Using "Zones" and positions

[furiont]

A few of us talked about this a few days ago, and thought it may be a good idea to mention it here on the forum.
I tend to refer to halo skills using sports references, as many of you know. Military references are just as effective. In this particular topic, I go to the sports world.
Zones are used quite frequently in sports. Each person is responsible for their "zone" or area. From a defensive point of view, when an offensive player comes within a zone, that player covers the one who entered their zone. When the player leaves the zone, the person goes back to usually the center of their zone to defend the next. It is beneficial b/c it limits the amount of area one has to cover.
Attacking-wise- each person covers their lane or zone (used in soccer/hockey- Centers, Forwards, etc). Each person is in charge of their area, and only their area.
There are times when some assistance may be used, on both offense and defense.
In the Halo world, this can be used quite well, with some modifications. As we all know, halo is not like a playing field, there are ledges and rooms that a usual sports team does not have to deal with. But zones and positions can still be used. The key is that each person is in charge of their area. In Halo, it may be best to overlap because if one is taken down, another can come and take over the spot. Same goes for fighting. If someone in their zone is being attacked, the ones from adjacent zones can swoop in and assist.
Zones and positions can be used strongly in games where controlling the center is important. Whether it is a Neutral Bomb, Neutral CTF, Assault, CTF 2 Flag, sometimes holding the center will control the game. Based on the size of the team also bases the strategy.
I'll use CTF on Backwash as an example. Team of 4.
The strongest attacker will be in charge of the center of the map. The strongest defender will be your "goalie". Then there will be 2 "Wings" that will be on left and right sides of the map. The Center will always be on offense, the Goalie will always be on defense (with certain exceptions). The wings are key. Based on situation, the wings will designate what will happen. It could be a full force attack with the centers and 2 wings on either side striking. The wings could fall back to a defensive stance on left and right sides of goalie. Or theres a possibility of alternating by using contrary motion. If one of the wings goes on attack with center, the other wing falls back on defense. When the wing on defense goes to attack, the other wing falls back to defend.
Another possibility is a zone defense, which would mainly be used with a lead, or if the other team goes for a full on assault. The center would have a zone in front of the goalie, the wings would be on either side of goalie, but slightly in front and behind the center. Think of it as a diamond shape. When the attackers are coming in from center, the wings would slide in to help center. If the attack was from the left or right, the center and the goalie would help the wing. The other wing would be on the lookout for a flank.
On larger maps and with larger teams, the zone and positions can be even more useful with enough practice.

[Netopalis]

I agree totally. We were all in this very game and we discussed it after we lost. I think that having zones on certain maps and playlists would be very benaficial. So hopefully we can get some strats posted with this in mind.

[xattax]

Also, another thing you might wanna add is, if they do happen to get your flag on a CTF game, the best thing to do is cut off all the enemy reenforcments that could aid in the cap of your flag. For example: on Backwash you cut through the middle and say the flag is going left, go to the enemy base, kill all the opposition and wait for the flag. Once you see the flag, open up, kill him, return flag, and grab their flag. The only reason you should ever assault an enemy base is: 1) You have advantage or numbers, 2) Other team is dead, or 3) you do what I said above.

[Dreadlife]

This is exactly the kind of thinking that will allow us to dominate our opponents. However, you must make good use of the level design and terrain to assist you in designating your zones. Too spread out and you become ineffective. Too tight, and you become predictable and prone to overswarm.

An excellent example of a map which allows for zone coverage is Turf, especially when looking at the Scarab area. There are exactly 4 entrances into the coutyard. If you put one man on each entrance, you will be overrun. One possible deployment is as follows:

One player defends the open rooftop area coming up from the med tent. This area gives him multiple shoot positions with ambush potential and allows him to effectively cover 2 entrances, the far right entrance (looking towards the Scarab) and the middle alley (the one overlooked by the little cubbyhole, near the box/plasma rifle spawn).

A second player prowls the rooftops Scarab side of the warehouse (where the plasma pistol spawns). This allows him to watch both entrances from the warehouse.

This lets us keep two defenders back near the objective, one as a stopper and the other as a sweeper to move on the enemy position.

Then it just becomes a game of communication. Each of the outside defenders must allow the enemy to advance past them and then fall in from behind as the sweeper engages from the front. They are caught in the pinch and have very little chance to avoid a nasty crossfire. If the outer positions are overrun, it should be easy for our two inside defenders to shift to his position and hold until the respawn. It is exactly the same principle that Furiont described in his first post, Goalie stays on the objective, Center is forward D, complimented by two wings. This allows for a nice rotation between positions as the attack unfolds.

Which brings up the issue of attacking this area. Lets start with a full, 4 man strike force trying to capture the flag. They can also use zone principles to assist in securing their objective. There are numerous possibilities that can be applied. One would consist of the following:

One Wingman advances up the ramp from the med tent and holds in position to move on that flank. A secondary Wing moves to the warehouse and moves up the far ramp from the other exterior flank. These two players must attack as one, pinching in on the flag. This should pull the defenses attention and cause them to react to the outside. As that happens, the other two players storm right up the middle alley, hopefully catching the enemy from behind as they turn to engage.

Again, it is a matter of communication and timing. The flank must happen first, followed immediately after by the frontal assault. Each player must avoid contact until the team can sucessfully operate the manuever. That means staying off the radar and keeping your guns holstered until it's time to move, as well as maintaining radio silence.

Another possibility is the exact opposite. Send one Striker right up the middle, making alot of noise with a full compliment of grenades and a BR. He should be able to kill at least one defender and make the others pull to his position. Just as the enemy engages him, he is joined by a secondary attacker moving in from the warehouse alleyway closest to the streets.

This should pull even more attention to this area. Then comes the pinch from the two sneakers attacking from the extreme flanks (far side through the warehouse and the med tent alleys). The goal here is to kill everthing moving in the center of the yard, secure the flag, and make a quick return right up the middle.

[Netopalis]

Dread that sounds like a killer plan to the max. I think we should try it when we get a chance.

[Dreadlife]

Lets start exploring ideas on some other maps that we tend to do poorly in. Terminal, Headlong, and Burial Mounds all jump to my mind, though if you have something else in mind, please add to the convo. The more ideas we have of a team concept and "view" before we go into a game, the better off we will be.

[Dreadlife]

To expand on this principle in a big team setting:

Each player/squad actually occupies two zones at all times. One is their zone of operation, the other is their field of fire. Zone of operation is the territory that you occupy, for example, a defensive squad may be assigned to the base on Waterworks. The field of fire is the area that the squad watches to direct fire. In the above example, the defensive squad may consist of 3 players: one one top of the base watching the central area with the sniper, one on top of the base watching the flanks (RL spawn bridge and tunnel exit) while the third would stay inside the base watching the flag.

The importance of understanding this is that by designating each player's field of fire, it reduces the amount of the field that player has to watch, giving him a better chance of effectively eliminating any enemy players inside his "zone". This also makes each player be aware of HOW they engage: they must not stray away from their zone of operation as that weakens the line.

Lets look at an example: Neutral Bomb on Coag.

We are red team. After repelling the first assault on our base, we decide to go full offense. The team breaks down into three squads: 2 + the bomb moving dark side through the caves, 3 man heavy assault team with rockets and sniper moving up the light ridge to the rocks, and a 2 man hog team to control the middle of the field and move between the squads, assisting as needed.

Now, we know the enemy will be coming from the front, so there is no need to watch our base. The team on light ridge can focus on eliminating any movement near the enemy portal and achieve a strong position in the rock garden. The dark side squad can wait for that team to be in position and then move up to the enemy side of the board and hold in the caves. Each team knows that they have hog support, so they don't even have to watch midfield which should eliminate any surprise opportunites the enemy might have had.

Once the bomb team has moved into the cave overlooking the base, they can watch their flank and move on the ramp as the assault team moves in to overrun the base. The hog can hold off anyone who spawns in the middle of the field and move on the respawn, allowing us to maintain map control. Then everything reverses. The light side team watches the rocks and doesn't let anyone back into their zone. The same for the dark side squad cave side, they watch the dark ridge keeping the enemy at bay as the hog makes a couple of quick bomb runs for the win.

Anything moving in the middle of the field will be thrown into a meat grinder if we set up effective crossfires.

[furiont]

A few things of note about this strategy... a smart team adapts. Lets pretend this is involving an intelligent enemy. If we have the bomb and have ultimate support. They're going to stay inside their base and wait for us. They'll most likely have most of them on middle floor near the arm. When storming the base, the timing of the attack is crucial. I'd say 3 teams, upper, lower and middle. lower team will supress the lower forces, which may make the team think we are attacking from bottom, meanwhile the upper team is dropping grenades in from the top. once their forces are suppressed, the middle team comes in from the front and arms the bomb.

Most of these strategies sound foolproof. In effect, they are. BUT... timing is everything. If one team does not accomplish their task at the right time, a foolproof plan becomes flawed and beatable.

As a team, our coordination in what we do lacks big time. Not only does our coordination lack, but the length of time it takes us is way too long.
I'd recommend working on attacking using a very limited time. This way it gets everyone in a mindframe to get it done NOW, not later.
I think we tend to have decent attack strategies, it just takes us too damn long to get it done. In a game where time is of the essence, thats a BIG problem.
One thing that could help is to use a time limit during custom games... a shorter time limit. Most of the custom games we play we almost always use no time limit, which has gotten us into a habit of taking our time.
We need more of a sense of urgency. Once we get that down, I really think it'll make a BIG difference.

[Dreadlife]

I agree wholefartedly.

Seriously though, Furiont is exactly right. The perfect maneuver is tactic + execution + timing = success. The tactical part is done here on the forums and in practice sessions. The execution is each players individual ability to complete his objective, and the timing is the entire squad moving as one unit.