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Forums » Discussions » Tactics and Techniques » Basic Training
Basic Training
RaptorDate: Saturday, 2012-04-21, 09:45 | Message # 1
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Note: the content of this thread is old, reworked tactics are written down in our tactical documents.

This section describes the theory behind AST tactics.
Reading this is one part of AST basic training. You need to understand the theory in order to act correctly in every given situation and also to develop new tactics.
The other part of AST basic training are training sessions with an instructor. They should be used to practice the tactics. An experienced instructor, who can correct your mistakes just as you made them, is probably the best way to learn.

But if you missed to read the theory before the training session, then the instructor will probalby have to spent a lot of time explaining things to you. That is mostly a pretty inefficent way to transfer knowledge, a waste of time for both the instructor and also for you.

Tactic Lesson 0: Basic Theory
1st Truth about Tactics: The aim of any tactic is to reduce the chance of being injured or killed.
So you want to be sure not to get injured, killed or fail a mission? Then do not play swat. Even with the best tactics, you'll sometimes make a mistake, you'll sometimes have bad luck and you'll sometimes have a situation, that you simply can't win.

2nd Truth about Tactics: Tactics can only work if you use your head!
Tactics can't give you exact orders for every possible situation, there are simply too many situations. And sometimes you'll have to make a difficult decision in less than a second (and consequently you'll fail some of them). But a good knowledge of basic priciples of tactics will help you to estimate a situation much faster and also to choose the right action for the situation at hand. Futhermore if your teammates and you have developed a kind of common sense of tactics, you'll be able to predict the reaction of your teammates pretty good and therefore you'll be able to handle the situation even better.

How tactical movements work:
Basic aim of each and every movement is to cover every potential dangerous area ("danger zone") at the moment the team gets exposed to it and keep it covered as long as the team is exposed to the potential dangerous area.
Further aims are to avoid that an officer crosses the fireline of an other officer and to point as many weapons as possible to possible threats ("intersecting arcs of fire", in case an officer miss, runs dry, has a lag...).

To achieve this goals we use certain movement patterns. To describe this patterns in a general manner, the operators are simply numbered: first man in line is called #1 or Assaulter1 or short A1; next one is #2 or Assaulter2 or A2; etc. (also called “formation”).
Now a movement pattern can be described simply by giving a general situation (e.g. "door" or "hallway") and tasks that each operator has to perform (simple example: order bang and clear at a door: A2 get's a bang out and pulls the pin, A1 opens the door,...).
Main task of operators is to cover a certain area called "Area of Responsibilty". The AoR for a special operator is given by the current movement pattern, by direct leader orders ("A3 cover left") or simply by the current situation (if no one else covers left side and you got nothing to do atm, it's not a bad idea to cover left side for now wink ). A good movement pattern will ensure that every area where a threat may be present ("danger zone") is covered by at least one operator.
Every operator is responsible to observe his given AoR and deal with every threat within this area based on the current Rules of Engament RoE. You have to control this area, even when the team comes under fire from a different direction. If you turn away from your AoR it's probably uncovered and a single threat may take down your whole team. Trust your teammate to do his job and get his AoR clean as fast as possible. If he really needs backup, he will call for it.

We use movement patterns: they are designed for a general situation and therefore kind of flexible. That way we implement one of the oldest rules in combat situations: use your surrounding! The patterns give you basic orders which work well in usual, default situations. Still they may be modified on the run to adapt to the current situation at hands. And if there is absolutely no pattern which fits the situation, stick to the basic principles and try to survive wink
A direct result of the rule mentioned above: use cover and concealment if available. Something is cover if and only if it can stop a bullet or have at least a considerable effect on bullets. This is the place to be during a firefight. Objects that only hide you are concealment ("visual cover"). Not as good as cover, but it's pretty hard to hit a target which you can't see wink
Another aspect of your surrounding you should pay special attention to are fatal funnels. A fatal funnel is an area which canalize your approache. Best example is the doorway: imagine you are inside a clear room with just one door. So the only area where a threat could appear is the doorway after the door was opened. Consequently you can aim to the direction of the threat before you even know the threat is there, there is only way the threat can approach. On the oppsite, when you enter the room through the doorway you may have a threat in the whole room (from 9 oc to 3 oc, maybe even on upper or lower levels). The doorway may be the most extreme and most dangerous example, others are windows, hallways and stairs. Pay attention when you are in or near fatal funnels, use them for your advantage when covering.

Crucial for the success of every movement is the right speed. Basically we distinguish between slow "stealth" and fast "dynamic" movement speed.
The aim of stealth moving is to stay unnoticed and gather information. While the team searchs the area, we don't want the threats to know that we are there, or at least not our exact position. If we know the position of a threat without the threat knowing that we are there, we can use the full power of suprise reducing the risk to our team significantly (maybe changing to a fast, dynamic movement).
In order to achieve this you should do 2 things: look for target indicators and avoid producing target indicators by yourself. A target indicator is absolutely every hint of a possible threat, for example:
- visual: a gun muzzle or the tip of a shoe visible behind a corner; a shadow or reflexion of a person; a flashlight; an opened door, that was closed before
- audible: opening/closing a door; footsteps; speech; a screaming civ
(not relevant for swat4: the smell of a smoker in a house where no one smokes, the body heat of a person hiding behind a shower curtain for hours)
Furthermore when moving stealth you should pay a lot of attention to your surrounding. You can take your time and adapt the basic patterns to the special room at hand to gain a tactical advantage.
To sum up: stealth movement means move slowly and carefully, take your time and keep your eyes open.
Dynamic movements rely on speed, agression and suprise. Our action time has to be less than the reaction time of the threats. Grenades and breaching tools are used to distract the threats and speed up our approach. You will pretty often encounter barricaded threats, and mostly a dynamic movement is the safest way to take them out. A (fast) moving target is (very) hard to hit. But dynamic movements need a lot of practice, since you have to act pretty fast with almost no time to think about your next step.
It’s a common approach to maintain stealth to get in an advanced position or to gather as much information as possible. Then the wholes team overwhelms the threats using fast, dynamic actions.

Be prepared for everything. Start your movements with conviction and good sense.


"Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at."
Murphy's Laws of Combat #9
 
RaptorDate: Saturday, 2012-04-21, 09:53 | Message # 2
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Tactic Lesson 1: general CQB movement + stacking and scanning

Most swat deployments are Close Quarters Battles (short CQB), which in simple words means “fighting within a building”. In this case the walls offer a lot of natural cover and concealment. Furthermore threats appear mostly in close range (< 20 m) and never at long distance (> 100 m). This special circumstances allow and demand the use of some special tactics which differ from warfare in open areas. The following tactics are designed to meet the special requirements of CQB.

A lot of CQB movements are designed to be executed by 2 operators. Such a small “assault team” is able to handle a lot of situations on his own while keeping the necessary communication to a minimum (advised further reading: “Formations, Duties and Positions”).
The basic movement mode for a 2 man team is the L-Shape:
- A1 (“the pointman”) has free aim and covers the most dangerous area, A2 (“the coverman”) covers all other dangerous areas
- pointman should stay crouched, if not possible the covermen may have to change his position/axis to keep 12 oc covered
- e.g. the team moves along a hallway and encounters an opening left side; while proceeding A1 keeps the unclear opening covered and A2 cover the hallway 12 oc in case hostiles appear there (in this moment the team looks similar to an L when looking from above, there the name); after passing the opening A1 switches his aim back to the hallway 12 oc and at the same time A2 keeps on covering the opening
- the A2 should maintain a distance of 2 steps to the pointman: close enough to offer protection, far enough so that the pointman can move back if he needs to

Usually an entry team consists of more than just a single assault team, so the L-Shape is extended to a Line:
- move in formation one behind another (if possible at a wall); point and coverman in L-Shape
- last in line covers 6 oc (“Rear Guard” or short RG)
- rest of the team covers one side (either 3 oc or 9 oc)
- the operators may again maintain a distance of about 2 steps between each other; possibly more if they are low on cover or the enemy may use explosives against the team
- tip for RG: take sometimes a very quick glance to your team to ensure you don't lose contact with them
- operators at the perimeter of the team (i.e. pointman and RG) should stay crouched to allow easy fire support from the middle of the formation

Sooner or later the team will encounter a closed door which needs to be opened and cleared. Fact 1: a door is always a fatal funnel.
Fact 2: opening a door produces visual (and maybe audible) target indicator
As a result threats behind the door may already be focused on the door and even open fire when the team opens the door. So before a door is opened the whole team hast to get in a good covered and concealed position, this movement is called “Stacking”.

Normal Stack:
Operators stack up in line at door handle's side. The pointman stay as far away from the door as possible so the he can still open the door. This way the team gets maximum cover from walls and the door itself. This is the default stack [but only for Swat4! Basic assumption is that the door opens away from the team. That’s always true in Swat4, but not in other, more realistic games].

Split Stack:
Operators split up and stack at both sides of the door each in a line formation. Again the pointman seeks for maximum distance to the door.
This stack is useful at double doors to allow the team a better cover of the opened door and a quicker entry. It’s also the default stack after a Cloverleaf Scan (details about that later).
This stack shouldn’t be used at normal doors, since one side would be too exposed to the room behind the door. Furthermore no matter of the door operators at both sides need to pay attention to friendly fire: a threat may open the door, make 1 step out of the doorway and end up directly in the middle between the left and right hand operators.

Near Corner Stack:
This is a special, forced Split Stack: at the door handle side is not enough space to stack up in a normal stack (usually there is a corner near to the door). So as much operator as possible stack at the door handle side. The rest of the team stacks at the hinge side with enough distance to the door to be covered.

On Corner Stack:
The team is forced to stack up in a line at the hinge side of the door: there is no Space to stack at the knob side (usually there is a corner directly next to the door). The team might be pretty exposed when opening the door, so c2 should be considered.

No Cover stack:
Worst case door: there is no space to get cover neither left nor right side of the door. In this case the use of C2 is mandatory to cover the entry, otherwise the risk to the team is far to high.
C2 might also be used to blow the door from a covered position, then the team approaches the door like an opening.
The default stealth tactic to clear any kind of opening in a wall (e.g. open entry to another room, window, a team just opened by your team or a simple corner in the hallway) is called ”Scan” (also known as “Angular Search” aka “Slicing The Pie”).
It’s basically a slow semi-circle movement in front of an opening from one side to the other. During this movement the operator is looking for and reporting target indicators, contacts, further danger zones (e.g. another opening inside the room) and also the general layout of the area. The area should be checked in a vertical manner, pay attention to target indicators high and low. Report “Clear” after you finished the Scan without hostile or unknown contacts.
Basically the person who has the greater distance to the opening will spot the contact on the other side first, so maximize your distance to the wall as far as the tactical situation allows to! (usually A2 or A3 scans; use your surrounding!) .
As always: if you spot a contact put the current RoE to work (but remember this is a stealth movement, don’t compromise your team if it’s not necessary!).
For special situations there are special variantions of the basic Scan.

Cloverleaf Scan:
While A2 scans the door normally, A3 moves with him and covers the original 12 oc. This is the default scan when the team is in Cloverleaf formation. It should also be used during the normal line formation when 12 oc is a potential dangerous area.
A3 needs to move pretty synchron with A2. Otherwise he might expose his gun muzzle to the uncleared opening (target indicator!) or he might be uncovered towards the opening. This movements needs practice to do it right.

Dynamic Scan: (used only for corners)
The operator starts like a normal scan with a slow movement, but when he reaches the visual line of the corner he switches to dynamic movement to check the rest of the area. The advantage is the surprise of possible threats; especially for corners in hallways when you are not able to get a distance to the corner and the hallway behind the corner is in opposite pretty long. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4okkkLsY5kI&feature=related#t=6m30s)

Semi-Scan:
The operator does only a half scan ending up in front of the opening. This is used when a full Scan can't be done because one side in blocked or doesn't allow a sufficient distance.

SideToSide Scan: (used for double doors or similar huge openings)
The team starts with a split stack (either point- and coverman or 2 assaulter teams). One operator at each side does a Semi-Scan with sufficient distance (simultaneously). Both operators end up shoulder to shoulder in front of the opening covering 12 oc. This scan offers a better angle for both sides than a normal scan. It’s also quicker and allows 2 operators to cover the danger zone behind the opening.

The following scans are not advised since they are considered dangerous! Both are aimed to cover the danger zone behind the opening with 2 operators at the same time. But if you assume that the unclear area is so dangerous, then the deployment of a tactical aid is probably a better idea. Both scans can only be used if the pointman and coverman can get sufficient distance to the opening!
Covered Scan: point and covermen scan from the same side at the same time in a synchronus movement (points stays crouched)
Cross Scan: (used at double doors) point and covermen do a Split Stack and do a Scan from their sides (point stays crouched) [SideToSide Scan is advised instead]

After a scan without contacts the team might go on and clear the complete area behind the opening in stealth mode, therefore we use the Stealth Entry. Usually it’s made without tactical aids (“dry”) but it can also be used together with a gas grenade.
The team enters the room in order, means pointman first. First he has to check the area 12 oc from the doorway. The he has to check the near corners left and right. Usually he can use the door as shield and just check one corner. Then he can move in a scanning manner around the door to check the second corner as well. During this movement A2 stays behind A1 covering the area 12 oc all the time.
Finally the team can proceed into the room to check all blind spots. Move along the walls if possible to prevent crossing the fireline of operators behind you.. A2 stays with A1 in L-Shape formation ready to support him. Other team members may spread over the room (if possible also in pairs of 2) to get a dominating position. When an area is clear this should be reported to the team (“left clear”, blind spot 12 oc far clear”). Check really ALL small corners and possible hideouts and then report the room as “All Clear” (Be dead sure or be dead!). After this the team has to cover all doors and openings, free operators can start to cuff and report.


"Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at."
Murphy's Laws of Combat #9


Message edited by Raptor - Saturday, 2012-05-26, 15:58
 
RaptorDate: Saturday, 2012-04-21, 10:21 | Message # 3
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Tactic Lesson 2: Dynamic Entry

Aim: to clear a room as fast as possible so potential threats have no time to react.
Best case: get all officers in covering positions inside the room before the suspects even have the time to realise that the door was opened.
Worst case: get stuck in the door way (fatal funnel) and get under fire from inside the room.

Basic idea of the dynamic entry is speed: our action time must be less than the reaction time of the threats. Usually we use a flashbang, stinger or c2 to stun the threats and get more time for the entry.

Basic movement:
- move as fast as you can
- move to the opposite direction then the officer in front of you (break point-coverman formation!)
- stick to the walls to avoid crossing the fireline of your teammates
- move as far as you can, without exposing yourself to completely new dangerous areas and without crossing the fireline of your teammates
- if you want to shoot, stop and crouch if possible; use cover if available
- remember you might not have a covermen behind you at the moment
- prepare for the entry while stacking: enable running, turn flashlight on, stand up if possible, be mentaly prepared
- do NOT stop in the doorway, fatal funnel!

Basic areas of responsibility:
- A1 is the first to enter the room and should therefore take the "far" area of the room; since he might be the first to take a look inside the room, he can decide (very fast) which side he wants to take (once you made a decision keep your side, even if you see it's the wrong); if he has currently a covermen, he can ignore close, stunned sus
- A2 takes the inverse side of A1 (A1 left -> A2 right, A1 right -> A2 left); even if you are the covermen of A1, you have to break the formation with him!
- A3 takes the inverse side of A2, following A1 and becomes the temporary covermen of A1 or cover a opening/door on your side
- A4 takes the inverse side of A3, following A2 and becomes the temporary covermen of A2 or cover a opening/door on your side
- A3 and A4 can focus on upper or lower levels if present

Communication:
- as usual report openings, contacts and other important stuff to your team (e.g. possible hideouts)
- when your AoR is clear, you should let your team know with a quick "left/right clear"
- you should also report special areas you have cleared e.g. "small bathroom at the left is clear"
- if you are sure about it report "all clear" (based on our own sight of the room and the reports of your teammates)

The team should apply the following NoMansLand-Pattern if possible:
room with 1 dangerous zone (12oc)
- A1 goes 12 oc far
- A2 takes care of close area
- attention to friendly fire in small rooms

room with 2 dangerous zones (12 oc and 3 oc or 9 oc)
(assuming the room opens to the right, if it opens to the left inverse all orders wink )
- A1 goes the right side (3 oc), stop moving when reaching the near right corner, aiming to the far right corner
- A2 goes 12 oc, stop moving when reaching the far left corner, aiming to the far right corner
- both officers end up aiming to the far right corner with intersecting arcs of fire; no one enters this area until the room is clear, this is no mans land

room with 3 dangerous zones (9 oc and 12 oc and 3 oc)
(assuming the door opens to the right, if it opens to the left inverse all orders wink )
- A1 goes to the right side, first clear the blind of the door, move towards the near right corner and further to the far right corner, move your aim beginning from the near right corner to the center of the room
- A2 goes to the left near corner, move your aim beginning from the near left corner to the center of the room
- officers ending up with intersecting arcs of fire to the center of the room or the far left corner; no one enters this area until the room is clear, this is no mans land

nice graphic: http://www.nme.de/cgi-shl/nme/swat_T_Ebbc.php
(but notice that our pattern is slightly different: order on entry is the same as order on stack; A4 should follow and support A2, unless 4th man is the RG)

Special Case 3 man entry:
- if the assault team consists of exactly 3 operators, A3 is free to choose his side like the pointman
- strictly following the NoManLands pattern, he would have to follow A1 leaving A2 alone, obviously this might be a bad choice depending on the situation
- so A3 is free to hold shortly, evaluate which assaulter needs more support based on the given situation and then act. It’s not a bad idea to report this choice quickly: “With you, A1/A2!”


"Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at."
Murphy's Laws of Combat #9


Message edited by Raptor - Sunday, 2012-06-03, 18:27
 
RaptorDate: Saturday, 2012-04-21, 10:22 | Message # 4
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Tactic Lesson 3: advanced CQB + open areas

An alternative option to the basic Line is the Cloverleaf Formation:
- movement in hallways (especially when it ends up in a huge open area)
- A1 is crouched in the middle of the hallway
- A2 stays on right side (or on the side of the next door) close to A1 covering 12 oc with focus to his inverse side
- A3 stays on the inverse side of A2 close to A1 covering 12 oc with focus to his inverse side
- this way there are 3 operators covering the hallway with intersecting arcs of fire, very effective if the hallway leads into an open area
- A4 (if present) stays behind A1 covering 12 oc
- RG stays behind A1/A4 cover 6
Cloverleaf Scan starting from a Cloverleaf Formation:
- operator close to the door (A2 or A3) stacks normally at the door and becomes new A1
- original A1 scans the opening and becomes new A2
- the operator of the inverse side from the opening moves with A1 covering the original 12 oc
- additional operators stack in line behind the new A1

T-intersections (or even 4-way-junctions) demand for a special technique, since there a danger zones in opposing directions which are difficult to cover without exposing. For this situations we use 2 movements calledSideToSide and Crossover:
- movement is initialized when A1 or the EL orders a SideToSide, or simply calls out “T”
- A1 goes in one side sticking to respective wall aiming to inverse side (covering A2)
- A2 goes to the inverse side of A1 aiming to the side of A1 (covering A1)
- A3 stays behind A1 covering 12 oc, A4 stays behind A2 covering 12 oc
- A1 reports the side he covers “[left/right] clear”; same for A2

- now the team is ready to move into the hallway with a Crossover
- movement is initialized by A1 either counting down or simply order “Let’s move”
- A1 and A2 move into the hallway each one covering his own side
- if one of them is too slow, the back of the other operator is exposed to an uncovered danger zone, move simultaneously!
- at a normal T-intersection A3 and A4 should follow into the hallway
- In a 4-way-junction, A1 and A2 do the CrossOver while A3 and A4 cover the original 12 oc

Another special issue in CQB are Stairs:
- the best way to clear stairs always depends on the special architecture of the stairs at hand, be flexible!
- usually it’s easier to clear from top moving down (better angle and grenades are easier to use)
- usually the operators should stick to the walls; if you move to close to the center of the stairs you may expose yourself to many upper and lower levels at the same time
- A1 needs to cover the stairs while proceeding
- following operators should cover doors and openings at the landings
- it might be helpful if an operators holds at on landing and cover the next level while the rest of the team proceeds (similar to Leapfrogging, see movement in open areas below)

Open Areas
Outside areas or huge rooms (e.g. a warehouse) are different to CQB:
- targets may appear at all distances
- there is less cover and concealment resulting in more/larger danger zones

A modification of the Line used outdoor or in open areas is called Snake: teammembers in the middle of the line take alternating sides, so if A3 covers 3 oc, A4 takes 9 oc and A5 takes 3 oc and so on till RG.

The Snake keeps the team together closely and offers all aroud 360 degree ars of fire. But it’s hard to use cover or concealment this way.
In general you should try to stick to the perimeter while moving through open area, this reduces the number/size of danger zones.
But that won’t be enough in most situations, the use of additional cover and concealment is strongly advised! To achieve this the formation should be more loose and flexbile than the ones in CQB.
That’s exactly the idea of the following movements: allow teammembers to move from one covered position to the next. So the distance between the operators is larger, but still they are supporting each other.

Firefights in open areas often take place over huge distance. In comparison to CQB you’ll need more time to aim carefully and nevetheless your accuracy will be lower. In an open area it’s usually more important to get cover than to return fire (also the need to report contacts increase, see RvS thread). So if you come under fire while moving towards the next covered position, it’s almost always the better idea to keep on running. If you stop, you’ll be probalby dead before your aim recovers.
With that in mind it’s obviously a bad idea to move the whole team at the same time: no operator would be able to shoot. So another basic principle of the following movements is that some operators hold in their covered positions providing fire if needed while other operators quickly move towards the next cover. This way it’s also easier to react on contacts at long range: holding operators have already a stable, focused aiming.

[Note: We do not encounter open areas that often in Swat4. So the basics written above are clear, but the excat movement pattern, theirs names and differences aren’t yet. We need some more experience and work in this special area.]

Rubber Band:
- #1 moves to next covered position, rest of the team provides covering fire
- #2 moves to next his next covered position, rest of the team provides covering fire
- the team stays in order (#1,#2,#3,...)

Leap Frog:
- simillar to the Rubber Band, but the operators pass each other changing the order of the team
- e.g. #1 holds position until the whole team has passed him, then he falls in as RG

Bounce:
- (aka “Bounding Overwatch” ???)
- Leap Frogging but with fire teams instead of single operators
- animation: http://vowsclan.net/modules.php?name=Swat_Tactics


"Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at."
Murphy's Laws of Combat #9


Message edited by Raptor - Sunday, 2012-06-03, 13:30
 
RaptorDate: Saturday, 2012-04-21, 10:22 | Message # 5
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Training Lesson 4: Personal Skill
*this lesson needs further work*

Beside the knowledge and practice of team tactics and movement, every operator must have some individual skills. This skills are his responsibilty. The team can not really support him to achieve and maintain this skills;

Mental Attitude: fights are won with the head, not with the gun (post concerning this topic is still in work)

Physical Condition: unlike real swat this is not about the condition of your body, but of your equipment. No, neither money nor computer hardware is growing on trees. Nevertheless you should afford and maintain the right equipment to enjoy gaming. An unhandy mouse or steady lags because of bad hardware kill the fun while gaming. And concerning our way of game you should really think about spending a few bucks for a good working microphone.

Equipment Handling: no need to tell that you should know your keyboard layout by hard. Kinda embarrasing when you switch your flashlight and grab a flashbang before you finally found the right key to cuf... possible deadly in other situations.
But futhermore you should also know how to handle your equipment, namely the bsg and nades. The tactic of bang and dynamic entry simply doesn't work, if you are not able to get the bang INSIDE the designated room. And it works much better, if you are able to get the nade to the correct position.

Shooting Skills: this is a must have. Periode.
Your main task as swat officer is to cover your AoR against any threat. In order to do this you MUST be able to control your weapon 100% in each and every situation. The circumstances pretty often demand for really quick (e.g. aiming sus) and really precise (e.g. civ in fireline) shooting. During our normal gameplay we do not use lethal force as often as necessary to archieve the shooting skill needed, so extra weapon drill is not a bad idea.
You should be able to handle different weapons, at least:
- one smg for CQB
- one silenced smg incase stealth is mandatory
- one AR or carabine for enivorements with various fighting distances
- one pistol as reserve and for CQB incase your primary is an AR, sniper rifle or ll
You should be able to handle all weapon on various distances (you never know when a sus will appear around the next corner close to you or 200 meters far away and start shooting at you).
Pratice of the taser as our default ll option is also not wrong. Additionaly some practice with less lethal primaries and also long range weapons like a sniper rifle won't hurt.

Like team movements the personal skills also need practice, but you don't need other operators to do so.
The use of nades can be trained alone on almost every map. Just try to make the nade landing on different postitions w/o exposing yourself. The Sog Training Facility (http://hotswatmods.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=2315) offers also a nade range with small windows. One should train the use of all 3 nades and the lauchner up to a certain degree.

For the practice of weapon handling you can use several different weapon drills:

Sog Training Facility (link see above), shooting range 2:
- shoot fast and precise, so that all targets are down at the same time (read instructions at the wall)
- practice at both lines

Sog TF, outside:
- fast pistol shooting: 2 bullets for the chest, 1 for the head (paper target so you can see the hits)
- hostage rescue: hit the sus without hitting the sus (paper target as sus with lay-down target as civ)
- swat movi drill: start standing with AR on semi fire next to the door, shoot first lay-down target -> run to the postbox and shoot second laydown target -> run to the barrel, crouch and shoot third lay-down target -> run to the wooden frame, change to pistol, shoot 4th lay-down target -> shoot the last 2 lay-down targets and hit the paper target (2 chest, 1 head) while moving towards the paper target
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ1ykxkw-eE&feature=related#t=1m05s syr, didn't found an english version)

You can also make several drills with different lay-down targets (Sog TF shooting range 2 and outside, SFF Training Center 1.0):
- shoot all target down as fast as possible, try to keep them down
- make a movement between the shooting (take a side step, lean left and right, crouch and stand up, turn 180 degree and back, etc.)

The Sog TF also offer a training pacours combining moving and fast, precise shooting, but the times written at the wall are pretty difficult to reach. I would say impossible with light armor and without shooting while moving which is mostly unnecessary.
I personally get the following times with LA and without doing the flashbangs stuff:
Pistol: 1:13 min
SMG Semi: 1:10
SMG Burst: 1:15
AR Semi; 1:25
AR Auto: 1:30
AR Semi outside + Pistol inside: 1:20
AR Auto outside + Pistol inside: 1:25
(started with pushing the red button, ended when crossing the end gate; not stating the best time record, but an upper bound which should never be crossed; with SAS mod it goes much faster)
Try to use as few bullets as possible. Ofc every hit of an civ is an immidiate fail.

But not-moving and not-firing targets do not really provide a realistic practice. For this purpose I personally use the map "Combat Zone" or "Combat Zone TSS" (both similar). Lot's of CQB (doors, stairs, some unusual rooms), many well armed sus with body armor, only some civs and a small outside area. Grab the weapons you want to train, use aggresive RoE (it's about aiming and weapon control, not really trigger reflexes) and after a few rounds you can handle your guns much better than before wink

Notes:
- Idk if it makes a differnce, but usually I use jhp ammo for weapon drills (don't want the bullets to penetrate anything or anyone smile )
- I personally found that it makes a difference whether you play on your own server at home or using the AST server via internet. Even when shooting at targets which do not move like the Sog TF shooting range 2. Not sure why, but while playing over internet sometimes you simply do not hit far away targets even when your aim is direclty at the center of the target.
- As already mentioned you should master at least one specific weapon of each category.
- Try different fire modi, different shooting ranges and positions (crouched or standing). Try to shoot shortly after stopping a movement or even while moving .


"Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at."
Murphy's Laws of Combat #9
 
RaptorDate: Sunday, 2012-06-03, 18:28 | Message # 6
Group: Commander
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Tactic Lesson 5: basics of element leading
*this lesson needs further work*
Leading could be individual choices about where to go and what to do, basically is it, but we have to apply to some tactical mind and server patterns to lead well as an AST member:

First of all is formation, which we have 2 kinds basically.

The team split:

That is the most used by us (alpha, bravo/ blue, black/ lima, kilo... whatever that splits)
The main point is split the current team into 2 or more subgroups, all in the same main team(blue or red).

The Course of Action during the round on team spltting should be an element line, and separated teams, when leader feels it's good to do it.

The Line formation:

That is less used by us, because consists in stack with element all the time, with the following formation by Assaulters 1 and 2(maybe 3) Scout, and RearGuard.

The equipment is kinda individual in this kind of formation for some officers like Sc and RG, that could b free nades to scout(maybe optiwand) and wedges for the RG(maybe breaching shotgun)

Also the RG should use in preference a long range weapon, since he is covering our back, and distance could be, every time, far away from threats.
__________________________________________________________________________
Done that, the Element Leader will choose which way should he use to form up your team and starts some technical choices during the mission:

Equipment:
The default equipment is primary lethal, secondary is free, 3 flashbangs, 1 gas (stinger in case the sus got masks) and 1 free slot (less optiwand, leader should advise to newcomers that) C2 and light or no armor. We call this Assaulter Blue EQ.

The Assaulter Black Eq is inverse: 3 gas 1 bang.

Scout can carry optiwands, nades or GL (pacifist)
RG must carry wedges nades and leader's choice.
___________________________________________________________________________

The leader is the responsible for the mission, if mission fails, unless by game bug, the leader will be resoponsible, so is element leader's competence to put the team in order, to tell the officers what to do. Sounds not hard to a well trained team, then responsibility is increased.

The choice of a correct course of action is the first thing to think about.

The stealth movement should be priority in beginning of mission, changing to dynamic in compromissed situations (bang or c2 noises close to uncovered area or open door, then dynamic)

The use of nades in hallways and corridors must be avoided, since the element leader should recognize uncovered far dangerous zones, and nades like bangs and stings could alert other uncovered areas.

Wedges should be used to seperate the building and avoid runners.

The tactical set mind to the team, that is element leader's responsibility, must be pre set before mission starts, in briefing.

As long as some areas are clear, EL should request lightsticks, to avoid comming back to same area to search for nothing, thats a minor tactical fail.

The best way to start clearing a building with many doors is the clockwise. Example: In Drug lab mission, after entry, we got double door at 3. Leader should start in the left side. After clear opening, proceed in clockwise. Team split only for cover, avoid crossfiring.

The element leader should have good diction, make him understood by others, repeat things if needed, be patient to explain all to newcomers, help others doing support officer stuff.


"Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at."
Murphy's Laws of Combat #9
 
DefCon5Date: Tuesday, 2012-06-12, 02:57 | Message # 7
Group: Registered
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Boah ^^

Nice work here,
im really surprised to see so many Content and work for a 7 Jears Old game,
i will spend some time to read em all,very Interesting - lots of known stuff.

Respect,keep it up man !

DC5
 
ShadowManuDate: Tuesday, 2012-06-12, 16:01 | Message # 8
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The best part is that we try to make it conceptual (not only SWAT4 based).... Play on RVS or Ghost Recon and some concepts remain the same (except we may work on far ranges there)

 
RaptorDate: Wednesday, 2012-06-27, 06:10 | Message # 9
Group: Commander
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- lesson 4 and 5 added (actually I copied so far just old content, so both lessons need further work but currently I don't have time to take care of it)

"Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at."
Murphy's Laws of Combat #9
 
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