How to setup ad-hoc fire teams

[Davet]

In a building for floors he would call one, two etc based on Hollywoods American first, second floor etc but in the UK it’s ground and first (sniper in window on one would have people looking up, and sniper in red one would mean nothing)

Your pal’s actually correct doing it that way, although inadvertently by the sound of it - yes, we refer to ground, first, etc, floors in day-to-day life but, for target indication, it’s 1 for ground, 2 for first, etc, etc.

Windows/doors are then numbered left to right - one one being first window on ground floor, one two second window, two one first window first floor etc.

 

[Tommikka]

Your pal’s actually correct doing it that way, although inadvertently by the sound of it - yes, we refer to ground, first, etc, floors in day-to-day life but, for target indication, it’s 1 for ground, 2 for first, etc, etc.

Windows/doors are then numbered left to right - one one being first window on ground floor, one two second window, two one first window first floor etc.

‘Correct’ it may be, and perfectly valid to adopt as a team.

But to get the random Joe Bloggs who happens to be at the next tree or corner to know what you mean then ‘first floor’ would work for the man off the street, the Signals scaley and the Infantry dealer of death, whereas ‘floor one’ could be interpreted as ground or first floor depending on experience & knowledge 

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

There's usually not much teamwork at Spec Ops, so I either pair up with Dan, or one of the other regulars I know, who actually push the objective - and then provide them with spotting info / covering fire / try a suicidal rush to find the entrenched opponent.   That keeps me happy that I'm trying to do something useful*.

   
If there are no friends around I just often ask anybody wandering around spawn what they think is the best place to go... if they give a sensible answer I tag along with them, and provide covering fire or ask them to cover me as I advance (for the first move or two at least).

I've seen people try to organise bigger squads with some more strategic teamwork (beyond the initial rush, which is of course very important).   It usually doesn't last beyond the first sighting of a BB in mid-flight, sadly.

* Either that I or I go on a long solo flanking run so I can bag a couple of easy-ish kills, and to find any blind spots in the defence.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I also see if I can latch onto someone with actual experience in the forces - had a good run with a couple of ex army lads at the RIFT Battlesim - learnt a few things, even though my knees won't allow me to do them now LOL.

I still remember that game where @RostokMcSpoonsand I held one of the kill houses in Ping Ping city for most of a game racking up a silly amount of kills. Knowing the sight lines and sneaky points of a site is super important.

Actually just realised my first sentence could be read in several different ways ?.

 

[Fatboy40]

I now find it "necessary" to invite Major Move-Up to lead by example.

Sometimes you've got to be both ? 

I think maybe my local site has been an influence on me with this, Ironsight Airsoft, which is a great mix of CQB and outdoors but with well balanced teams you can get horrible stalemates in the middle of the site. The only way to break them is to encourage people to make a bold move, I've been Major Move-Up sometimes (a horrible sight I expect as I'm not built for speed, I'm no Lighting McQueen), but like you said I try to lead by example (sometimes just being a stupid meat-shield can help the team push up a bit, walking back to respawn a little slower than usual once hit ?). 

 

[ParHunter]

One thing I've noticed over the years is that the amount a player shouts at others to move forward is inversely proportional to how close to the front they are

Isn’t that the definition of a General ?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Isn’t that the definition of a General

 

[Fatboy40]

Isn’t that the definition of a General ?

 

[Dan Robinson]

encourage people to make a bold move,

Like the time I was at Airsoft Plantation (I think), when we were encouraged to do a flanking manoeuvre... I went wandering through shoulder high ferns only to disappear very quickly down a massive hidden dip - much to the amusement of those behind me.

 

[Leo Greer]

Generally, I'll organize with either my buddies, or folks who have military experience. They know the value of calling enemies out, holding strategic points, and pushing when they need to, so even if it's not a win at the end of the day, we'll typically take home more than our fair share of kills.

However...

If I'm working with noobs, or even just disorganized players, typically I do my best to simply hold a few strategic points and provide cover fire for anyone nearby. In my perspective, it's often tactically useless to try and organize a push, since if I leave a strategic, game-winning position and have to respawn, chances are that no one on the team will move to cover it.

At the end of the day, I feel out who is actually going to work with me and who isn't and play accordingly. It feels amazing capturing flags with one or two skilled players and really turning the tide of the battle, but if there just isn't any team cohesion, I move fast to take and hold overwatch positions and allow other players to move up safely and do well.

 

[Impulse]

Generally, I'll organize with either my buddies, or folks who have military experience. They know the value of calling enemies out, holding strategic points, and pushing when they need to, so even if it's not a win at the end of the day, we'll typically take home more than our fair share of kills.

However...

If I'm working with noobs, or even just disorganized players, typically I do my best to simply hold a few strategic points and provide cover fire for anyone nearby. In my perspective, it's often tactically useless to try and organize a push, since if I leave a strategic, game-winning position and have to respawn, chances are that no one on the team will move to cover it.

At the end of the day, I feel out who is actually going to work with me and who isn't and play accordingly. It feels amazing capturing flags with one or two skilled players and really turning the tide of the battle, but if there just isn't any team cohesion, I move fast to take and hold overwatch positions and allow other players to move up safely and do well.

I get this, but at the same time I sometimes pair with newbie snipers as well so that I can give them some pointers and ideas on how to play the role. If we don't teach the noobs, they won't learn.

That said, even if we teach the noobs that doesn't necessarily mean that they will learn either ?

 

[Jaylordofwaargh]

Sadly Plan A worked and the game was won.  I wanted to do plan B

Win some lose some. 

The difference the leadership can make or break a milsim/filsim. 

Snipers in rolling respawns, a pet hate I have been fostering for some time, you know the one, marshal with flag will be 5/10 behind last player. The convo goes like this "but my sniper, Gillie suit.......

They are mostly white noise by this point 

"sure bud you have a med, you also have a secondary...."

Mostly the same thoughts here, you quickly recognise who will be in the fire team of immediate affect. Might just be that single engagement or you might end up shooting/moving with that person for the game or morning. 

A salute to those that sit/cover angles of attack, and full confession, I did used to think "you could get closer" but then found out the hard way what happens when no one is on over watch for the objective 

 

[Leo Greer]

I get this, but at the same time I sometimes pair with newbie snipers as well so that I can give them some pointers and ideas on how to play the role. If we don't teach the noobs, they won't learn.

That said, even if we teach the noobs that doesn't necessarily mean that they will learn either ?

Absolutely true. The main reason I don't "stick with the noobs" as much is that I tend to move extremely fast to wherever I'm going, and we all know how it is getting folks to rush. We should definitely be spending time teaching new players and helping them develop their skills, but at the same time I don't want to let it interrupt my gameplan.

 

[Davet]

‘Correct’ it may be, and perfectly valid to adopt as a team.

But to get the random Joe Bloggs who happens to be at the next tree or corner to know what you mean then ‘first floor’ would work for the man off the street, the Signals scaley and the Infantry dealer of death, whereas ‘floor one’ could be interpreted as ground or first floor depending on experience & knowledge 

Oh absolutely, not questioning that at all.

As for scaleybacks, well, just look at what they’re capable of, after recent news - a regular Ethan Hunt… Certainly, a higher IQ than your average infanteer ?

 

[The_Lord_Poncho]

Absolutely true. The main reason I don't "stick with the noobs" as much is that I tend to move extremely fast to wherever I'm going, and we all know how it is getting folks to rush. We should definitely be spending time teaching new players and helping them develop their skills, but at the same time I don't want to let it interrupt my gameplan.

Last time i played, there was a new chap, with rental gear. I usually encourage them to tag along and actually quite enjoy random ad-hoc pairings on the field, but this guy was a little different - really crashing around, and insisting on shouting despite the enemy being rather close and us being somewhat behind their forward line. After quite a few unsuccessful attempts by me and another guy with us to quieten him down, I'm appalled to admit that we encouraged him to pursue 'a flanking manoeuvre' into an enemy base to get predictably lit up.... Well, it's all a learning process!

 

[Poach]

I've had some luck previously doing a bit of "shopping" during Skirmish days in terms of picking up random skirmishers. Some people are more inclined to want to work as a team than others are, and will listen to people who sound like they have a plan. I've both been the guy with the plan and one of the guys tagging along behind the guy with the plan, and it has varying degrees of success. Sometimes you end up with a handful of people getting some decent cooperation going on for as long as it takes for the group to get wiped out, but once you've broken the ice in that regard those people seem much warmer to teaming up again every time you run across them in the field.

Some people don't or won't listen, which is fine: it's a Sunday Skirmish, people can entirely legitimately want to just run around shooting people where ever they feel like, teamwork with you, a random person in their eyes, isn't an obligation.

There's also plenty teams going around, there's probably at least one at your local site or at a nearby local site, and teams usually make more of an effort to do, well, teamwork. Don't expect military levels of tactical cooperation, unless they're an ex-military team (who might not be that interested in non-ex-mil applicants), but it's something more than your average Sunday Skirmisher level of teamwork, if that's the sort of gameplay you prefer to experience.