Noshahr Canals / Damavand Peak (SSG-Vovo)

[s3xy_j0nny]

I think I may be able to make a prac on Saturday, I will let you know by Saturday morning.

It is Saturday afternoon, punk...

EDIT: Stef, on Damavand, who is the defence squad? murgs and I?

[Hubris]

Howzit, I found a COD clan who are noobs to BF3 clannies and will provide resistance for us in our practice. Stoked?

Yes J0nny, is that ok with you or do you think it should be different?

[s3xy_j0nny]

Nope, sounds good, just making sure. Apologies for not attending prac, I managed to lose a day and thought it was Friday...

[Hubris]

BATTLE REPORT: grrr[Baggers] vs. SSG-TheVovo

Our third match against SSG, they fielded some of their better guys, but it was still a mixed team. It was a match defined by mixups, poor communication and some really good play in between. We really struggled to adapt to plan B on both maps and ultimately, it lost us the match. I think if we were firing on all cylinders, it would have turned out in our favour. All in all a good match with 'ol Vovo and a good pressure game highlighting, I'm sure, things we need to work on (your comments please).

Damavand Peak:

Starting on the RU side, we seemed confident before the start but as soon as they took B first, we seemed to unravel. Fortunately, this didn't last long and we were able to concentrate ground forces in the rocks and were able to take out their tank. From there, we capped B with our tank and reinforced. Once dug in, our tank milked them and they were not able to cap our back flag. However, their tank and engineers dished out a lot of pain - thanks to the spanners for another good job.

From the US side, we pushed our tank too far in and fell victim to their engineers. They learnt, adapting their shooting to coincide with the tank, so as to avoid the canister shell. It was devastating, our tank was completely neutralized; except for defence. After deciding to hold the two outside flags, the message just didn't seem to filter through and we couldn't get a foothold on their back flag for any extended amount of time. The more we tried, the quicker we bled till it was done.

Noshahr Canals:

Starting on the US side, we sent both our armour to alpha and fell victim a couple times to a double tank attack. We put up a valient fight around the map, the flags rolling the entire match. The problem was our armour was outmatched against a coordinated tank strike and we just couldn't seem to get the aerial insertion working and take their back flag. Unfortunately, we lost the espirit de corps. We were frustrated and lost perspective of the entire match in terms of this map.

From the RU side, our two tanks (when they moved together at right angles) were terrifying. We soaked up a lot of damage, swotted choppers and slaughtered troops alike. For a good portion of the game we held all flags, then 2, then right at the end only one. Fortunately, we rallied and were able to overcome them and re-assert 2/3. We held our ground and the long travel time from the chopper and the engagement by tanks at their only flag meant they just bled out. A good win, but expected.

Apologies for not getting the third screenie, I was angry and frustrated with myself. Missed it, but here's some chopper/RPG candy from the warmup. The end score was 295-322 (27) - a close one. We lost it on Damavand and I take responsibility for that. However, I think we will all agree we could have done better on Canals US.

[Paul]

Firstly Hubris, don't apologise. YOu were a machine in the Armour. Easily, the man of the match. Secondonly, those are two suck maps. Davamand peak is all about B. Once you have B and are stuck in , it almost impossible to dislodge. Nashahr is is hopelessly unbalanced map. If at all possible I would eliminate these maps in the league as soon as possible. But we still need to know them incase.

Things to work on
=================
* Calm the fuck down, stop with the chatter - WAY too screaming and shouting. When we did communicate it was not clear. Use your words. YOu see a tank or troops then say where not just that they are. I was guilty of this. e.g. "Troops at warehouse, Armour at Dry docks, Heli above Train". I think this was our down fall as a lot of the orders and direction got lost.

*Some might disagree but I think when we attack a flag it has to be full force. SO on davamend peak for instance, when we couldn't get C, 2 guys should have got into the chopper , bailed and then both their squads spawn on them. The tank with 2 spanners can defend the other flag quite easily. That would mean we have 5 guys quickly capping their back flag and then we have them flanked and push together to get B


The Good things
===============
* Hubris and Me (and Dryman) - All jokes a side, I was really focus'd on the tank so I can't say how the rest of you were doing but I think the Armour is coming together nicely. I think we should start out with 2 engineers and if the going is easy then the 2nd engineer can move on. I time I will also get better with taking a shot with my rocket at the same time.


* It was close, I know there are some major things to work on but we did well and some luck here and there , the match could have gone either way. Looks at it this way ignoring the tickets it was 2 rounds each

[TygerBS]

Ok not bad but lost of work to do.

Damavand Peak.
Good hustle in the first round, lost our way in the second round.
The tank and tank crew did excellent work in the tunnel. How ever because of the amount of action that was taking place you guys were not aware of what was happening on the ground half the time.
The ground troops, we were way to spread out and disjointed. In the second round we had one moment of concerted effort otherwise we were all running around like headless chicken

Nose hair
Well first round, we got hammered by the tanks and then we panicked and lost more tickets. Once again we didn't have a clearly defined plan B which we could execute.
Second round started off excellently. We were in control, we smashed them at A. Then we lost Dryman to DC and we lost our way for 5 mins before taking the flags back again.
But for this i think we would of won the map on ticket difference.

The chopper on both those maps as we saw on sat practice and this practice is nothing more than a transport.
Spending any other time on it robs us of a useful player on the ground.


Problems:
Firstly we didn't have a clear proper laid out strategy to start with.
We spent a few mins discussing things in a disjointed way, with everyone kinda knowing what they were doing.
We need to spend more time on the planning phase.
Everyone needs to know exactly what they are doing, and exactly what the other people are doing so there is no confusion.
Our plan B and C actions need to be clear in everyone mind.
I say plan B and C because i think we need both.
We keep talking about these plans but we haven't implemented them properly.
Tank stolen: Dude one tow and three go rocket and kill it.
Loose back flag: Squad A moves back to defend.
Only have one flag: All foot soldiers together attack a flag.
Not only that but set covering points.
If squad A has to defend a flag, and there are 3 places for it to be attacked from, 3 guys watch different positions.
We not doing that effectively.
There were times in Damavand, where one tunnel was not watched.

Communication: Way to much chatter. I know I am guilty too.
We need one person calling the over all strat, with out others throwing in their two cents.
Last night we all had so many good ideas of where to go and what to do. We cant have that.
I.E hubris must call it. Hubris if being in the tank means you cant call it effectively then someone else must be the caller. But we must have only one.
If the caller says attack here. Only the squad leader can respond with either: Roger, or unable to because "Reason"
The caller need to announce loudly key events.
Our tank down.
There tank down.
Flag taken
Flag lost
Flag under attack.
Then we need to have names for places, easy to say and remember. Lets do this already!
I also think we need different voip channels, I think it will help with coms.

Squads:
Yes we will need some guys from one squad to contribute to other guys from another squads action.
But its should be a once off thing not a permanent thing. Otherwise it splits us up.
The ground forces were way to disjointed and separated last night. Especially in the second round of damavand.
The few times we came together we kicked ass.
We really need to focus on squad mates sticking together and working as a squad.
Ressing has become very bad guys, we need to work on it.


Lastly
We seem to be executing our start procedures way way to slow. I think every game we have played which ever the main contested flag is we always arrive last.
We need to have plans set, so that spawing into vehicles happens and we get to the flags in the fastest way possible.
I.E we need to use things like the squad spawn and then switch to other squad.
We need to learn to respond much much faster to things. When a call is made you hustle to that objective.
Things like someone has juts killed 3 of their players. (A big moment) which should mean a rush forward to claim their position.
I don't think we have done that properly at all yet.
We need to all be more aware.

[Paul]

Yip, Tyger is right. I think it maybe to difficult for 1 person to do the calling though. In BF2 you had a commander and that was their sole job and RT. Here you are either in armour or on the ground.

I would suggest we have two people, one calling armour movements and one calling ground movements. They can then communicate with themselves if we need a concerted effort.

There is no ways Hubris can call the troop plays when he is on the other side of the map, battling a tank and 2 engineers and riving me when I die.

My firt choice based on last night would be

Armour :Hubris
Troops : Tyger

We have always had a problem though at grrr in Listen, don't know why. But the thing that worked is naming and shaming. SO after each match if you felt some one either spoke too much or didn't listen then let the person know. Most people are most probably thinking that they weren't that guilty. Just don't take it personally. Murgs and Skoup called me out on it a while ago and I think I have improved

[SlipperyDuck]

mmm, we've found that every time we are 'laxed with stratergy and preparation, we get thomped.

I had a clear vision of what I was going to do and executed it, but at several stages it seemed to be of no benefit to just sit around doing nothing in the game.

So, yes we need a plan B of sorts, but we can't leave it all on Hubris' shoulders, I know from the past that trying to decide every aspect of every detail as the captain for your team is a bit too much of a burden, so we should work together and come up with a master plan and back up plans for your dedicated squad.

I think if we have dedicated squads, eg. if I have a squad whos role is to Cap back and slow hold and support the other two forward squads, then I can come up with plan A, B and C for just about all scenarios for that Squad.
If I'm changing squads all the time, that becomes diffucult, in clan matches you need to have a role so that you don't second guess =- which is what we kept doing last night.

We second guessed ourselves since non of us were quite sure of what we should have been doing.

So my solution on offer is to become a specialist, each and every one of us, that way you don't need to be told what to do, you DO it and then adjust on request (eg: Hubris calls for more support forward to Flag X)

I personally really felt like a headless chicken and so did everyone else.



1 More thing, Nose-hair, when we had those two tanks dominating us above A, if we had co-ordinated a strike we could have taken both out easily.

We need to practice something like a call "TANK STRIKE"
followed by each engineer with at least two RPGs or Javs calling a number
eg: Phatso has already spawned engy calls: STRIKE ONE - Waiting at A
TygerBS countdown to spawn calls STRIKE TWO - online in 5 seconds - spawning at A
Slipperyduck at B moving to a calls STRIKE THREE - on foor to A
HUBRIS calls STRIKE FOUR - STRIKE ONLINE follow me

Then STRIKE leader (whoever it is) co-ordinates the move to the firing location and the countdown of the strike, FIRE IN 4, 3, 2, 1 - FIRE.
** NOTE STRIKE is not a squad, it's whoever is around with ENGY Kit (could be from three different squads)

Dealing with Armour is going to be important in the league and I really think we need a STRIKE stratergy.

anyway my 2c

[pmurgs]

Communication: Way to much chatter. I know I am guilty too.

Fully agree. Far too much talk about the match and not focusing on it. Also clutters up comms.

Lastly
We seem to be executing our start procedures way way to slow. I think every game we have played which ever the main contested flag is we always arrive last.
We need to have plans set, so that spawing into vehicles happens and we get to the flags in the fastest way possible.
I.E we need to use things like the squad spawn and then switch to other squad.

Yep, I think we are way to slow at start. Damavand... personally, I would of sent our vodnik/humvee straight for B along with our tank, only leaving 1 player to follow up and cap our back flag.

Things like someone has juts killed 3 of their players. (A big moment)

Appologies if I got excited when this happened. Mowing down three guys at once felt awesome. Good point for future reference... take advantage when this happens and ignore the exciting feeling.

We have always had a problem though at grrr in Listen, don't know why. But the thing that worked is naming and shaming. SO after each match if you felt some one either spoke too much or didn't listen then let the person know. Most people are most probably thinking that they weren't that guilty. Just don't take it personally. Murgs and Skoup called me out on it a while ago and I think I have improved

Yep, you have improved. No more rubbish chatter from you in TS during matches. You are now one of the better TS guys during a match.

[Hubris]

Thanks for the feedback guys, in response I hope the following can be some sort of summary.

1. We do not like to read strategies or practice.
2. We rely on one person to be all seeing and all knowing.
3. We think a "start" strategy will work for a game that changes in split second.
4. We fail to adapt to problems because we fail to implement a coordinated response.

So I think it's high time:

1. We really read strategies and practice (run through a routine) for a minimum of 30min. Once a week and once before every game. Strictly during DGL.
2. Squad leaders take full command of their squad in game, under the strategy brief of the captain pre-game. SL and only SL make in game decisions together.
3. We make sure everyone knows what to do if their approach is not working, how that changes what you're doing and how that impacts other squads.
4. We carefully explain and "physically" run through full-team-based approaches to overcoming common problems. (swopping objectives, a tank, back flag etc.)

Sure there may be some things that are not known right now, but they're few and pretty easy (it's a game after all). Battlefield 3 is pretty generic in terms of strategy. Keep your tank up. Don't attack until their tank is down. Be efficient with your movement and smart about what you expose yourself to. Be aware, think about how best you can contribute as a squad, then communicate what you are doing so others can support you.

Start aggressively, but don't be afraid of going defensive to preserve tickets while you wait for the pieces to take their place on the chessboard. On defence, cover your bases and spread out so as to get good crossfires and lines of sight. On attack, force the enemy to weaken your target flag by attacking the others, then attack your target full force.

BF3 is all about playing the phase, one squad will never be able to act successfully in isolation. So, ONLY the SL make decisions, but they do so together. If there is conflict, they refer to the captain for a final say. I'm keen on squad comms for practices, but not for matches. There is just too much "event" information we all need for decision making to have squad only comms.

From now on, I'll post team selection, strategies and battle reports only. If you ask me what kit you're playing or what your squad is doing, I will just refer you to your SL. My strategies write ups will be focused on how the squads are intended to play together including our contingency plans. It's up to them to define loadouts and execute on the fly.