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[Chaoswizkid]

Hello there Bay12.

Lately I've really, really wanted to get in on a squad-centric sort of online game (almost certainly an FPS). What I'm looking for is a game that is objective-based and has a described chain-of-command as an inherent part of the game. There are a number of games that encourage this sort of thing, such as WW2OL: Battleground Europe, but it's only an encouragement: if you don't use teamwork, you're going to be a lot less effective, but there's nothing encouraging you from not going rambo if you don't have a mind for tactics and strategy. Also, WW2OL is subscription-based, and I'd like to avoid that if at all possible.

Other games, like Planetside 2, have this objective-based gameplay with squads and platoons and clans. However, the gameplay itself is very arcade-y, and I'd like to avoid that as well. There's also a lot less going on with tactics, and it's more of a "CRAM AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE INTO AN OBJECTIVE!!11!i!i!" type of game. It kinda has the opposite problem of WW2OL, which has a very heavy emphasis on tactics and strategy to do anything but lacks a really good squad system and active encouragement for objectives.

I bought ARMA 2 a while back because I was hoping that'd scratch my itch after reading a bit where some PC gaming journalists hung out with a group from TacticalGamers in the game forever ago, but I was too late to the party and ended up with a game that had the DotA syndrome in the form of DayZ.
ARMA 3 might be possible, but even then I get the impression that I have to download tons of 3rd party stuff and go through an application process with a clan and then end up playing with a small pool of players.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[Playergamer]

((Isn't ww2ol f2p now?))

[FireCrazy]

It's free but very limited in that you can't capture buildings and stuff.

[Ozyton]

ARMA2 (and maybe 3) are good if you find the right people to play with, I have a group of friends I play with sometimes and there's also communities like United Operations. They typically require large addon packs though, which isn't very newbie friendly.

I've been longing for these types of games as well, something perhaps along the lines of Rainbow Six which I never had a chance to play online. Hidden and Dangerous 2 or a similar game would be awesome, actually... sigh.

[Elfeater]

ShackTac is an Arma group that sounds up your alley. Look up Dyslexi on youtube for some videos if you are interested.

[Rakonas]

You should check out what people do with mount and blade. There are a lot of active online battalions that do line battles which may well satisfy the craving.

[Anvilfolk]

I'd second A2 or A3. If you are in Europe, I'd check out the super casual and awesome FolkARPS. Check their forums. It's organised, it has a chain of command set up at the beginning of every mission based on volunteers, has 40+ players on most play nights, and they are just awesome people.

They're also pretty vanilla in terms of mods!

Oh, self-plug. I edited some videos of my experiences with them. Some of the events turned out to be really funny, others just extremely tactical. Scratch all itches!

[MasterFancyPants]

ShackTac is an Arma group that sounds up your alley. Look up Dyslexi on youtube for some videos if you are interested.

ShackTac is a pretty elite community. I think he said that he likes to keep it at around 200 members and gets around 500 applications a mouth. I would be much easier to join one of the smaller communities like United Ops, 15th MEU, or 21th rangers.

[Chaoswizkid]

((Isn't ww2ol f2p now?))

It's pretty much the worst sort of Freemium, except instead of microtransactions it's subscription. I used to have Free Trial, which meant I could spawn in a rifleman, a truck for ammo resupply, anti-tank and anti-air guns and low-tech tanks and armored cars, as well as paratroopers.

Then Free to Play was released, where you could capture buildings. I asked to be upgraded, and I was, and I could do everything as before, capture buildings, and also make FRUs (mobile spawn points). Then one day all the Free to Play accounts were locked down, and after they came back up I could only spawn in a rifleman. I became super worthless to my clan, incredibly frustrated I couldn't do anything useful, and the funnest things for me (playing as ATG and AA) weren't allowed anymore. Apparently, when I was "upgraded", my account was a fusion of the two and I was able to do things I really shouldn't have, but if that was the case I wish I had stayed as Free Trial. You can apparently spawn in some guns and armored vehicles, but iirc the selection is worthless.

I'd consider subscribing to WW2OL if they updated again. I understand that they got super screwed over as of late, but... the game either needs way more players (which they aren't getting unless they fixed the f2p model, because it's seriously such a frustrating tease that it's insulting), or it needs a lot better balance. They're only at the point where they can release patches again, so there's not a lot of hope for the latter in the short-term.


It's looking like one of the hardcore groups with Arma 3 is the best way to go for now, then. Just have to wait until it goes on sale...

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Heroes and General.

[PrimusRibbus]

As a longtime organized WW2OL player, the only game that's been able to replicate the experience for me in Planetside 2. I know you mentioned it unfavorably, but I wholeheartedly disagree with your analysis of the game. Good outfit fights are highly tactical in nature and have high level play. Coordination between outfits on a strategic level is exceedingly important to making tactical gains count, and this all requires a firm chain of command within an outfit.
No worries if you've done outfit play and it's not your cup of tea, but if you're basing your opinion on zerg pickup squads then it might be worth your time to check out organized play.

ArmA3 has a huge number of tactical communities, but the vast majority are private servers. Many tend to focus more on customized Player vs. AI gameplay, so that might be an issue if you're looking for PvP.

Really, no matter what game you choose, you will probably have to go through an application process for a clan/server/whatever in order to get the type of gameplay you're looking for. These days there just aren't any great drop-in tactical game like WW2OL in its heyday.

[Chaoswizkid]

Heroes and General.

Really doesn't reward wanting to play tactically, because almost no one else does, and it's a pain to get organized since there's no (last I checked) clan infrastructure and group play is frustrating since it can take an eternity to get into a game sometimes. That's not to say you won't do well if you play tactically, but more often than not you'll be one of very few if you're not the only one. I enjoyed it most when I got to roll with 5th Panzer on TeamSpeak, but that was also when any of us could manage to end up in the same battle.

Planetside 2

I've played in an outfit almost the whole time I've played PS2 (Steam says 239 hours), and yeah, it can get tactical, but it's not... there's nothing that reinforces it, other than personal success, it feels like. Of course, when an outfit with its platoons are operating together on the same page with a certain degree of discipline, they do well. They do really well against groups that aren't organized. But against a group that's as equally organized or big, it just feels like chaos, even if there are well-defined objectives.

Maybe I just need to find an outfit with a more tactically-oriented and disciplined mindset. Any suggestions?

[Graknorke]

There's a kind of online shooter Ghost Recon game, if you're into that?

[Ozyton]

Even as tactical as Planetside 2 can get it still doesn't change the fact that you can respawn in 10 seconds, which makes me play it with a completely different mindset than I would play ARMA for example. Planetside 2 has a bunch of other issues keeping it from being 'tactical' and everyone complains about the lack of a 'metagame' or it being broken. Even still, considering what the game is and what it does it does a pretty good job.

Red Orchestra (Ostfront or HoS) might work if you can find a group of people to play with.

Does it have to be an FPS? A squad-based survival-ish game called The Red Solstice might fit, as you have to be coordinated with your team or be overrun by baddies. There's a similar, free game called Alien Swarm that is more linear and action/aim based. They are both PvE

I kinda consider this a different category altogether but Guns of Icarus Online or Artemis Bridge Simulator are games where a crew of multiple people man a single vehicle.