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Tactics Sticking Together or Following the Leader

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Funker42

Grizzled Veteran
Dec 4, 2005
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#1
I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a high intolerance of dying so I have picked up a habit of picking another team mate at the spawn and following them regardless of what everyone else is doing.

If someone else looks like they are following someone else in a group, I follow them until they break off and whoever's group has the most people I'll follow that.

That said... I'll let the other person run in front of me and 9 out of 10 they'll encounter the enemy first or see them before I will. If they survive the initial contact then I can usually help out with fire support.

If they don't then, I often just sit tight rather than trying to rush into a room blindly shooting and wait till another team mate comes along and follow them.

Although a bit cowardly in some respects I suppose more guns group together means more firepower against the opposing side (albeit a nicely lobbed grenade).

This seems to work rather well for tank maps in which since I know if everyone is rambo-ing then I won't expect anyone to follow me, but rather I'll wait till a tank passes me and I'll follow them.

Given the fact that tank engagements are quite lopsided when one tank faces two then the second shot from the second tank usually wins the day.

Still... Is following the leader a valid tactic and does anyone else do this for survival skills?
 
#2
Although I don't follow anyone myself - I'm an aggressive player, usually up front - if I turn around and notice someone is following me I'll definately work with them using the magic of 'unspoken co-operation'. Co-operating to clear rooms, providing cover for each other as we move up etc

So keep at it. An early warning device for a nasty mg round the corner or a combat buddy, either is useful.
 
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#5
I rarely will join a group if there is already more than two people in it, and tend to either go solo myself or hang around with one partner. Part of this is because of the whole problem of the group getting taken out at once by a grenade, mg, etc. and because when it such a large group it is often difficult to go about other tasks that you would want to keep a low profile with. When in groups I do tend to follow though, especially when I am unaware of what lies ahead.

kapulA said:
Sure as hell I'm not going to be behind someone who's running into an arty strike though.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I have done that a few too many times. ;)
 
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#6
When on a large sale assault (Konigsplatz, Kryukovo) too many people seem to like to hang back and take pot shots for me to be able to follow people, but I'll always run with someone if they have the right idea.

On smaller, more enclosed maps it's easier to follow teammates and get some 'unspoken teamwork' going because the area to the cap zone is probably smaller and more away from enemy fire (the hallways in Zhitomir for example).
 
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#8
kapulA said:
Either unspoken cooperation or I just stick with people that seem to know what they're doing,but I don't hesitate to break off from the squad if I think I can be of more use in a different position.
Sure as hell I'm not going to be behind someone who's running into an arty strike though.
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You big gay you. Nothing is more impressive than charging through a barrage and thrusting bayonet into the enemy.
 
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#9
Funker42 said:
Still... Is following the leader a valid tactic and does anyone else do this for survival skills?
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It's a very valid tactic. I use it quite a bit, especially on maps I don't know well. With 1 - 3 others I usually stay pretty close. If the group is larger I stay further back or off to the side. I get shots at a lot of enemy that focus on the group and fail to notice the rifleman providing cover from the side.
 
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#10
Of course! Following your teammates is a great way to win games AND stay alive.

A group has so many advantages, you get pinned down and someone else picks off the guy who's suppressing you. You stay alive, he stays alive, everyone moves forward.

You get pinned and hide, your teammates engage the enemy, the enemy shifts focus to shoot your backup, so you continue your charge and you're on top of him in no time. Everyone moves forward.

I always try to get folks to follow me with the "follow me!" voice command and then make my way to the capzone through a flank route or direct assault, whichever I think will work. If I go down while leading a group, I usually see the guy who killed me get shot right afterwards, so I know there is net gain.

Follow teammates that know what they're doing. You'll find yourself broken through a weak flank and gutting the enemies from behind, cutting off their reinforcements, etc.

Grouping up is how you take advantage of breakthroughs.
 
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#12
Jank said:
I always try to get folks to follow me with the "follow me!" voice command and then make my way to the capzone through a flank route or direct assault
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That's one command that isn't used enough, and quite frankly should be used more often considering how useful it can actually prove to be to have at least one, if not more, people following close behind to provide cover.
 
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#13
RedRaccoon said:
That's one command that isn't used enough, and quite frankly should be used more often considering how useful it can actually prove to be to have at least one, if not more, people following close behind to provide cover.
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Yeah I've got it hotlinked to my keyboard. Often a little encouragement is all it takes to get folks moving. Or they think "I'm not following that suicidal lunatic" but they watch you and then you live through it, so they follow. ;)
 
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#14
Jank said:
Yeah I've got it hotlinked to my keyboard. Often a little encouragement is all it takes to get folks moving. Or they think "I'm not following that suicidal lunatic" but they watch you and then you live through it, so they follow. ;)
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Voice commos are useless till theyll be in 3d- I never listen to them (unless its a good SL) cos Ive got no indication who and where is the speaker.

and OT- Im trying to use this tactic sometimes and most of the times it fails cos I look away for one split second and my mate is gone..
Anyway- this demands a lot of patience and I can only admire the OP for et.
 
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#16
Jank said:
No way, they're far from useless. They say who the speaker is AND where he is generally located... some folks won't recognize the locations, but others will.
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His general location is usually too general or totaly unfamiliar (which is no wonder since the map shows only objectives names- can you tell where Schneider Gasse is at Danzig?).

Knowing who the speaker is requires you to know which one of them bearded tweens is him- which requires you to get close enough to many players to read thier name tags- which, if you play on 1600x1200 and above is not so easy... before you go through all that trouble you might wanna be sure you know and trust the guy- he could be one of them idiotic vocom spammers.. all and all- as far as Im concerned- voice comms are useless until-
a. They are in 3d like any other sound effect.
and/or
b. The person who's speaking raise his hand a la Dod or at least opens his mouth or something.

How many times were you saved because some1 yelled "grenade!"?
If you ask me mine= 0.
 
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#17
How many times were you saved because some1 yelled "grenade!"?
If you ask me mine= 0.
Click to expand...
3.

Anyway, on topic - I totally agree about grouping up. I often wonder to myself why people charge towards the objectives alone, die, respawn, and repeat. When a team does this, they trickle into the combat area one at a time and either die or get pinned down, never having the numbers needed to overwhelm the defenses. If people would "stack up" (regroup) just before moving into the objective, rather than going in one at a time, they'd have a better chance of creating a breakthrough and exploiting that breakthrough.
 
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#18
On Danzig if I'm a rifleman sometimes I'll wait for an SMG to come along and follow him with room cleaning.

I find generally on offensive the problem is people hold back to much. I was playing Black Day of July, and I had the option to hang back with 3 or 4 tanks (2 of which were Tigers) when attacking the Northern flank last night...but they would all stop and take shots everytime they saw a tank, putting their mobility to near 0. I, however, will usually try and go around a hill so the tank can't see me, or wait until I'm in a good position to kill it. Thus, I was getting into capzones and getting behind enemy tanks by breaking off.

Here is the order I do things in (very generalized):
1) Get into relevant cap zone
2) Find a position that will keep me safe
3) Begin hostile elimination

However, most people do this
1) Begin hostile elimination as soon as hostiles are eliminated.
2) Once hostiles are eliminated, find a position that keeps them safe if more hostiles appear in the same place
3) Wait for more hostiles to appear, eliminate
4) Wait some more, if no hostiles appear, advance
Then an else statement happens
If: hostile is spotted while advancing, go back to 1
else: Continue advancing to capzone, once in capzone begin 1.

Thus, I'm often alone, because I do not stop for every glimpse of an enemy (considering half of the time you see an enemy, its for a split second, and your in no position to return fire.)

When I play with my friends, I stay with them, but thats cause I'm the leader generally.
 
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#20
when you think that about 50% of deaths are due to non-frontal fire( being shot by someone you didn't see, or who comes from the side or behind) then you can say that if you had a teammate that was covering that direction, your death could have been avoided easilly.
when i find someone lying in a defensive position, then ill position myself to cover him. and he will cover me. this way on some maps its verry easy to hold untill you are practically out of ammo.

but if you bunch up with other guys and do exactly the same thing, like cover the same direction, or walk behind each other. you lose the advantage and become easy targets for flankers.
 
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