Squid's Squad Survival Guide
So, you spawned into a match on Squad. Bullets are flyin' by, bombs are 'splodin. And to make matters worse you have no idea where the hell the enemy is. This is a normal experience in when you first start playing Squad. But I hope this survival guide will provide good tips and tricks to help increase your survivability in Squad.
Key-bind the mini-map
The first thing we need to address is knowing where the enemy is. If you don't know where the enemy is then you can't determine which cover to use or which directions to watch for enemies.
Squad has two different pop-up maps -- there is the pop-up mini-map and the squad map. The pop-up minimap pops up in the bottom right corner and allows you to look at the map quickly. The Squad map covers the whole screen and lets you mark things easily and shows you information about your team.
My mouse has two buttons on the side that can be mapped. I have mapped them BOTH to these maps. You want to keybind these maps if you can, to somewhere more convenient than the defaults.
Remember that the situation is always changing. The more you analyze the map the better your understanding of the battlefield will be, and as a result your survivability will increase.
Movement and Silhoette
Think about all the times you ever saw an enemy in Squad... Were they moving? Were they sitting still? Most of the time we spot enemies when they are moving!
Our eyes are trained to see movement and broken patterns. A moving target object catches our attention immediately, even if it's in the peripheral. Further, something that looks out of place will also catch our attention. A bright color on a dark background or figure in a doorway or the top of a
hill will catch our attention quickly.
When playing Squad, try to always be conscious of your movement and silhouette. Every time you move you are more likely to be spotted. Every time you peek you are more likely to be spotted.
To compound the issue, not only are you more likely to be spotted when moving, it is more difficult to spot others when moving, and more difficult to engage them.
To get the best effect, you want to maximize the amount of time you spend in cover watching for enemies, and minimize the amount of time you spend moving. That way, it will be more likely for an enemy to run into your line of fire than for you to run into an enemy's line of fire.
Use the landscape to your advantage - Move like water
Water doesn't roll from one side of a mountain right over the peak and over to the other side. And neither should you. You see, water has been on this planet for zillions of years, and it knows that rolling over the top of a mountain is a good way to get shredded by a PKM.
So when you are navigating hilly or mountainous terrain, don't run through open fields and don't run over the top of mountains. Instead, flow like water - move in the low ground through trenches, creeks, and ditches. Shuffle through the bushes and roll around big rocks.
Instead of walking over the top of a hill, run around the hill, or go through a crack in a mountain where the water drains.
Never stop moving when taking fire
If you suddenly take fire from an unknown location, the first instinct is to drop to prone and take cover. Fight the urge! Chances are, if you don't know where the enemy is and they are shooting you, they have a good line of sight on your position. The worst thing you can do is suddenly lay still on the ground.
The best thing you can do in this situation is to RUN for cover. When you run, zig-zag at random intervals and try to throw off any attempt to track your movement and land a shot.
As you are running away from the enemy fire, it will give you the
opportunity to ascertain where it's coming from. You will notice tracers, dirt being kicked up, and other indicators that will tell you where the shots are coming from. Once you determine where the shots are coming from you can determine better cover and a better response plan.
In any case, just dropping down prone in the open while getting shot at is a bad idea. Keep it moving! In fact, US military doctrine is to react to ambush by bum-rushing the ambushers and closing the distance ASAP. The idea is to convert the situation from an ambush where the enemy has the advantage into a close quarters combat situation where the enemy has no clear front line.
All Intelligence is WRONG
This is one of those "Rules of Gunfighting", which applies to Squad. Remember that everything on the map and all the callouts you hear are WRONG.
Does that mean it isn't useful information? No. It just means you need to use your own judgement when interpreting this information.
Let's take the example of defending a compound from enemies. You are positioned on the southwest corner. Your squad mate reports that 5 guys just ran into the northeast side of the compound. Helmet marks get placed, and heavy battle ensues on the northeast side of the compound.
Naturally, you run north to join the fight, but get shot in the face on the northwest side of the compound. Little did you know, that in the time it took for you to move to the northwest side, the enemy squad had also moved into the northwest side. And you expect them to be in the northeast side but were mistaken by WRONG INTEL.
The key is to use your own judgement of the situation and consider the game's objectives. How likely is it that there is a HAB in a certain location? What would be the most advantageous approach for the enemy? What would you do if you were the enemy?
Learn about "Pieing"
If you don't know about pieing, I won't be able to do the topic justice in this text-based guide. Watch a video on the subject to get a better visual understanding.
Pieing is a critical tactic to surviving in Squad. Pieing is basically thinking of the line of sight from any given window or fighting position as a slice of pie. The smaller the slice, the less area to cover.
You can only process so much information at a time, so you only need to see a little bit out of a window to start clearing the outside. Figure 1 shows how pieing decreases the angles you can be shot from.
Figure 1(a)
Angles when standing in a window.
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________ ________
O
Figure 1(b)
Angles when standing in a window from the side.
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________ ________
O
When you move past a window you want to peek, don't just stand in the window and look outside. Start to the side and peer out the tiniest slice of pie you can, then move around the window in a U shape direction.
By standing far back from the window, you are less noticable in the window, and someone would have to be looking in the window (as opposed to at the building) to notice you.
Figure 2
Pieing Maneuver
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
___ .___ | ___ . ___ | ___ . ___ | ___ . ___ |
o . . .
o . .
o o
Step 5 Step 6 Step 7
___ . ___ | ___ . ___ | ___. ___
. . o
. o
o
Use your binoculars!
Taking a kit with no optic isn't as bad as it seems. Usually, when you don't have an optic, you do have binoculars.
These binoculars are leagues better than any optic, anyway. Get in the habit of using them when the timing is right and you will be spotting enemies in no-time.
How to peek hills and survive
To peek over hilltops and fences and stay alive, try one of the following two tricks. The first trick is gliding along the ridge. Run alongside the ridgeline, so that your head can peek over the other side as you run by it. A moving target is harder to hit, but you still get your chance to peek.
The other trick is what we discussed earlier in the article concerning moving like water and not peeking the top of a hill. Instead, use the hill to your advantage to move to a better place to peek from.
But, if you must peek a hill, try to approach the top of the hill so that you will be behind a large rock, tree, or bush on the other side, so you will not be exposing yourself to the enemy when you come over the top of the hill.
How to survive when POOP Hits The Fan
So you've been chillin, watchin the southern flank when suddenly a whole squad starts rolling up on the horizon. What should you do? First - Start blastin'. Dump that mag into all them fools and hold them back. Meanwhile start yellin' on the radio IT'S HITTIN' THE FAN! ENEMY SOUTH ON THE HORIZON! Reeeee!
Just keep blastin - move to alternate cover and keep blastin. Lob nades, send machine gun fire, lob rockets, etc. It's surprising how little people actually shoot their guns in this game, when ammo is so easy to get. You don't have to have a headshot lined up for your fire to help your team. Enemies in the treeline? SHOOT THE TREELINE!
Identify the most reasonable approach and prepare for contact from this direction. Generally if you are suppressing enemies they won't cross the field, they will keep moving around your position and come from a more covered angle, always anticipate this.
How to survive when The Fan Hits The POOP
So you rolled up on the enemy compound with your boys, and it's about to be on like donkey kong up in here. What do you do? First - Start blastin'. Start chuckin grenades & smokes all up in this place. Don't spare no ammo for NOTHIN'
Always keep in mind how likely it is that enemies will be able to reinforce this fight versus how likely it is that you and your team will be able to reinforce this fight. If your team is failing to advance in an offensive battle, it's better to fall back than to lose your spawn points and lose even harder.
A healthy reminder
Always remember that the battle goes beyond you - and you can simply be in a "Meat Grinder" situations where your team is losing so badly that there's nothing you as an individual can do besides respawn and die over and over again. When that happens just be patient and keep playing. If you're lucky, maybe you can convince your team mates to take a different approach. But generally speaking, this is a game where you can start losing on a macro level and nothing you do in the micro scale will make a difference. So just have fun.
/squadguide/