Community Action: Rebuilding Squads, asap!

The recent updates to WWII Online have been intentional about Rebuilding Squads, ranging from the return of Squad Missions and now Proximity Attack Objectives, both of which promote organic field leadership to drive game play. Squad Development is no longer just something to talk about as a nice-to-have, it is in fact, a must-have. In this article I want to expand on the serious prioritization we need to place on building squads, what these new tools that we've made available are and refresh on some existing ones, and dive a little deeper into the understanding of the role that they now play which is no doubt of great significance, more so than we've seen in a very longtime. Please spend sometime to review this as it provides crucial information that will help your squad and help prepare for the next campaign.

TOOLS AVAILABLE FOR SQUAD GROWTH

I want to start out immediately with the tools that are available for squad growth because building our squads with existing, returning or new players, is paramount to the overall experience of WWII Online.

1. Recruitment
   1. Recruiter flag activated in-game via "Squad Tab"
   2. Discord #join-a-squad channel @ https://discord.gg/wwiionline
   3. .invite <gamename> directly within the game
   4. Host Squad (work with CRS directly)
2. Personnel Management
   1. .promote <gamename> directly within the game by chat or squad tab
      1. Member: This prevents people from being removed after 7-days from your squad.
      2. Recruiter: This allows others to turn on their recruiter flag, and bring more players into your squad.
      3. XO: This acts the same as a recruiter, but allows them to promote more recruiters.
      4. CO: This is the same as XO, but allows for total squad management.
   2. .demote <gamename> directly within to reduce a players rank
      1. At anytime you can reduce a players rank all the way back down to "recruit" to remove permissions.
      2. Note: "recruits" will be automatically removed from your squad after 7-days.
   3. Squad web management: Go to http://squadtools.wwiionline.com to manage your squad from the browser.
3. Rallying up for battle
   1. Players can easily cut through all of the user interface clunkiness and type, ".j <gamename>" to join any players mission.
   2. Your Squad Tab on the UI will allow players to click a squad members name to "Join" them as well via a green join button.
   3. Create a weekly "Squad Night," where you and your squad meet. Set a date and time, do more than one if you want.
4. Conducting warfare
   1. Squad Radio: By hitting L Ctrl + Tab, you can cycle to your built-in (secure) squad radio chat, to talk to squad members only.
   2. Squad Missions: With 5 squad mates online, you can create "Squad-Only-Missions" making it secure for your guys.
   3. By having a squad online, if there's an available AO, you can simply get within Heavy Inf EWS range and receive an AO.

WHY SQUADS ARE IMPORTANT

Actively functioning squads keep people coming back to play the game. Players are here to enjoy "community" and our online multiplayer game thrives where this takes place routinely. Squads, as mentioned before, is the base-level for all game play. It also acts as a perfect development ground for new players to understand the game, and to create the most exciting player-driven experiences that WWII Online has to offer.

In a nutshell, WWII Online IS a player-driven game which doesn't rely on scripts that produces the outcome of battle. While this can take a bit more work, it is deeply rewarding and has had players coming back for nearly 22 years now.

Direct example: Squads can now receive an available attack objective from the system (if one is available). This has provided an immense tactical impact that squads can now have, with no barrier.

CONDENSING PLAYERS TO NEW OR OLD SQUADS

It might be a good idea to condense less active squads (in terms of total number) into other squads, new or pre-existing. Let's take a look at some basic math for a second to help validate this point.

Picture for a moment that we have 5 squads, of 2 people each. You don't qualify for a squad mission, and you can't set an AO. Now consider if those 10 people decided to all form 1 squad? That could be a significant force to be reckoned with. 

In lieu of condensing squads, it is a wise idea for these existing squads to reach out to their veteran players and have a renewed sense of urgency to help develop their existing squads, because the game now depends on squads being active and thriving.

CAPTURING NEW PLAYERS

Players who join WWII Online have a steep learning curve, to cut through that, we need active squads who are prioritizing the onboarding of new players and who seek to grow their squad numbers. This active effort must be prioritized for the community health, and optimal game play experiences. CRS has worked hard to provide new tools and accessibility, now we need to see the WWII Online community take a more intentional role in seeking out new players, in and out of game, and helping to make it more fun. That is not something we can do alone, and no amount of marketing dollar spent can develop these systems without YOUR participation and effort.

USING IN-GAME VOICE COMMS (IVC)

The implementation of WWII Online voice communications are now stable and wide reaching. The TARGET channel brings all participants together of a battle, air, land and sea. Discord serves a great purpose still for real-time community engagement and communication, but nothing is quite as engaging as IVC.

We cannot strongly encourage you enough to use it, and teach others how to do it. Not everyone uses Discord, and there's no better way to engage with players who are in WWII Online than voice. Squads need to avoid exclusive usage of Discord voice comms, because it does not encourage others to use IVC which connects everyone together.

ADJUSTING IN-GAME SOUND SETTINGS

All players can now open up your "MAP" in-game, and at the far right see the "IVC" tab. You can be spawned in and change your audio settings in real-time now to get IVC just right, with the option to change it at any moment as well if you're in a different vehicle. This falls in line with how CRS has worked hard to make IVC as accessible and usable as possible.

SET SOME SQUAD GOALS AND DO THE WORK

Saying we need to rebuild squads sounds great, but it doesn't come without doing the actual work. Just like covering your Spawn CP from being recaptured by enemy forces, or deploying that mobile spawn when no one else will... it's gonna take rolling up your sleeves and do the hard work.

Here are some template goals you can extrapolate for your squad:

1. Define who is currently active in your squad
   1. If it's less than five people, should you consider disbanding and joining an existing squad?
2. Out of those who are active, are you guys willing to put in the work to grow it?
   1. If yes --> give those guys recruiter status.
   2. If no --> consider disbanding or merging with another squad.
3. Recruiting new players
   1. Do you have a good pitch? Artwork?
   2. Where will you post that information and get those players?
   3. Do you and your guys know how to use the in-game recruitment tools?
   4. How many people would be the appropriate amount for your type of squad missions?
4. Are you aware of how to use Squad Radio and make Squad Missions?
   1. If no --> ask for help.
   2. If yes --> teach others how to do it and why it's valuable.
5. Establishing a squad night that maximizes participation for everyone.
   1. Pro tip --> recruit people who can fit that time zone and date.
6. Will you change sides or stay on one side predominately? Help set expectations for your squad mates.
7. Do you have a place to organize outside of the game? If not, set one up to keep people engaged.
   1. Note: CRS can help you with a Discord voice channel AND secure squad text channel on our official server. See @euphobone for that on Discord.
8. Do you have a command structure established? Who is CO, XO, and so on? People want to be led, especially in our game.
9. Establish partner squads to bolster your numbers and making the game exciting. This can also lead to large organized events.
10. Create buy-in and ownership of your squad. Get them behind your goals and realize you can - and need to - get stronger. For the game, and for your fun / squad.

THERE'S NO LIMITS IF YOU GROW YOUR SQUAD

A lot of other games out there have limitations and population caps as to the number of people you can have in your squad or online at once. WWII Online's massive scale allows for your squad to be operating together en masse, or in other areas of the map. CRS has done its part to restore the value of squads with brand new - long requested - tools to see that through. It is now on the WWII Online community to seize the moment and rise to the occasion.

If you are interested in getting help to grow your squad through advertising on social media, our main website, or becoming a host squad, contact our Community Manager TEX64 at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or our Marketing Manager CHIMM at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  (both also available on Discord) and we'd be happy to help you grow your squad.

Squad Leadership Training: We can also assist existing Squad leaders to understand these tools listed above and how they work so you can train your squad mates on them or better manage your existing squad. For training, please see EDDIE05 our Training Corps commander either on Discord, or you can e-mail him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..