Squad

[jomni]

Other than the mechanics that encourage teamwork, what else exactly is "authentic" about Squad? Are ballistics modeled? Penetration? Body armor? Are there different types of rounds, ie. FMJ, JHP, etc.? Is terrain destructible?

Probably the weapons and ballistics but I wouldn't know for sure.  But there are so little options in the game.  This is, I guess, the big downside for most.

[Nefaro]

For someone who hasn't played ARMA 3, and not really even ARMA 2 more than a few minutes, I'm wondering how it's multi-player differs from Squad in some specific areas.

Does it support 50 v 50 or higher team matches without too many network problems? 

The large outdoor battlefield is really what I'm looking for, specifically with a heavy infantry focus.  Fewer vehicles, the better, and generally only for short transport hops.  I suppose the latter would have to be a custom server-specific setting in ARMA?  I already have flight & tank sims which portray such things much more intimately, and I don't want some enemy yahoo in a tank or gunship just coming by and blowing the snot out of me, with little recourse, because he won a foot race against a teammate for the privilege. 

In other words, I want a good outdoor infantry-focused shooter with large teams, large outdoor maps, and any vehicles should be unobtrusive & background support.  I expected such a specific multi-player server would only be available in ARMA3 via specific user-run servers with custom settings, which wouldn't be a guarantee.  That's why I've not picked it up in past sales yet, despite knowing it's been the best option for a good modern-ish Tactical FPS.  Hoping my suppositions are wrong and someone can knock me off the fence.  :)

You should grab Arma 3 in the sale nef and give it a whirl, it's one of those games almost everyone should try atleast once.  Come to think of it, the Vietnam mods might be up your alley, not much armor in that conflict.  All kinds of infantry focused missions to download on armaholic.

I'm sure I will enjoy ARMA 3. 

Was just concerned that it has such a wide variety of possibilities, being pretty much a multi-player FPS server toolkit, that the specific server(s) won't be highly populated.  I mean.. they're all basically mod servers since they are so customizable, right?

Variety is definitely good, but I also wonder if the myriad of different MP server setups spread the population out too much.  We're all familiar with those times when our favorite large-map mod server has only six players in it whilst another that you don't enjoy very much is practically full. 

May sound odd, and I'm surprised it's coming from me, but maybe there is one benefit to game server conformity in this case.  It would likely help maximize server populations instead of spreading them out across many different ones.  This is something I started thinking about when the comparisons here began - not just regarding Squad vs ARMA.   Thoughts?

[Father Ted]

For those who are looking for organised pub-play in RO2, have a look at the 29th ID servers.  The 29th is a "realism unit" and they run what they call pub scrims on Friday and Saturday nights (usually around 2200 GMT).  Essentially these are one-life-per-round games in which each player has a designated role and is expected to do what they're told by their squad leader.  You tend to have to be in the server before it starts, but once in all they ask of you is that you don't mess about.  There is a bit of waiting around whilst everything is set up (sides picked, asshats kicked, etc) but it's worth it IMO for the ratcheting up of the nerves when you're advancing into a village or whatever.

[Toonces]

Whelp, I've been reading stories and reviews of this game and I decided to take the plunge.  Installing.  I'll post up some impressions after I get some time in it.   O0

[Toonces]

I was over at SimHQ and this post by a user callsign GunnyHighway convinced me to give Squad a try:

I joined a squad led by "PhysicsXX". This guy must have been a pro at one point in his life because he knew what to tell us and when to say it and had a great appreciation of the terrain. In the midst of that unforgiving hurling chaos, there was a little feeling of safety in that fragile soap airbubble. Some barking orders could be heard here and there from behind a couple of dried mud walls or from inside a structure. Once in a while a burp, a fart irrupted and more detonations, machineguns growling, explosions and tiny cracks above heads rips the atmosphere again. None of those sound signals felt like they were recorded in an underground shooting range facility, it was live.

I got triggered and felt joy, excitement, sadness, fear, doubts, I even laughed under fire and chuckled at my own clumsiness. I also experienced latency, brought back to revisit old memories. I felt young again and then heavy and old again.

So in all the FPS I played the last 25 years, for all the Arma's packed with attitude loaded gamers, the Ghost Recons with flying reticules and the likes, I would not trade for an adrenaline rush in "Squad", when well led and under fire.

"Squad" delivers what its name said it would, the experience of a squad at it worst precarious situation, but at its best of the human spirit position under pressure. It almost felt like being in the corps, but that would be stretching it a little!...It is right on the $39.99.

Personally, I don't care that there is no-coop, no single players, etc...It is supposed to tell the story of a squad in Afghanistan, not to tell the story of the comfort one feels when home, playing "catch me if you can before I hit you", with one hand on the controller and the other shoving a pizza slice down his throat.

Hoo-yah!

[IronX]

Looking forward to your thoughts.

[Grim.Reaper]

Why can't these games have single player modes:(

[Father Ted]

Why can't these games have single player modes:(

Multiplayer is pretty much the whole point of this particular game.  Also, getting bots to do anything resembling human behaviour is probably beyond the resources of small dev teams.

[Father Ted]

I was over at SimHQ and this post by a user callsign GunnyHighway convinced me to give Squad a try:

Once in a while a burp, a fart irrupted and more detonations, machineguns growling, explosions and tiny cracks above heads rips the atmosphere again. None of those sound signals felt like they were recorded in an underground shooting range facility, it was live.

This was what struck me most strongly when I went online - it really did evoke those helmet-cam documentaries.

[Jarhead0331]

It "almost felt like being in the corps..." And "hoo-yah"? Give me a break.

[Toonces]

Ok, I logged about 90 minutes on Squad this afternoon, two matches.  Initial thoughts are as follows:

First, I liked it quite a bit.  I have not played Project Reality yet (although I downloaded it today).  Reading the manual for PR you can see how the devs (which were behind developing PR) are essentially recreating PR in their own engine.  Much of the actions like squad chat and building fortifications are directly out of the PR manual.  Since I haven't played it, though, I have to compare Squad to ARMA 3. 

Graphically it looks fine, but is below ARMA 3 standards.  The graphics were very good, though, and worked well enough for me.

The two matches I played probably didn't showcase the communication mechanics as well as they could have been.  In my first match there was very little chatter.  In my second match there was more chatter, but still not what I was expecting.  Undoubtedly this is strongly influenced by the group you join up with.

I didn't really understand the point of the matches I was playing because I'm still trying to figure out the mechanics of the game.  Mostly I tried to stick close to my squad and not TK anyone.  Compared to ARMA 3 KotH, the map(s) in Squad felt much more open and sprawling.  The fight takes place over much more ground than in KotH, which tends to bog down into a few hundred square meters.  I liked it, though, because it gave us much more room to maneuver, more flanking and such. 

There aren't enough servers.  Which is to say, there are quite a few servers, but most of them were completely full, and there are a ton of European servers.  I only saw a handful of populated US servers, and they were mostly full.  I got on one match that was about 30 v 30.  But it was much less populated when I joined it.

As you've seen repeatedly, when you start a match you have to join a squad; you can't freelance.  When you join a squad you have to pick a role in that squad.  There were nowhere near the number of weapons as in ARMA, but since I'm not super into all the various weapons I didn't really mind.  I'm more of an M-16 or AK-47 guy, so missing all those other rifles wasn't a big deal.

As far as I can tell I didn't get TK'd, although I TK'd two teammates, one in each match.  I apologized and nobody seemed to upset.

Based on my limited time, I think this game will be a winner eventually, but it's pretty thin on features for $40.  I'm happy enough and plan to keep it, and I expect it will go into my MP FPS rotation.  This game will absolutely shine with a group of like-minded people joining up a squad who are really into playing using teamwork.  If you're happy with KotH or some other MP FPS there is probably not enough meat in Squad to convince you to take the plunge right now.  It's good and I enjoyed it, but you can theoretically do most of this in ARMA 3; maybe not so much in KotH, but if you got on another server that encourages team play then ARMA is far more feature-rich.  But I like that Squad allows you to just jump right in and kind of forces you to work with your team.

Overall, my impressions are positive.  The game is a bit overpriced, but then again, that will thin out the riff-raff a bit, too.

[undercovergeek]

It "almost felt like being in the corps..." And "hoo-yah"? Give me a break.

just asking, not arguing...........

is there a corps code of 'if you werent in it you dont know?' kind of thing with the Marines?

can you not mention it unless youre missing limbs or have permanent scars?

[Jarhead0331]

It "almost felt like being in the corps..." And "hoo-yah"? Give me a break.

just asking, not arguing...........

is there a corps code of 'if you werent in it you dont know?' kind of thing with the Marines?

can you not mention it unless youre missing limbs or have permanent scars?

Of course not, but I don't know any veteran who would compare service, especially related to combat, to a video game. I served during peace time and don't have any scars or missing limbs, thank God. I still wouldn't make the comparison.

[undercovergeek]

It "almost felt like being in the corps..." And "hoo-yah"? Give me a break.

just asking, not arguing...........

is there a corps code of 'if you werent in it you dont know?' kind of thing with the Marines?

can you not mention it unless youre missing limbs or have permanent scars?

Of course not, but I don't know any veteran who would compare service, especially related to combat, to a video game. I served during peace time and don't have any scars or missing limbs, thank God. I still wouldn't make the comparison.

understood  O0

[IronX]

@Toonces. Thanks for your early impressions. I read somewhere that vehicles will be coming this month so it'll be interesting to see what impact that has on gameplay.