Ever jumped on a server and realize your team is mismatched?
It usually starts with entering your first battle to realize that your side is on their last flag or take a defensive map and see your lines fold quicker than you can spawn.
If you answer yes to either of these, then you, my friend, are in a mismatch and you are on the side of the significantly more n00bish team.
Expect to see squad leaders who either ride around in an airplane, sit on mortars, spend the entire round waiting for the one super weapon in the main base or spend more time dead than alive.
More than a 3rd of the team are either new to Forgotten Hope or aren't sure what the buttons do, and haven't figured out that they can free-look in their spanking new Panther tank to prevent enemy infantry tossing explosive charges up their ass.
So is the situation hopeless? Do you need to play 10 matches before enough people leave and enter the server for things to matter? Are you doomed to have a bad playing session?
No.
Victory depends on you as much as it does on everyone else. And here's how to make that count:
1. Join the one half decent squad and play like crack troops.
You can find the decent squad by one of these:
- They are usually the ones using VOIP.
- Their squad leader is numbered and can be seen clearly holding the line while the rest of the flags around you are switching to enemy colors.
- Their squad remains at about 6 - 8 people. Because even n00bs get tired of following selfish or incompetent squad leaders, so while other squads keep being born and shriveling down to 0 squad mates over and over, this squad remains at decent count.
Now you've found the one decent squad. Join them as early as you can before someone else fills their ranks, and protect their squad leader long enough to matter. Be in front of him, and remain aggressive. Don't fight from his position, but create a defensive ring between the enemy and him. Choose the kit that is lacking in your squad and make it count. Be it an mg, an anti-tank kit or scout smoke.
Sometimes, the squad needs your advice. Try to get them to plug the lines. In a mismatch, the losing team is often doing one thing: Funneling their entire army into a bottleneck. Everyone is being reactive and attacking the most obvious point. The enemy is doing the less obvious thing and capping your tank spawns, taking your flank flags and hitting you from multiple sides. Get your squad to be the monkey wrench, and blunt the enemy's strategy long enough for the coiled spring of your team to reorganize and start pushing back.
2. Give your team a rifle, one bullet, and point them the right way
Sometimes in chat, you'll see some really n00bish questions about how stuff work. You'll note a lot of TKs by your overly-eager artillery crew, and a lot more TKs from S-Mines.
For point A, Give people pointers on how to switch ammo on tanks, how uncommon weapons work. you'll be amazed how effectively people start to respond to enemy threats if they just knew what they were doing wrong.
For point B, give your arty team a decent spot away from your axis of advance, but of tactical value your efforts, have them sell that. Also, tell them to cut out artillery fire when your team is close to the flag they are shelling.
For point C, inform everyone what the skull and crossbone markers are so they avoid mines. Also, chastize mine users who put mines in stupid locations, like right at the spawn, or in commonly traveled areas by your own team. While many may be smart to crawl past a stupidly placed mine, like warfare, we are talking logistics. And scouts need to appreciate the fact that their mine needs to be safe for up to 50 other people, so one can't expect everyone to deal with a mine that is in the path of everyone.
Final note:
Find Team-killers (Tker) and out them ASAP.
Sometimes, one TKer is bad enough to prevent mates using crucial tanks and assets in the rear, or simply reduce your momentum by having people re-spawn over and over instead of actively fighting the enemy. If there are admins, report them over and over until they are kicked. If not, you may have to deal with them yourself... As a law-abiding player, I can't tell you to break the Law, but all I will say is, let your team know what they are doing, and calmly disorganize them... Many will get the hint and stop, or lose interest and quit the game.
It's not an ideal situation, but even if they turn on you for a while, at least they are not disorganizing the whole team.