The first thing you should do when you have launched the game is to enter the shooting range. There you will focus on making sure that all your settings are correct and that you learn all the controlls. The shooting range also allows you to try all the kits and their different weapons, practice throwing grenades and driving all of the vehicles. Better do your first steps at your own pace without the pressure of bullets flying or screaming squad leaders. Do it for your own sake and that of others. If you have no clue of what you are doing and go right into a multiplayer game, you will become a burden to your squad and your entire team, You will not enjoy it and you will lessen the experience of others too. Here is a quick start guide to help you learn. Once you start getting a hang of these things, it's time to prepare for joining a multiplayer game. However, there are 3 things you need to make sure you know before you join, which are comms, health system and deployables/logistics. Communication is really important within Squad so make sure your mic is ready and that you know the controls for the different channels. Spoiler: Health System Health management is an important part of Squad and the Medic plays a vital role in this. Every player you revive, is one ticket kept for your team. Every wounded player brought back to full health, will stay in the fight longer then a low health player. Not only will a dead player have to wait until he can respawn, he also has to come all the way back to it's squad first to bring it back to full fighting strength. All of this combined will make the difference between winning and losing a fight and at the end of the day, an entire match. The health condition of a player can go through the following states Healthy Wounded – When you are wounded, your vision deteriorates (Screen darkens) Only medics can heal your wounds. Medics can also heal themselves. Massive damage can immediately lead to the incapacitated state or death Bleeding – When you have less then 75% of health and take more than 10% damage, you will start bleeding. When bleeding, your vision will increasingly deteriorate and you will hear a heart beat. You are losing health at -0.5 HP per second. Bleeding out will eventually lead to the incapacitated state. Bleeding is stopped by the application of a field dressing. This can be done by yourself, others (non-medics) or medic Incapacitated – Either through damage or bleeding out, your player reached the incapacitated state. When going into this state, your player will scream out in agony. This is heard by other players, including the opposing team. You are unable to move and your screen is very dark and fixed in one direction. You can still talk oover the radio or in local voice to direct a nearby medic to your location. Only a medic can revive you. You have the choice to wait until you are revived or give up and respawn. To give up, go to the spawn screen and press "GIVE UP" at the bottom of the map. If you remain in the incapacitated state, you will die eventually. Time spent in the incapacitated state will reduce the respawn timer. After 3 minutes your character will bleed out and die. If a bandage is applies while incapacitated the rate at which you bleed out will be halved. Dead – When you die, your player will let out a death scream. This is heard by other players, including the opposing team For bandaging or healing other press left click on your mouse. For bandaging or healing yourself press right click. Medics see this icon over team players that are wounded.The inner symbols shows they need healing, the outer circle indicated their current health level. When healing is applied, the circle fills up. The color indicates the level of health. Red being more critical, green being on the better side. When full health is restored for the other player, this icon disappears. When a player is being healed by a medic, the player will see an icon appear in the middle of his screen – it indicates that he is being treated at the moment. The color shows the current level of health. The green color appears when healing is completed. Then the icon disappears, healing is finished. You are back to full health. The medic will see a icon with a drop of blood on players that are either bleeding or incapacitated. The icon will flash between the drop symbol and the circle health bar that shows the current health level. You need to bandage the player until the wounded symbol appears, then continue treatment until full health is restored. This is the circle health bar. Both the circle and the drop of blood symbol fade in and out. Tips: A player that has been revived, will instantly die for the next minute when his health reaches zero again – he will not go into the incapacitated state again. After a minute has expired without being severely wounded, his health is normal again. A medic is 25% faster at applying a field dressing than other players. Even though normal players cannot revive incapacitated players, they can still stop their bleeding and extend the time they can hold out until a medic arrives. Spoiler: Deployables and Logistics Deployables are structures that Squad Leaders can deploy within the contruction of a Forwards Operating Base (FOB). These structures require other players to construct them, setting up a FOB is not a solo act. Deployables allow players to change the tactical situation anywhere on the map, as long they are in range of a FOB. FOBs are designed to support your team in achieving the gameplay objectives by providing respawn, resupply and cover. Constructing is done by using the shovel. Left click on the mouse builds while right click demolish. Each FOB requires Construction points and Ammo points in order to be able to construct deployables. This is done through the games logistic system. It's as simple as driving a fully loaded logistic vehicle to the vicinity of a FOB radio, selecting the desired type of either construction points or ammo points using mouse scroll and then pressing “drop supplies” button (default left click). Once done, the logistic vehicle have to return to the main base in order to get new supplies. This is done by driving up to the vehicle repair in the main base, selecting the desired supplies using mouse scroll and then pressing “load supplies” button (default right click). Supplies can also be moved from one FOB to another.
Now it's time to get into a match. Choosing the right server and the right squad to play with is key. It will determine a large portion of your experience with squad., whether this will be good or bad. Lesson of the day Once you enter the server, you will automatically be assigned to one of the two teams. Now, look for a squad that isn't locked or full. If you can't find one try changing team otherwise you might be better off looking at another server. As a new player, you shouldn't create a new squad. That will automatically make you the squad leader and you are not prepared for that. Let others take on the high responsibility. As you join a squad, give a short “hi” over squad comm. Normally, you will get an “hello” back from the squad members. You should also say that you are a new player, so that they will go easy on you and show you the ropes. A good squad will do this. At first you should start with using a rifleman kit and leave the more specialised kit for the more experienced players but in the future once you have more experience, ask the squad leader if he wants anything specific. He will either say what he wants you to take or allow you to choose what you want. Before you spawn, make sure to ask the squad leader of where you should spawn. Whether you should spawn at a FOB or wait for a rally point. Once you have spawned and starting to get in to the action, here are some guidelines to follow for a smooth start and learning experience. Follow the orders from your squad leader. Always. As good as you can. If you don't understand an order ask back. In all game modes, Squad is objective based, you don't win a match single handedly by a high kill death ratio but by objective based teamplay. You won't understand the objectives at the beginning but your squad leader does. Listen to him. Stay with your squad, don't wander off. Never lone wolf. Ask for help, It's your time to learn and many are happy to help. We all started as beginners and good players know that. When you get incapacitated don't give up. Call out to your medic and wait to be revived. You just saved a ticket which is one ticket towards victory. It does make a difference. The map is your best friend. Use it, use it often. It's the best tool to distinguish between friend and foe. If you find a good squad leader, stay with him for multiple rounds Enjoy the experience.
