Just realized SQUAD is a game name too...

[Lafayette]

While searching for buddies on discord, thinking outloud what are they doing? i need a pal NOW !?!, i couldn't resist the urge to spy on my fellows and the games they are playing without me

I caught 4 of them, yes sir FOUR!, playing SQUAD...

Sooooo i dig a little more, and WOW this game looks good.
Now i go deeper, down to hardware help subsection of joinsquad forum, it looks like there is been some decent work on game engine, some reports 80fps average @4K ryzen 2700 and 1080gtx settings tuned down but not all the way down.

So now i am saying to myself, this looks like it is not a scam à la PUBG (dont get all wind up, i am an early adopter, played 700hours and enjoyed it), or Battlefield slowly choking of real teamplay spirit campain (Admiral Tarkin style).


Anyone who played alpha13 could tell what's what, and how can it play out in terms of teamwork fun measurement?
I find it for 30€, next to a BFV now around 22€ ...
Is it money well spent? would you tell a buddie to buy it?

Greetings and good day to all.

[Hairy Frog]

Yes it's a good game, much closer to Arma than Sandstorm imho.

The learning curve is also obviously steeper than sandstorm, and the game is more demanding in terms of commitment.

All in all, it's a sim

If you are interested in it, ask Allana or Knightmorphed, who are the main members of this game in the boat. They ( and many others ) for sure would give you time and kind advices to help you tame this beast

[Lafayette]

Thank you Hairy, steep learning curve and commitment, got it.
But have you played alpha13, correct me if i am wrong, but i am sure i read it comes with a new game engine.
Comparing to Arma ruined all good vibes, bad experience, very hardware picky game, and it's like you've been told you are going to have fun playing videogame and end up doing crosswords on a 24" display (very different fun...).

[Hairy Frog]

Nah Squad's engine improved a lot since the begininig in steam. And even my old PC allowed me to do something in this game

I just mean that generaly with sims, you have to be commited to get a good experience, and thus fun. All the question is to know up to what you are liable to commit yourself

[Ztranier]

Same engine as Sandstorm
Unreal 4.2 .... someting

[knightmorphed]

Hi Lafayette,
Squad is indeed challenging. Its all about team work, communication and thinking two steps ahead of the enemy. I started playing it in 2017 and have racked up 1172 hours and I am still playing with people that have between 4000-5000 hours in the game which isnt bad over a 5-6 year period. I did meet one with 8000 hours.....jesus! One clan (used to be the world champions/Mumblerines) most players on their squad will have between 2000-3000 hours and it shows when it comes to their accuracy in shooting. At first I hated the game, it was too complex, I kept getting killed and couldn't see enemies. I jumped off the deep end and after about 25 hours I started Squad Leading. I find the game fun and frustrating at the same time. When you have a good team and some good enemies it is awesome. Its 40 against 40 with USA vs Russia or UK vs Militia etc. You have roles like sniper, medic, engineer, machine gunner, anti tank etc. Everyone finds a role they like and go for it. The game does come on sale so watch out for Steam sales, I think I got it for £15 (50% off) but look at it even if I had paid £30 for it with 1172 hours the math is still good value at 2.5 pence per hour. We have quite a few EBS folks playing the game regularly like Allana, Spriggs, Kentone, Furious Baco, Miller, Aem, Cercoza, Gustav, Jesus Himself, EightbitPixel, Mauser, Fuchs, Tiedied to name a few and the quality of the team work is excellent. We dont have our own server as it doesnt make sense you really need about 30-50 regular players to be able to justify spending 35-40 euros per month so we tag along to other servers like NG/508th where they have critical mass and even they struggle to seed a server sometimes. I think I read somewhere Squad has about 2000 players worldwide so it is not a large community but they are quite loyal and generally mature. Watch a few more Youtube videos and if it is the sort of game you like I dont think you will regret buying it.

[Lafayette]

Oh very nicely explained and thorough, deeply appreciated, thank you.
I spent the whole afternoon watching vids of the game; many crappy one, but there is one i have to share.

It is the most incredible game i have seen in a long time, i m in awe.
For those whom a game like this one looks plain normal, please realize that, when i was a child we didn t knew color tv was a thing.
Although the role of the squad leader in this video is a little intimidating, like first thing one might think, i cannot do this ever!!, maybe i can be the one to showel, it looks easyier...
You are right, after the first thousands hours acquisition cost is irrelevant.
I will definitely continue digging intel / RTFM this SQUAD game, i am conquered.

[Allana]

hey lafayette
this game is awsome.
knightmorphed explained it very well. when you have a good squad leader, a good team and a good enemy team it is a lot of fun to play and hours just fly by. with ebs you have quite a bunch of guys playing squad. we are good friends with the clans that hold the server (ng / 508) - so you will find friends there as well. especially when you wear ebs tags, as ebs is known to have friendly and nice players.
when you start playing it - dont think about squad leading. knightmorphed was kind of insane starting it with 45 hours (i remember the exact game you were SLing the first time). it is very stressful, but very satisfying when it's working like you want to. tell your squad leader that you are new to the game...
ping one of the regular squad players in discord when you have the game, so we can help you getting into the game.
i hope you will find it as pleasing as i do...

[Spriggs]

I'll echo whats being said here that the game is awesome.
I'll also echo that there is a learning curve that isn't too hard to grasp but very hard to master so a good time sink if you have nothing better to do like me xD
The game itself is based off an old Battlefield 2 mod called Project Reality and is being made by the same people who made that mod so I would like to think the game is in safe hands. Its similar to Arma in the sense that there is a grand scale of combined arms warfare over a large map but on a smaller scale (40 v 40) without the complicated controls that can be picked up easily for a standard rifleman in a squad. It also has routes in some of the old battlefield games which brings us onto;
The main mode is "Advance and Secure" (AAS) where there is two main bases that cannot be captured at either end of the map and a string of neutral objectives between that each side need to capture in order. Using mobile spawn points and Forward Operating Bases to spawn in and around the map to play the objective and a grand tug of war across the map. The match has a "staging" period of a couple of minutes where the teams divide into squads whether that be an infantry focused or just a couple of guys working a vehicle and the squad leaders attempt to come up with a plan, coordinating with one another (hopefully but usually does happen with varying degrees of success) to get the job done. Ground vehicles are around to make movement easier and provide mobile heavy weapon platforms with the promise of Helicopters in 3 weeks (a running joke, ask anyone)
Being a standard Rifleman is probably the best place to start to learn the game due only having to worry about the basics before considering to branch out into more specialized rolls. Joining a game with any of the EBS members will be extremely helpful or we can take you to one side and give a run down on the training map that is in the game.

Now for story time for one of the main reasons and always recall why I enjoy playing and keep coming back to play some more squad.
We were playing on the map Gorodok and the Brits haven't been around to the longest period of time. We were playing as the Brits vs the Russians and we had just defended a point called Niva Upper long enough for the next point to be capture and we then needed to push off to "bunny hop" over the previous squads to go to the next objective but in between us was an enemy fob in a small farm house compound. We had be observing people running out of the location for the last few minutes of the defense from a old ruined fortification just north of the capture zone to provide early warning of attacks from that direction. The squad establish themselves along the hill overlooking the field where the Russians were what I assume organizing a retreat back to defend when the SL ordered our LMG and MMG gunners to open up and suppress the building as a deep rumble and tracks were heard in the distance behind us. The order was then given to advance and eliminate the enemy FOB, throwing smoke and moving over open terrain. I was a grenadier so I was firing my 40mm GL at the building with HE into the building (with limited success) and smoke in front of the building to cover our advance. All while this was occurring a pair of Warrior IFVs made their presence known as they roared out of the tree line and rolled up past the advancing infantry, laying down fire their 40mm cannons and coaxial MG's into the compound. It was that moment and the preceding events as we pushed forward with the support of what seemed like the entire team behind us to sweep through the compound, loosing a warrior to enemy AT fire, eliminating the enemy FOB before mounting up in the remaining Warrior to attack the Russian final point was the sense of this was an awesome moment of action and teamwork and just having a great time which I will always remember for as long as I play squad.

So TL:DR - Buy it (on sale or not is your choice) and come play with us. We'll teach you the ropes. It'll be a blast

[Lafayette]

Now i am brainwashed to the core, Speak! master... i am at your command... (walking like a zombie arms stretch towards)

Bought yesterday, downloaded overnight, key bindings first settings done, 15mn over training camp, graphic settings maxed out (that is one other good surprise) no fps drop, sounds like real shooting.

Give me a little time i ll deep in slowly, i have a few things to do IRL@home some emergency gardening just to tame the jungle, secondary electricity line to plant, 25meters trench, some plumbing, swimming pool room rehauling... second hand HVAC heating pump to install, some roof insulating and what not, those are some of the main long time jobs started two years ago slowly cooking/rotting in the back.
But i am not worried anymore i pace myself now, alas next two weeks i ll be rehauling the whole network and old pcs at my children school, going debian and pro bono of course... so please do not expect much presence from me for a few weeks.

This here, this EBS thing, i can feel the love, damn, you guys are growing on me.

@all : May your day shines of blissfull joy.