Combat Roles you play when squadding

I'm a light bot pilot, so I get beacons, kill other light bots (few in number when I battle with my clan) and distract as many power bots as possible so my team can get into a favorable position to hold the beacons I capped earlier.

I open with galahads, to try to gain an early beacon advantage and pick off potential cappers (stalkers) and see if I can usher a few unshielded heavies to the sky, then either some plasma aphid griffin hijinks, or push for contested beacons with a rhino. Also use the rhino as a agent of chaos and distraction, pushing into an area where multiple enemies will focus on me and not my clanmates, buying them precious seconds. With my clan, I know they will use any potential windows to the greatest effect. As it is many of my clanmates have better knife fighters than me, so I'll finish with tridents or a RDB to support them. Although the midrange can come out much earlier. This is all very fluid of course and can change depending on the needs of the moment.

Power Runner. Pretty much the best tactic for solo play.

The only problem would be the amount of time it takes to unload. An orkan takes around 3.2 sec to unload and switch takes around 2 sec, so around 8.4 sec to unload everything.

The quad Tul unload time is actually more problematic, as it is significantly longer than the unload time of the the triple Trident Fury.  This means that there is a good chance your target can escape the 2nd quickdraw Tul salvo. 

With the buffed HP at 145 and the speed upped to 45KPH, the quad Orkan Doc's 8.4 full load time and level 12 total damage of around 180K is not that much of an issue.  I say this because 8 secs for 180K damage is pretty much in the realm of what the dual Thunder Carnage delivers at 75m if you factor in some misses by the Thunder - and you know what happens to Griffins when they fight Thunder Carnages at under 75m. 

Imagine a plasma Griffin jumps at less than 50m in on your quad Orkan Doc --- in 8 seconds that Griffin is dead and the Doc will probably still have more than half its HP left, as a that range the Orks don't miss and Tarans/Mags miss quite a bit due to the slow turret speed and a moving Doc at 45KPH.  Sure the PDB would win at over 300m, but even the Orkan/Thunder Lance wouldn't survive long either.

Now of it's a DB Griffin or DB Rhino, the Orkan Doc's 8 sec unload matters less, as both Griffin/Rhino and the Doc will survive --- but the winner most of the time should be the quad Orkan Doc due to the massive firepower advantage and the fact that the DBs basically never make it to the next reload.  I will say that the Doc's speed advantage over the Rhino/Griffin will give it more options to disengage/reengage after firing starts --- which is a major tactical advantage by itself.

the Orkan doc will win against conventional db's at 150m+ if back-pedalling, however in a close quarters engagement it will lose to either DB bot, as the conventional DB setups unload faster and take the Orkan doc down to 10k hp, which is more often than not going to take off a weapon or 2, meaning the doc will lose.

I'm not saying the doc won't see use, because it definitely will, but if it was up to me I'd be using a rocket Galahad instead, purely because the shield for blocking and escaping plasma is just so useful.

Did you read my post Strayed?

Please you're hurting my heart, use the names.
Plasma Gareth (Beacon Capper)
RDB (Griffin/Rhino?) (Power Runner)
Mix & Match? Rhino (Power Runner)
Mix & Match? Galahad (Shield Knife Fighter)
Thunder Carnage (Glass Cannon)

lol, I work alot like Zhou, wreak havoc, piss off the reds, head for their home beacon after capping the center, hide in cover and hit with my hellfire rhino when the timing is right. Works well with a good team who knows how to capitalize on the distraction and solidify control over their side beacon.

Follow that with a plasma Galahad, Plasma Aphid Griff, Thunder Carnage, then my trident/CRV Leo if I need to. Usually when squadding I only go through 2 or 3 bots. If I get to my Carnage it's a good battle, if I get to my Leo it's a really tough one.

I have beacon runners, I have mid range support, I've got knifers, I even have my Tasha Sniper.

I always have a mix of beacon getting, close range, and further back in every match. (Playing 7 different bots thus far in top tier)

7 slots??? Hacker!

I'm surprised how few of y'all play midrange when you platoon... I'd think there's always at least one per platoon, meaning I wouldn't be the only midranger...

Does that make me the Lone Mid Ranger?

I'd say running only any one type of bot is poor strategy and should be discouraged when running in a squad of equal skill/ tier.

Rule #1: every squad mate should mech out at the same time. In a close or losing match you want every guy to die right as the beacon bar runs out- that means they have used every bit of every bot's potential. If someone mechs out early they leave their teammates outnumbered, and fighting outnumbered means much higher losses.

Rule #2: range bots (generally) live longer than brawlers or power runners. 2x as long on average, more like 3 minutes vs 1.5. This is only natural- they are further from the fight, and they are often also slower so in takes them longer to get to the action.

So if you get one guy running range while the others run brawlers he's going to be looking around at the end wondering where his teammates went. Meched at center will be the answer.

On the other hand the team does need range. An all brawler team will mech to Trident Fury, and some long range is highly desirable on most maps to keep those Fury at bay.

The solution is for every player to take a turn in range. The extra time they spend in those bots lets them push harder when in brawlers/ runners. They don't all drop the range at once but in phases so the team on the field always has the right mix of skills, and they adjust their bot mix and play style to manage their bots to the end.

If you have weaker players you'll often put them in range more to last longer, while stronger players sometimes go all brawler. But in a balanced and evenly matched crew they should all really be running a mix. $.02

What's this Flex role?