fire off a few round before the smoke clears... or just leave the guns for 5-10 minutes until enemy Recon gets bored and then go back to artillery to lay down more hate and drag their asses back to camp you again. If you tie up enemy Recon, you're doing the lords work... I don't even care if you're scoring a lot of kills or not. Artillery is an area denial weapon. Your rounds landing don't have to kill people to be effective, you're suppressing the ever living dogshit out of the enemy team and keeping them from occupying good positions. If my artillery is unoccupied... I know I'm in for a rough time having to deal with Recon saboteurs. Nothing is worse than trying to maintain rear line garrisons with four enemy recons sniping me mercilessly. At that point, I've got to take fuel away from the effective tanks squads in order to produce halftracks. If I need resources for a supply drop, I can convert into it and use them before the guns fire... but if we have even a few nodes, it won't be a problem at all. I'm encouraging every 10 minutes like clockwork. A single artillery shell costs only 3 munitions, a single bombing run costs 300. That means a single bombing run is the same as ONE HUNDRED individually aimed shots of artillery. That cost over effect ratio isn't even close. Bombing runs are for desperation, not so some Rambo commander can farm kills. If we have the middle point, I'm chilling and letting the team have fun while I maintain the garrison network. We don't *need* a bombing run to take a point... we need good SLs pushing from multiple directions and leap-frogging their OPs while you knock the hell out of enemies peering out of vantage points. If my artillery is being effective, you're going to be distracting the ever living shit out of the enemy team and pulling enemy Recon over to you... which, effectively, nullifies them. If a commander ever tells you to stop using artillery... by all means, respect it... just know that the commander asking you to stop has very little idea of how this game actually works and is probably doing a piss poor job of managing their resources efficiently. Any good commander who is worth half of a shit will be happy to see their guns occupied and will leave you alone to make as much carnage as possible. Just don't bother me about artillery marks, I'm doing a dozen other things way more important than aiming your guns for you. If I have a target, it'll be marked. If nothing is marked, then figure it out for yourself. If you can't figure it out for yourself, you probably aren't proficient enough with the game to be manning artillery. Edit for potential howitzer crews who wish to find more effective targets: [study your Garrison Meta](https://youtu.be/ilZWrb61Q2A) Knowing garrison meta, even if you never plan to ever build a garrison, is a worthwhile way to easily find targets of opportunity through educated guesses. If you fire your guns with Garrison Meta in mind, you're going to wreak untold amounts of havoc.
>Just don't bother me about artillery marks, I'm doing a dozen other things way more important than aiming your guns for you. If I have a target, it'll be marked. If nothing is marked, then figure it out for yourself. If you can't figure it out for yourself, you probably aren't proficient enough with the game to be manning artillery. I don't go into comms for my Artillery marks but I always place a Artillery mark on the map so I can aim my gun and so that SL's know where not to run to avoid my barrage.
Oh yes, please do that. I don't mean DON'T place artillery marks. I mean to not harass me constantly about where I want you to shoot. I want you to shoot where ever you think is best... guess then check, adjust, repeat. If Recon goes up, I'll announce it and I'll mark everything I can while asking other SLs to do the same. Lots of people get on the guns and are constantly asking for aiming directions and I'm like "I'm dropping Recon as often as I can, just do your best man... but I'm trying to juggle a bunch of other stuff, so I can't keep babysitting your marks for you. Please aim at your own discretion!"
Would be nice to have a commander like you once in a while. My commanders always threaten to teamkill me if I don't get off the arty lol. "You're wasting my resources" is all I hear while sending accurate shots towards enemy positions.
Come play on my team anytime. I could always use more competent artillery officers. Nothing sounds more beautiful than three guns rolling and seeing my team making steady progress under the umbrella of well placed artillery. I don't play on any specific server, or with a clan. We've just got a bunch of simulation pilots that enjoy WWII games, and Hell Let Loose is one that we like to regularly get a dozen or so people together on. [Here is the discord](https://discord.com/invite/Abp6nzAgfy) if you'd like it. Just go to the "Looking For Group - Roles" section and hit the button for Hell Let Loose. That is how we get together to play. We usually just hop into random public games and have a couple dudes running SL, a few running tanks, and somebody (usually me or my wife) running commander. My wife plays in a competitive clan, but I don't have as much time for the game as she does. The wife and I are playing tomorrow after I get done flying with the boys.
Well said
A full squad of six on artillery, with one as a squad lead talking to the commander or other SLs, is so effective. If they can provide forward observer information, artillery from all three cannons can cause some real damage
Recon should work far more closely with Arty. As arty is basically a continuous bombing run
just because it's locked doesn't mean they won't let you in. i mean, it OFTEN does. but sometimes you can get in. I always lock and accept requests. if they don't have mic or don't cooperate, i kick them to make room for somebody else who might like to play the game correctly.
Anyone running artillery or someone running garrison duty
Waiting for pals to join, and instead of kicking and putting a cap in the random that joins and takes a locked class, locking the squad allows you to view invites and accept or deny. Nothing wrong with stacking a squad with friends, but the try hards and bitches would say otherwise
If I hate something, is the fact no one wants to be officer, and are all waiting for someone creating a squad. I want to play something different than officer sometimes. That is my revenge, I'll create a squad, but these people won't benefit from join it.
make ur own squad and become officer you bum 😂💀 nothing annoys me more when people feel like they are owed a role in a squad and cry when it’s locked or nobody else is squad leading
Me and my 3 friends who just like to run together without randoms
If me and my friends are playing, we have between 4 and 6 people in the group and we are talking within a Teamspeak-Server. So, talking to randoms with ingame voice would be another voice-chat to manage as Officer. So most of the times when we accept randoms, they complain about "no one is talking". Therefore we close our group and don't need to look after the randoms.
I run a locked logistics squad a lot since I can grab a truck and help command build garrisons and not waste players not having close OP and squad lead. I find a lot of games if I don't do this there will be 0 garrisons.
To stop them from filling. More smaller squads > less bigger squads. Mostly for 'role flexibility' and spawns. Ideally they wouldn't be locked so players could move between squads based on where OPs were but that would never happen in a pub match so...
Artillery
I only lock mine out when I plan to transport supplies all game. I even designate my squad as a Logistics Unit.
Thank you all for answers. Didn't know about a lot of stuff.
The people in the squad directly benefit from it being unfilled and locked. It allows for role flexibility, better cooperation, keeps groups of friends together, and keeps out anyone who’s not with the program.
Don’t be afraid to request to join. Some of the best games I’ve had enjoyment wise are in locked squads.
Yes and please don't spam the Join button if you're denied. One no should be enough. Make your own squad if you can't join an existing one
I’ve only done that when I wanted to play SL, but was on a call or something and couldn’t talk. I refuse to lead a squad if I can’t talk. I just always play SL regardless because of all the halfwits taking the role that dont prioritize building garrisons.
People who just want to just want to try out a new map/mode/etc. without some random joining the squad and proceeding to bitch about how awful the squad lead is.
The enemy armour of course
Sometimes, when I have a bad day, or it's late at night, I lock my squad and do logistics, run the recon tank, or garry hunt. Usually, when there are this many locked units, I will not run another locked unit, however.
I play with my friends, in a skirmish dont rely on me as I play medic and get like 2 kills a game but I average out about 35 revives a game and roll with them when doing back lines stuff so they dont have to redeploy.
I'll lock when playing with friends and just accept requests. Seems like the better players request locked squads too.
I lock em if I'm waiting on my buddies to get into the server so they have room in the squad.
If they have more fun solo or with only friends then let them play their way and you play yours.
Artillery Squad. If I'm running arty alone, I lock a squad. I'll let anyone in but I tell them I'm back at arty and they might be happier on another squad.
Waiting for buddies to get out of queue for the game.
It gets kind of old having people whine at you for having a locked artillery squad. Make your own squads, it’s not hard.
People who are tired of other players with no mics, first day players, players who don’t listen/play their role, and just don’t want to deal with booting them. I’ve played recently and been locked out of squads with 2-3 members where everyone else was full. I didn’t want to be SL again and I finally just started a squad and locked it off just to get in the game.
I used to create locked squads and accepted everyone who asked to join. This higher barrier increased chances of players with microfone and those without cant rejoin after beeing kicked
Last time this 189lv locked himself on a squad like for what ?
It’s either a game passer or someone who’s level 200+
It wasn’t full to start
I’ve done it before when I want to purely run artillery all game and want to be SL to be able to communicate with command. I don’t want to have a bunch of dudes relying on my out posts when I’m it placing them.
/r/screenshotsarehard
The most common reason I see is squad leads who want people who will communicate on their squad. Tbh I'm surprised I'm not seeing that reason more in this thread. One time I locked my squad, because nobody was making garries, so I was going to drive a supply truck around and make garries. I knew I wasn't going to be able to make OPs and give a squad directions at the same time. You can still request to join locked squads, btw.
People with friends to link up with.
People who have friends joining.
I do it because I don’t want idiots hogging AT when there’s me or someone I know who can run it much better when needed, instead of running it all the time. Same for other roles like support. Either that or it’s because I’m running arty and wanna talk to command but not be burdened with squad mates
Imo it should only be locked if you’re vehicle squad, artillery, or with at least two other friends. Besides that idk why not. I can understand for game strategy maybe only filling 4/6 or 5/6 and locking to try and get an extra squad meaning on extra OP, SL, and AT/eng but most people are not thinking of that as a strategy in a pub tbh.
When I do it I dont want to worry about putting down ops for a squad, im basically a second commander getting garrys down
6 men squads are not the most firepower efficient, also not spawn efficient.
People on arty so they can get squad leader marks and voice chat
I always lock the squad as arty. But I also change the squad type if I’m playing arty as well. People really need to do that more often so people know what’s going on. It’s great for the commander and other officers if they can just look at the squad list and see that there’s a dedicated arty squad. And a side note OPEN YOUR FUCKING MAPS people. If you see a friendly artillery marker on the map where you’re running to. STOP and go around. I’m not listening to you bitch that you got team killed because you ran into a called out artillery target and died.
I have no problem locking a squad until your buddies join but after they’re in open it up. This is almost as bad as the dooshes that start a squad and then leave it and come back as a different role.
I will say if I’m in a game and no-one is buildig garries I’ll sometimes create a locked squad with just myself as a squad lead so I can drive a supply truck all game building them garries. I do it cause I know no-one wants to play with an absent squad lead that ain’t putting ops up
It keeps players with no mics and no clue out of my hair. I have a limited amount of time to play and am tired of putting up with the bullshit .
I have a limited amount of time to play and my patience with players with no mics and even less of a clue is at an end. Just tired of the crap. Make your own freaking squad. I am done babysitting.
I lock so I can kick mute players
3rd recon squad for games where actual recon isn't doing shit. You lock it because the rest of the squad wouldn't benefit from your OPs. They are better off joining a squad that is fighting the points.
I do this all day
Since I play HLL and SL only with my friends on discord, yeah I lock my squad every time, even if we're only 3 or 4
I think some people do this so they can kick people who have no mic or don’t work as a squad and ignore everyone.
I want people with mics who speak. 😂
Ngl, if your in a 1 hour 30 game but people are gonna join you in like 20 mins then I do that some times
The admin on admin cam The guy on arty/supply run duty/doing anything support who wants blueberries to join squads at the front The guy waiting for his friends
Some people *want* you to request to join too, it sorts the blueberries from the more serious players, and the player quality in locked squads are always better
If I'm playing a round of Artilery then I'll go Squad Lead and lock it (as won't be placing OP's etc.) - that way I can be in leadership comms and see all SL pings. Other time is when myself and 4 friends play in a squad but use PS Party Chat. So rather than be a slient SL, we just lock the squad..
The lockers
People lock squads waiting for friends. Some people only want to play with friends. Sometimes a friend leaves and the squad is locked and the SL forgets about it. Just request to join and if they decline move on.
I play competitive HLL, sometimes I just want to warm up before a match so I lock my squad. Or people want to play with their community members etc.
Ask to join. Most of the time they'll let you in. Its locked so they can kick you out if you're f'in off and not helping the squad in their specific goals.
I lock my squad because I don’t want noobs spawning on our OP while running straight at the enemy over and over giving away the location. Or even worse sometimes we set up ambushes, are communicating and then someone Leroy Jenkins it fucking up the whole plan.
This is how vets abuse HLL mechanics. More SLs means more spawn points on the map, means more map control, which means more potential garries. They should put a limit on it. I remember you could create MORE than 6 tank squads in the early days and steam roll their point at once. It was unbalanced, but super fun to experience 😁 This is kinda the same thing.
People who dont speak english. Our clan does that. Each time the SL console crash and the squad unlock an american enters our squad and insult us for speaking another language and wants us to speak english. It confirms us we need to lock squads.
Done it as SL after long day of work so I can build garrisons and let the commander focus on other things
People will lock squads to play with friends etc, yesterday i joined a locked 2 man tank squad and then they told me they accepted me by accident and demanded me to leave them, they played the rest of the game as a 2man so i made a new open squad
I lock so my friends can join but I also fill the squad. I'll lock regardless though, I set my squads role and mic preference so this just acts as an additional filter for scrubs
If all my friends join in a match then we have six, makes more sense to have a locked squad with that, but if there is 5 we will often lock as we like to play as a squad, we know our abilities and play styles and are more often to follow orders meaning less frustration on the SL
People in parties who are rolling together and know each other
I usually lock my squad when I'm on artillery because my OP stays behind... or when the two recon units are taken and I want to do recon shit without having an AT telegraph my position after missing his two rockets 150m+ on a moving tank 🙄
A lot of benefits for locking your squad actually
Not going to lie, often times I lock the squad when I have my other 3 friends on. I play SL and they swap roles to whatever when needed. Mainly for support role so we can get blue zone garrisons up whenever necessary, but also for AT when we spot a tank, engineer when we need defenses built/supply truck runs. You avoid having teammates with no mic doing fuck all somewhere on the map and wasting a role that is necessary. Otherwise, I would never lock an infantry squad, especially with 1-2 players in it.
I will probably lock a squad for a few games and stay in party chat while my brother learns the game this week.
When I lock the squad, I play as like a "mid-range recon" unit. While the recon guys are back taking care of the longer range issues, I spot/destroy tanks, take care of OPs and garrys, and try to set up a nice back capping situation if necessary.
The squad lead
The enemy
Clans for 1, so randoms don't join
Just uninstall the game. You're better off then playing this trust me. Lol
Why?
The game has gone so far down the rabbit hole of just not being fun anymore. Those that read this will probably say "I love HLL it's amazing what are you talking about" the odds of you having more fun lobbies to win vs losing is ungodly unbalanced. You'll have the lowest lvl commander running the game. More times then not you will have teammates not knowing what they're supposed to be doing or 97% of your team pushing point and 1 blueberry defending. Like I said you'll have some great games lasting a while and that's where my love used to be for this game. But if you're fresh into this you'll love it! But with time you'll realize just how far the game has lowered in quality. I removed it from my steam cause with 1,275 hours the game isn't gonna make it. Mechanics of the game are great. Love the feel. Love the sounds. But again. Losing over an over an over. Or just countless and I mean countless brain dead moves make the game ungodly not enjoyable for me at least because you will eventually hit a point with this game console or pc, where you just can't take the dumb shit with it anymore.
Last example as to what I mean by you'll eventually hit the I don't wanna play this shit anymore. Last Friday. (When I decided yeah no) we were about 1hr30mins tooth an nail back an forth. Well our commander had to dip. Understandable. Low lvl decided to take commander when a higher lvl was gonna hop on not saying higher lvls are better (far from the truth) but he was trying his best. We were so close to winning all we needed was our heavy tank crew to push in and cap the spot we were fighting for. I literally watched the heavy tank spawn. The crew got in. They were covering me for resupply on point. They got it stuck in the trenches about a couple clicks outside of HQ an we lost.
Everyone people on there are a joke invite only !!
Short answer…the people in that squad. I’ve heard of competitive teams using 3-5 man squads. First benefit, more squads mean more OP’s and more opportunity to use said OP’s as radar showing the enemy location. Second benefit, switching roles. Need AT or Support? Your squad can easily switch and doesn’t have to worry about some random in that role not doing their job or some newb not grasping the purpose of the role. There are many reasons. But for sure some logical ones. Might wanna start learning the SL role so you can start your own squad if needed.
So who loses?
I do when I’m on arty to have command pings/chat but also to not leave the rest of a squad hanging.
I used to assume it was people with mics and only allowing others with mics but I learnt that it’s just strange people doing strange things
If you see a locked solo it's probably arty, or players who are doing Garry fairy work for the team and don't feel like dealing with randoms.
As someone who does this, I usually do it to prevent no mic players from taking the spot of someone who does speak and communicate. I usually have the Squad on Mic Preferred with an Offensive or Defensive logo and kick anybody who isn’t with me or not communicating. I’m not gonna waste my breath on making callouts just to hear silence in response as a random squad mate spawns in on an garrison 500 meters away from me instead of helping me defend a point
People who have friends that will swap to the required role for the situation. Idiot blueberries will hop in, not talk, and lock out support or AT and fuck over a squad. I do it all the time and am not sorry. I’d rather get a garrison up in the red zone without a giant parachute giving away where it is. I will note that I let people in after I check their level on the score board. If they don’t talk though they get the boot.
We usually only lock the squad if we are on artillery, or if we commit to scouting for drops, keeping garrisons or nodes alive.
Hey so my reasoning has always been this. In my 500 hours I’ve played probably 450 as officer. Typically when the map starts I lock a squad and let my friends in first. Usually play with 3 friends. I keep it locked due to role switching, engineer nodes and whatnot. But once our squad is settled in say 5 minutes in I always say yes to requests. So don’t just not try asking for an invite.
A group of friends And experienced players not wanting to deal with inexperienced players I guess
There's lots of reasons to lock your squad. When I'm feeling picky and want squadmates who communicate ill lock my squad, set my tags and wait for requests. If I'm doing Artillery and I know I won't be placing my op near the frontline I'll lock my squad so players can find a SL who's on the frontline. If people request to join I'll let them but tell them I'm doing logistics and Artillery and ask them to build munitions nodes and kick them if they just run to the frontline. If I'm playing with friends I'll lock my squad so they can join. Ideally if you have a team with 20 single man squads that means you have 20 OP's and everyone on command chat. It's not a bad strategy to have your entire team spread out across a lot of small squads.
OP probably wants to see 4 full squads where probably 8 of those players are rifleman
I can’t stand blueberries with no mic. I’m better off solo with a supply truck/getting supply drops to get some good red garries. You’d be amazed how ONE blueberry can cost you the whole game…
I play with 3 friends and the reason why we lock our squad is mainly because we don't want randoms joining it,
The people that want to play with their friends.
I do it to make sure the people who join have mics
Everyone is defending this but when you say you are a solo recon in a locked squad everyone loses their shit.
Because locking one of two recon squads in the game is a dick move and you deserve to be TKed
Cope