Cadet II/Squad games

Squadgames

Here is a guide posted by Andarvi@SysX at the height of SysX's dominance on how to play a SG. Everything he says applies to every single game of allegiance you play, by the way. Squadgames are by their very nature less forgiving; however, so while these have the "you should" connotation for pickup games, for squad games these are "you must." When playing or observing squadgames (and even pickup games!) keep these 10 things in mind.

1. "Pawn to d4."

There is no excuse for losing your opening constructor. You might have to plant it short or reroute it, but losing it practically means a lost squadgame. At least 80% of your team should be with your opening outpost, with fighters leading before the constructor and trying to camp the aleph on the enemy side, while con nans (and you should ALWAYS have those) escorting the constructor at a safe distance. Getting to the chokepoint is not all about skill.. sometimes the scouts just can't find the alephs fast enough or you're playing against a faction that is faster or has better starting ships than you. But in you should never lose your constructor due to poor planning. Remember: Getting there first helps! Having con nans (that can double as combat nans) helps! Having a wing leader calling targets in a furball helps as well. If your constructor plants without much trouble then don't lose time and go directly to point 6.. do not pass GO, do not collect 500$.

2. "Adapt or die."

Always, always be prepared to change your original plan, if the situation changes. For scout this means to always carry a nan (should go without saying) and 1 or 2 prox mines. You never know when you get to blockade an aleph, even if you're just out probing. For interceptors this means conserve your fuel to get home quickly. This is done by actually killing yourself on an asteroid while a single ship remains behind to pick up pods (ideally a scout that can ripcord home).

3. "The quick and the dead."

Good response time is essential. Every second counts when your miner is dying or you have to set up an attack uneyed before an enemy scout comes and ruins it for you. Work on your tactical awareness. Work on your chat reading. Work on your order following. If the commander says: 'We bomb in 1 minute.', at least half the team should be heading back to base that instant and the bomber should be out no more than 5 seconds (time to configure it) after it has been researched.

4. "Press B P to auto pilot to base."

Err.. no, please don't. Spending time in your pod is a WASTE OF TIME. KB means nothing, so pod ram miners, hit prox, hit constructors... do whatever it takes. Getting pilots back into ships and where you need them as fast as you can is paramount. Picking pods is a PRIMARY OBJECTIVE, if you let your teammates float for 5 minutes you deserve to lose.

5. "Team play wins games."

This is where most squads fail and it's one of the hardest things to learn in Allegiance, as it must be learned as a squad and not as an individual. We don't define team play as 'Let us all go and do that one thing.', we define it as: 'We go there, you go there, we'll trust you to do your job, while we do ours.". Most squads do just one thing at a time. And that single thing will probably succeed. However if the opponent does two or three at same time, like defending vs your attack and killing your miners while they are defenseless, they will win. Three ints working together to kill miners are a great thing.. especially if the enemy squad is busy camping for a bombing run the rest of your squad is on. Get the idea?

6. "The best way to win is to kill your opponents economy."

So simple, yet so difficult for most squads to wrap their heads around. No miners means no expansion and no tech. They are primary targets. Worth far more than a constructor or a base kill. In the early stage of the game (say 15 mins), every miner kill is worth at least 3 miners in the latter. Even only harassing enemy miners by chasing them from the rocks or not allowing them to dock is worth GOLD. The point of all this? Get out there and KILL THOSE $#@!ING MINERS!

7. "The best miner defense is NO miner defense."

Sounds stupid doesn't it. I guess you could call it passive miner defense. It takes two things: - a well probed route to your miners from an enemy sector - an attentive commander/miner herder that moves the miners to safety when an enemy fighter wing is sighted. Safety can mean a neigboring sector or just moving them offplane if the attack wing is blind-as-a-bat interceptors. This has several advantages.. not tying your team on miner d, while having the enemy pilots losing time looking for your miners being the main one. The best commanders use miners like chess pieces, moving them around as needed to get the least possible heat. Of course there comes a time when you have to actively defend your miners.. in those cases remember that having just 1 scout proxing the inbound aleph is better than 2 ints on defense. Also if you're down to your last miner and you're under constant attack by miner hunter wings, barely keeping it alive, do yourself a big favor and dock that miner so your team can go on the offensive. Being stuck on defense is a sure way to lose the game.

8. "Be paranoid, be VERY paranoid."

No miner is safe, no constructor is safe. All of your sectors are probed and every base you own has a bomber heading for it next door. Play accordingly. To elaborate.. if you are mining in a sector without direct access (no base, no tele), always have some miner d in the sector.. even if it is a single scout, it can keep the miner alive long enough for some help to arrive. Same goes for your constructors: Trying to send a constructor anywhere without at least 1 ship to escort it is just plain stupid. Be aware that even a basic scout can kill a small con, if the pilot is competent enough. Assume that the enemy has competent pilots.

9. "Good intel is priceless, for everything else you can pick up ca$hboxes."

First of all it's called a SCOUT, not a PROBE-DROPPER. Your job is to probe, DEPROBE, nan stuff, blockade alephs and SCOUT. Flying in circles to find that probe/hidden enemy scout that is eyeing your home is never a waste of time. Scouting through already probed sectors is never a waste of time. Best case scenario is that you'll eye something the enemy doesn't want to you eye. Worst case, you can deprobe a bit, pick up tech/cash or reprobe when needed. A squadgame is won by getting intel on the enemy so your commander can make the right decision, while denying the enemy the same.

10. "Perseverance is the key."

I fly a scout. I have a horrible kill/eject ratio. I'm very proud of it. If a sector needs probing I'll keep trying to do it no matter how many times I get killed. If a miner rush fails, go again. If a bomber run fails, go again. If you die 10 times trying to do it, SO $#@!ING BE IT. Allegiance is not real life. In Allegiance if you bang your head against a brick wall long enough, you'll ultimately get through it.

To conclude.. always try to learn from your mistakes and defeats, both personal and the ones of your team. The best squads pat themselves on the back after every victory. In defeat they congratulate the opponent while discussing the mistakes made privately.