First Steps

Posted on December 1, 2021

You’ve finished the in game tutorial and feel ready to join a live match. There is a lot that didn’t get covered in the tutorial. Like how to use the different roles, working with your squad and a number of game mechanics. This is where the experienced players teach you the game. There are some things you can do to help make this process more enjoyable for you and them.

Proximity

Staying near your squad is critical for your first games. Most players struggle to know where enemies are for the first 10-20 hours of game play. You will fail to spot them first, and more often than not fail to shoot them first. Squad mates will help revive you, they will be your eyes and ears too. If you watch what they do, you will have a better idea where enemies are. By staying near the squad lead you can be very helpful to him while he runs you through a number of tasks that will expose you to the game naturally. And if you tell him you are new, he will likely walk you through how to do something.

Inform

Inform your squad that you are new. This will cause your squad mates to go from critical mode to teaching mode. Some players expect you to know what you are doing in the game, and if you don’t live up to that expectation you will receive some criticism. This criticism can easily be avoided at the beginning by saying you are new to the game. They will not give you tasks they are unsure you can finish; and if they do, they will give you instruction and not hold it against you if you fail. Informing people about your shortcomings helps a lot in squad even past the early phases. If you are new to squad leading but have been playing the game a while, let your squad mates know. The same is true for some other roles. The best you can do is be upfront, and if you see someone not live up to your expectations be charitable.

The best way to not anger your squad mates or squad lead is to pick the rifleman kit when you are new. There is no limit to the number of riflemen you can have in a squad, the same is not true of the other classes. So you pick one of the other classes to learn it, since you are new to the game you are having trouble spotting enemies, telling the difference from friend or foe, and with the case of anti tank kits how to even use the optic. When you fail to use your role properly, your squad mates will notice and if they expect you to have experience with the role may verbally inform you of their disappointment. If you want to avoid this and a possible kick from your squad, stick with the rifleman role.

Role Selection

There is an exception to picking rifleman only for your first 10-30 hours. When you have informed your squad and the squad lead that you are new, the squad lead may not want another rifleman if he has 2 or 3 other guys that are new like you and wants you to take another kit as having it is better than not. Typical role requests will be medic or LAT. Early on you will want to get familiar with how to use the LAT optic for this reason, but don’t stress it.

Listening

Listen as much as you can. There is a lot you will miss if you are not paying attention. Your squad may be talking about enemy movement, you may not even hear people walking up on you that are enemies. But if you listen as much as you can this learning process will go a lot faster. An easy way to not listen is to talk too much. Some of us have been in rounds where we had one person talking too much whether it was about enemy movement or more social topics like bands or movies. As a result we didn’t hear footsteps that we needed to, or because of the person talking someone else in the squad didn’t give a call out that we needed.

Listening is different from hearing. You can hear something, but not really be listening to it. The difference here is in attention as hearing is a passive activity but listening is active. Part of listening means asking questions at the appropriate time. Sometimes your squad mates will not give complete information like they may say there are enemies near the FOB, but the squad is separated fighting over 2 FOBs so naturally you need to know which FOB. Also as a new player you should have questions about game mechanics, and you should ask them when there is a lull in the fighting or if you don’t know how to do something you are asked.

Experiment

You will want to experiment with kits to know how to use them. Everyone starts off with a lot of questions about how each of the kits work and all the equipment for them. It’s best to not be asking these questions on a live round if it can be avoided. There is a great place to do this, Jensen’s Range. Offline is probably your best bet if you don’t want to be shot while trying new things, but if you want to try some things against other players some servers will be on Jensen’s for at least a brief period of time.

Another great place to experiment is on seeding servers. Seeding servers do have restrictions on what you can do while seeding, but if you are just learning infantry kits, it’s a great way to get low pressure experience using different kits.

Live Long

You are going to get shot a lot, but in Squad you are not dead yet. Unless circumstances demand otherwise, wait at least 60 seconds for a medic or team mate to revive you. If a medic revives you and he is healing, use your rifle to provide cover in case someone walks up on you. Also keep your head down. More likely than not you are down in an open area with nothing but being low keeping you from getting shot again. Wait until you are no longer seeing things in black and white before moving if you can. If you get shot again in the vulnerable state, you will die instead of being incapacitated. Try to listen to directions your medic gives, you will stand a better chance of keeping your ticket longer.