After playing numerous Team Battle games with a variance of players of all skill levels from many different corporations, I think that a quick guide for the Team Battle game mode is necessary for some players, and would help a lot of others. Look at this as more of a strategy guide than a “how to play” guide.
If you don’t understand how Team Battle works, check FunkyDonut’s post.
(I will reference T3 ships since that’s what I play most)
Basic Strategy:
Team Battle, despite its simple-sounding nature, is more complex than people like to think. When Team Battle comes up, most people think “yay, team death-match.” Which is somewhat true. While the objective of Team Battle is to get a certain number of kills, there is more to the game mode than just simply killing each other. A successful game of Team Battle requires a large amount of teamwork as well as knowledge of game mechanics and strategies.
The first part of being able to win a game of Team Battle is being able to work as a team with the other players, just as the name implies. While it helps to be in a squad of other players where you are directly connecting via Skype, TeamSpeak, or another method, you can play with a team of randoms and still practice teamwork. A huge objective that many people overlook with any PVP game mode is to defend the engineer(s). The engineer(s) of a team are an essential part of every team that must be protected at all costs. The engineer provides heal buffs for the team as well as the occasional warp gate. Having a great engineer on the team is great and all, but he/she won’t be able to do much unless the team protects them. Now protect does not mean constantly circle them with every ship on the team. Protecting an engie means that if they come under attack, if you are within 4-5k meters, you should do your best to intercept the attacker and either force them away from your engie or kill them. Part of playing as a team also goes beyond protecting your engie. If numerous members of your team are “pinging” an enemy, there is a good chance that enemy is either doing very well, or is a target that is vulnerable and can be taken out easily. It is important to differentiate. Good players can usually be judged by their skill rating before the game starts. If a teammate is pinging a player that you have seen has a good skill rating or you have seen getting a lot of kills, it is not smart to pursue them with the goal of killing them in mind. They usually are smart enough to lure you back to their team where you are suddenly a vulnerable target. Concentrating fire is a good idea, but pursuing is not always a good idea. A target can be deemed vulnerable if they are a ship with no easy-escape modes (tacklers and recons have the best modes of escape) that is way in front of their team. These players are usually good players to pursue, as it will usually result in a free kill for your team. Don’t pursue them farther than you can safely escape. There is nothing worse than getting lured into the entire enemy team.
That is about all there is to Team Battle, yet, some people still don’t seem to get it. Teamwork is the foundation for all successful games, but is especially important for Team Battle.
"Advanced" Strategies (for flying in a squad):
Once you understand and have made a habit of using the basic strategies of Team Battle, applying “advanced” strategies becomes very easy. When flying in a squad, you can either play with a designated leader (the squad leader) who calls most of the shots, or if your squad works well enough together, you can play without a designated leader. Most of the best squads you will see won’t have a designated leader, since they know how to work together.
Squad setups will vary from squad to squad, but most of the extremely effective squads will have and engineer. The squad members will always have protecting their engie in mind. Since they are usually using TeamSpeak or Skype, it is easy to know when your engie is being attacked, since he/she will usually tell you to help. Below will be some common and effective squad setups (for 4) and the purposes for the squads.
Kill Squad:
Engie
2x Gunship
Command
This squad setup is very popular in the top corporations. The engineer will usually be a Styx in T3, and the gunships a combo of 2 of the following (T3): Nukem, Desert Eagle, Wolf M. The squad will also usually have a command to provide resistance, damage, and/or speed buffs. Whether it is an Empire or Jericho command depends on the player’s preference. This squad setup is one of the best for Team Battle.
Survival:
Engie
2x Guard
Command
This squad setup is very common in T2 and fairly common in T3. It is very good at surviving large amounts of incoming fire while dealing a decent amount of damage. The engie obviously provides healing, the command resistance, and the guards provide debuffs likes missile shield, mass engine inhibitor, and weapon inhibitors. This squad setup isn’t the best for Team Battle, but it can work well if used correctly.
"Fast and Furious"
Engie (Federation required)
2x cov ops
ECM
This squad type is very effective and is also popular among the top corporations. A federation engineer is required for this to work well, since the engineer needs to stay fairly close to the interceptors. The Valor is probably the best choice in T3, but the Anaconda can work. The covert ops interceptors should be federation. The Kite and Eagle-B are the best choices. The ECM can be either Jericho or Empire, it depends on player preference. Jericho ECMs tend to be better dogfighters, while Empire ECMs are great for squads. This squad setup relies heavily on the engineer’s healing, the ECM’s disabling, and the high DPS of the covert ops. This squad type can shred enemies with little trouble.
While other squad setups exist, these are probably the most common and most effective for team battle.
I hope this guide is helpful. Sorry for the length, but many players don’t seem to do these things.
Leave comments, suggestions, or thoughts. Please share your ideas on how to play Team Battle better, I don’t know everything.