Squad

A Squad is a mechanic that allows a group of one to twelve players access to a selection of coordination-focused benefits and incentives.

Squads are intended to facilitate coordinated play, offering conveniences such as shared waypoints, live updates of squadmates' locations, and increased spawning opportunities near squadmates. Engaging in combat near squadmates, and providing them with support, also rewards increased Experience Points.

Squads can be formed at any time by pressing the Open Squad/Platoon Page key ( by default) and clicking Create Squad, entering the  command in the chat, or inviting another player to a squad whilst neither player is in one. Doing so immediately creates the squad, and designates the creating player as the Squad Leader.

Squad Leader
The Squad Leader role is that which is given to the leader of a squad, giving them a wide range of abilities through which they can more effectively command their squad and influence their faction.

This role is highly relevant to a squad and its management, as they are in control of a large amount of a squad's capabilities, having access to basic squad management tools through which they can organize the group, as well as more impactful in-world abilities such as access to extra squad-specific waypoints and faction-wide communication.

Squad UI
The user interface for squads and squad management can be accessed at any time by opening the Social menu, then accessing the Squad tab. The interface can be directly accessed from anywhere using the Open Squad/Platoon Page key ( by default).

Squad Finder
If the player is not in a squad, the Squad tab becomes the Squad Finder. In this tab, the player can view all squads with open recruitment for which they meet the criteria. Any listed squad can be joined by clicking the appropriately located Join Now buttom for that squad. The Squad Finder lists some relevant information about each squad;
 * The Mentorship status of that squad — whether or not it was marked as a Mentor Squad before being listed for recruitment. The icon will changed based on the Mentor Tier of the leader.
 * The Squad Leader's outfit tag, if applicable, and name.
 * The number of players currently within that squad, out of the twelve spaces available in a squad.
 * The continent on which the Squad Leader is located, or their distance in meters if they are on the same continent as the player.
 * The squad's cohesion — a general marker of how close (or distant) the squad's members are to each other, on average.
 * The recruitment description — this is written by the squad's leader and, if applicable, the squad's location in its Platoon is also noted at the beginning automatically.

The squad listing can be filtered using the filter bar at the top of the finder. The player will only be shown squads which match all of their selected filter selections at once. For instance, checking Platoon and Outfit will only display squads with a member of their outfit inside, that are also part of a platoon. Squads containing an outfit member that are not in a platoon or squads that are in a platoon but do not include an outfit member will not be shown in this example.

The bottom of the squad finder displays the squad creation options. Here, potential squad leaders can write their squad's description, decide if it will immediately be opened for recruitment, and flag it as a Mentor Squad, before creating it using the appropriately labelled button.

Squad Management
Once a player joins a squad, the Squad tab begins to display information relating to their squad and squadmates, and platoon wherever applicable. For all players, the interface displays the following information about each individual player;
 * Their number in the squad — this is initially assigned based on the order in which players joined the squad, although the squad leader is always '1' and this chronological ordering can be disrupted by players leaving or being moved between squads in a platoon.
 * The player's Class icon.
 * If applicable, the player's squad/platoon leadership status (former is a solid star, latter is a tipless outline of a star, the two can stack atop each other if that player is both)
 * The player's outfit tag, if applicable, and name.
 * The player's Battle Rank.
 * The continent on which the player is located, or their distance in meters if they are on the same continent as the player.

The interface also displays the squad's four Fireteams, with players within those fireteams listed underneath them. The squad leader can click and drag squad members to change their fireteam by moving them to the appropriate location. On the right-hand side of the fireteam header, a Spawn Beacon icon is present. The squad leader can click this to toggle the ability of that fireteam's members to draw and place their beacons.

If the squad has slots available, and the squad is not set to private, the bottom of the squad roster will feature a field, labelled Invite to Squad, that can be used to invite players to the squad. To invite a player this way, type their exact name in (case non-sensitive) and then press the plus to the right-hand side.

The bottom of the squad management UI displays the recruiting options for the squad, which are available to the squad leader. These options are still visible to all other squad members, but only the squad leader can interact with them.


 * MENTOR: — Checking this box flags the squad as a Mentor Squad, allowing the leader to earn mentor rating but preventing the squad from being part of a platoon.
 * Auto-Recruit — Checking this box allows players with the Auto Join Squad on Login setting enabled to be placed into this squad automatically.
 * ONLY ACCEPTING: — The following options limit who can see the squad in the squad finder. Does not prevent ineligible players from being invited manually.
 * Outfit — When this option is checked, only members of the leader's outfit will see this squad in the squad finder.
 * Friends — When this option is checked, only those on the leader's friend list will see this squad in the squad finder.
 * If both checked at once, players need only match one of the criteria to see the squad.
 * Private Squad — When this is ticked, the squad cannot be opened for recruitment and players may only invite others to the squad with the express consent of the squad leader.
 * DESCRIPTION: — When recruitment is enabled, what is written here is that which will be shown under 'description' in the squad finder. Cannot be interacted with if the squad is private or open for recruitment.
 * Clear Ban List — Squad leaders can ban players from the current squad using the  command, this button allows all bans to be undone, allowing those players to rejoin the squad.
 * ENABLE RECRUITMENT — Lists the squad in the squad finder. Requires a description, and cannot be interacted with if the squad is private.
 * INVITE TO FORM PLATOON — Allows the squad leader to invite another player to the squad with the intent of creating a Platoon. If successful, this will set the squad leader as the Platoon Leader.

The final interactable button in the squad management UI is the rather aptly named Leave Squad button, which does exactly what it says on the tin. If a squad leader leaves the squad, their role is passed onto the next player.

The squad leader can create a Platoon at any time, so long as their squad contains at least 2 members, by clicking and dragging a squad member onto the right-hand side of the UI. Doing so will set the squad leader as the Platoon Leader, and form a platoon. The squad member used to do this becomes the squad leader of the new squad.

Squad-specific Functions
Squads can use a number of extra functions over those which a normal player has access to. Generally, most are limited to the usage of the Squad Leader, but their effects are often evident on the entirety of the squad.

Communication Channels
All squad members are placed into shared Squad voice and text channels, which can be used to communicate with all members of the player's squad.


 * Squad Voice ( by default))
 * Squad Text ( or  )

Only members of the appropriate squad can hear and see communications made by members of that squad.

Spawn Beacons
All members of a squad have access to a Spawn Beacon, a unique deployable.

They are automatically placed into the player's inventory upon joining a squad with two or more members, though a resupply or respawn may be required to receive it. When placed, spawn beacons emit a long faction-colored laser skywards, presenting themselves as a spawn option to all members of a player's squad. Squadmates who spawn on the beacon will appear several hundred meters above it in a Drop Pod.

Each squad can only place one spawn beacon at a time, as placing a new one will destroy any pre-existing beacons, and usage permissions can be revoked on a per-fireteam basis by the squad leader.

Squad Markers
Players in a squad are able to see the exact locations of all their squadmates at all times, both in the world and on the minimap.

If they are infantry, the squad member's number will be shown above their head in the world, or will replace their triangle marker on the map. If the player is in a vehicle, they will similarly have the number shown above their vehicle in the world, although the map will only show a squad-colored icon of their vehicle, with no identifier for the exact player.

Squad Spawning
Players in squads have access to an expanded range of spawn options as relevant to their squadmate's current locations and vehicle choices.

Aside from Spawn Beacon spawning, players can spawn inside Sunderers, Valkyries, and Galaxies piloted by squadmates, so long as those friendlies are over allied territory or within a certain distance. Additionally, the Logistics Specialist implant can expand this benefit to apply to all vehicles, so long as they have an extra seat that can be used (ie. any vehicle except, with the same spawn rules as the former three vehicles.

When in a Warpgate, squad members can also press the Auto Join Squad hotkey ( by default) to instantly be spawned at the nearest eligible spawn location to their squad leader, if the squad leader is not also within the warpgate itself. This function can, if the most suitable option, use Sunderers, Spawn Beacons, and Routers, although this function may be subject to the same restricted spawn rules as any normal spawn.

War Assets
Though most war assets can be used by any players with the requisite permissions in their outfits at any time, squad leaders are uniquely the only players able to call down a Steel Rain.

Steel Rain is a global war asset available to outfits. Calling a Steel Rain begins a 30 second timer after which all squad members, beside those in vehicles, are immediately placed into Drop Pods above the designated location as their current class, even if they are MAXes.

Unlike all other war assets, Steel Rain is limited not only by outfit permissions, but also by the role of the player inside a squad or platoon. Only squad leaders are able to command a Steel Rain, and it will only ever affect their squad. Normal squad members, and platoon leaders where applicable, cannot use a Steel Rain.

Waypoints
Squad leaders have access to an additional set of five waypoints. Each squad has a 'squad' waypoint, which can be seen by all members of the squad and their platoon, and one for each individual fireteam—Diamonds, Spades, Hearts, and Clubs. The squad waypoint is visible to the entire platoon, if the squad is in the platoon, whereas Fireteam waypoints only to the appropriate squad at all times.

Although these waypoints are tied in some way to one specific squad and its leader, they can be manipulated by the platoon leader (squad waypoints) or fireteam leaders (for their fireteam-appropriate waypoint). The squad leader is the only player who can access these specific five waypoints at once, however.

The squad leader does not need to place members into a fireteam to have access to its waypoint. If the squad is inside a platoon, the squad's waypoint will become a squad-colored waypoint labelled appropriate to that squad (such as 'Alpha Squad Waypoint' or 'Bravo Squad Waypoint'), and all fireteam waypoints will also have their colors changed to the squad's color.