Welcome to duty, Commander. Your assets are online and ready for deployment.

That’s right, squaddies: the ultimate leadership role has landed in Squad. From devastating artillery to UAV overwatch, the Commander is well equipped to lead your team to victory. Assuming they’re up for the challenge.

We’ve also got a little note about the design changes directly from Fuzzhead!

Beta 17 Patch Notes

Systems

Commander Role

We’re introducing a new leadership role that is focused on planning, keeping the team on task, and bringing just the right amount of reinforcement. The intent for this role is to keep intel flowing between the various Squads, and, in ideal circumstances, Commanders can create a dynamic plan for the entire team to follow.

We envision that this role can be played in a variety of styles, we have intentionally kept the options open for players to experiment with. For example:

A Commander can keep their squad size very small to primarily focus on keeping the rest of the team in the loop on enemy intel markings, planning new FOB build locations, coordinating air assault drop points, using the UAV to mark and scout enemy locations, as well as providing devastating fire support through artillery and airstrikes.

The Commander role could be used by a Squad Leader that still has a full squad fighting in offensive or defensive situations. This “frontlines” Commander would still be able to help augment the team through the use of his Commander actions and keeping each squad on task, but with a more direct engagement in the battle.

Another way to utilize the Commander role could be used by a Squad Leader focused on Logistics and building rear defensive locations with a strong emphasis on intel gathering and reconnaissance.

For the unconventional factions of the Militia and Insurgents, the Commander role has access to a large size mortar attack as well as a handheld remote-controlled drone.

This small handheld drone is very maneuverable and can fit into tight spaces, though it is limited by a maximum altitude and has a 10-minute battery life. Plenty of time to gather intel or deliver a special surprise for to the enemy.

Commander Details

Commander role is filled via a volunteer and voting process. In order to participate in a vote for CO, the player must be a Squad Leader in a squad with at least 1 squad member. A vote cannot be initiated until there are at least three squads that exist.

Commander costs the team -5 tickets for each death — Be sure to stay out of the line of fire!

Conventional Faction Commanders have access to a UAV: MQ-9 for USA, GB and CAF; Pchela-1T for RUS. Both models can be used for remote reconnaissance.

Conventional Faction Commanders have access to 155mm Artillery barrage. The artillery can be either be a creeping artillery, where the barrages fall in an advancing line with each successive strike, or static artillery where barrages all target one location.

Conventional Artillery is accurate, but has 2 “ranging” shots before the main barrage starts.

Conventional Commanders have access to an A-10 gun strike (USA, GB, and CAF) or SU25 rocket strike (RUS).

Unconventional Commanders have access to a static Heavy Mortar barrage. Heavy Mortars are less accurate and have less splash damage and penetrating power, but do not have any “ranging” shots before the barrage starts.

MIL and INS also have a small handheld drone that is very maneuverable and can fit into tight spaces, though it is limited by a maximum altitude and has a 10-minute battery life. Plenty of time to deliver a special surprise to the bad guys.

Commander has a direct channel for SLs to contact, default keybind is Numpad 0.

Conventional Commander actions must be within a 30m radius of a friendly fully built HAB.

Unconventional Commander actions must be within a 30m radius of a friendly fully built HAB or nearby a friendly vehicle.

Commander is not available for Skirmish Game Mode.

Commander is also not available on Logar and Sumari due to their size.

Each Commander ability has cooldown timers that is reset if a new commander is elected.

Commander Action Cooldown Timers

Artillery, Creeping = 30 min

Artillery, Static = 30 min

Heavy Mortar Strike = 20 min

A10 Gun Run = 15 min

SU25 Rocket Run = 15 min

Handheld Drone = 10 min, plus any remaining flight time from the previous drone if it was destroyed.

UAV = 10 min

Note: Times are subject to change based on on-going feedback.

Game Modes

Added Voice over callouts for Game Mode: CP capture/destroyed/loss, Round Win/Lose for all factions (Militia are currently using RUS voices as a placeholder).

Added Round Loss Music to all Factions.

Updated all Invasion layers to now use Randomized CPs with Fog of War.

Adjusted Invasion map layers: Defenders have +100 starting tickets.

Adjusted TC Ticket Bleed Rate 60-69%:1 ticket/min 70-79%:2 ticket/min 80-89%:3 ticket/min 90-94%:30 ticket/min 95-97%:60 ticket/min 98-100%:120 ticket/min.

Fixed TC Anchor hex cutoff mechanic not triggering after enemy Anchor point is captured.

Fixed TC Anchor hex touching zones that were not calculated correctly.

Fixed TC and Destruction game modes “round startup upon player connecting” to be 60 seconds like all other game modes.

Infantry Gameplay

Added a stamina penalty for leaning, with stamina loss over time when moving as well as using it in bursts. Note : Further improvements to the leaning system and ways to prevent its abuse are in development for a future update.

Added stance based stamina regeneration. Stamina will now regenerate faster while crouched and stationary. The fastest regeneration is while prone and stationary.

Added a Semi-Auto Shot speed limiter to reduce effectiveness of out of engine speed macros. Semi-Auto Shots are limited to 0.125 shots per second (which is 8 shots per second). This value may be tweaked in future updates, as well as having potential for individual weapon balancing in the future.

Updated leaning to have different movement speeds. (Crouched movement speed is halved while leaning.)

Updated Medic calls to now have faction specific audio. (Militia are currently using RUS voices as a placeholder.)

Updated RPG7 Launcher firing sounds.

Updated VZ.61 Scorpion firing sounds.

Updated texture quality for the following weapons: M9a1 Pistol, PPSH41, AKM, AK74 and RPK.

Improved the prone lean trace blocking to help decrease the chances that a player can see through the world on steep hills. Further work to be done on this in a future update.

Adjusted the minimum wait time to enter Rally spawn wave to 30 seconds (was 20 seconds)

Adjusted all infantry kits to have 2 smoke grenades.

Adjusted rearm costs for RPK & AKM drum mag (now 8 ammo points) and RPK banana mag (now 3 rearm points).

Adjusted Insurgent SL#2 kit requirements to now not require any squad mates (standard for all factions).

Adjusted Insurgent SL#3 to get an AKS74 1p29 (instead of SKS PU)

Adjusted Insurgent LAT & Medic SKS PU (Optic) mag count to 12.

Adjusted Insurgent Raider kit limit -now 4 per team.

Adjusted Insurgent/Militia Sapper kit inventory:removed repair tool.

Adjusted Insurgent LAT inventory:swapped rifle to AKMS (formlerly vz61).

Adjusted Insurgent SL1 & SL2 inventory:swapped sidearm to vz61 (formlerly TT33).

Adjusted US/GB/RU Combat Engineer kit limit: 1 max per squad (max per team same as A16: 2 per team).

Adjusted both US HAT kits AT inventory to use: 1x M3 MAAWS Tandem, 1x M3 MAAWS HEAT, 2 M3 MAAWS Smoke.

Adjusted M3 MAAWS HEAT to do similar damage as RPG7 HEAT.

Adjusted US LAT kit (AT4) to 2 kits per team.

Adjusted US Army Marksman inventory:removed frag grenade for balancing.

Fixed enemy knives suppressing players.

Fixed missing equip sounds on Binoculars, Smoke grenades, Ammo Bags, Mines, Sandbags.

Vehicle Gameplay

Added vehicle velocity inheritance to players ejecting from vehicles in motion. If a player ejects past a certain velocity, player will ragdoll and also take damage on impacting the ground.

Added a Vehicle Emergency Recovery option. Useful for flipped over and stuck vehicles. Access ed thru the outside of the Vehicle using the Radial Menu, this action requires ~40 seconds to right a flipped/stuck vehicle.

Updated all vehicles to use a new and improved Speed Dependent Gearbox system. Instead of shifting gears at engine RPM ratios, gear shifting now happens depending on vehicle speed. This will make sure vehicles are always in the best gear driving uphill.

Updated turret rotation sounds for Mortars, SPG9s, and other Deployable Tripod Emplacements.

Updated turret rotation sounds on the FV432 turret and the M1A2 Loaders turret.

Updated US Army MATV and US Logistics Truck to use plain green camo and chevron markings to match their other vehicles.

Updated Helicopter damage effects so they are more visible and epic. (That’s a technical term.)

Updated Helicopters to have a subtle camera shake during active flight. Camera shake intensity is based on RPMs of engine.

Updated Helicopters so that they can now be steered for a short while after disabling the engine.

Updated Helicopter tail and main rotor components. These components can now be repaired even if there is an object blocking their collision. The repair widget will show a UI message to indicate the obstruction. If the obstruction is not cleared and the engine is turned on, the rotors will break again. Be sure to clear any obstructions from the rotors BEFORE turning the engine back on.

Adjusted Helicopter collective sensitivity.

Adjusted UH60 & MI8 component health: tail & main rotor: 400hp (up from 300), engine component: 1200 (down from 1500).

Adjusted FV510: Removed the ammo rack. IFVs with ATGM and Tanks are the only vehicles now with the ammo rack vulnerability component.

Adjusted BMP-1 ZU23 to no longer require Crewman kit to operate.

Increased mag count for Ural ZU23, BMP-1 ZU23, and MTLB ZU23 from 5 to 10 mags.

Increased mag count for MATV, FV432, and Technical Dshk from 7 to 10 mags.

Fixed Player always facing east after exiting a vehicle.

Fixed input Yaw multiplier on helicopters being manually set in .cfg file.

Fixed Helicopter landing camera rotation on minimap.

Fixed Helicopter Altitude meter not being accurate past 1500m.

Fixed Helicopter wrecks being invisible after reconnecting to the server.

Fixed Technical (UB32) S5 Rocket projectiles not being visible at longer ranges.

Fixed S5 Rocket projectiles (Technical with UB-32 S5 Rockets) being able to fire from within the Main Base Protection Zone. Although the projectiles will always be destroyed, there is still some chance from other clients’ point of view that the projectiles will appear to be firing duds. We plan to eliminate vehicles from firing inside Main Base Protection Zone altogether in the future.

Fixed all tracked vehicles not turning well on the spot by adding an additional check on the current gear.

Fixed FV432, MTLB ZU23, BMP1 ZU23, and BTR80 respawn time to 6 minutes on all layers. (Previously 10 minutes on some layers.)

Fixed BTR80 Commander seat for RU Desert and Militia no longer has erroneous Crewman kit requirement.

Fixed T62 turret collision which caused occasional issues.

Fixed S5 rockets to have correct lasting effect on smoke trails.

Fixed some odd teleport bugs happening in certain situations around tank wrecks. Please do not taunt the Sphere.

Fixed helicopter rotor dust now blends properly with cockpit glass.

Deployables Gameplay

Updated Insurgent HAB static with a new interior layout to help eliminate players spawning on top. Spawning on top is still an occasional issue and will be fixed in a future update.

Fixed collisions on the ZU23 and Mortars to now collide properly with vehicles and vehicle physics bodies.

Fixed metal being too dark on the M252 Mortar. (Sorry Blind Guardian fans.)

User Interface

Added a toggle on the command screen to collapse the squad list, so the map can now be displayed in fullscreen glory. (Especially useful for Commanders.)

Added a chat bubble toggle to the deployment and command screens to show or hide text chat on HUD. (Also accessible in UI options.)

Added new Round Ending text messages based on an expanded range of ticket differential.

Added an “Enemy Helicopter” spotted map marker for SLs.

Added a toggle option in map controls for director lines on the minimap. Defaults to On.

Removed [GAMENOTIFICATION] showing up in server messages.

Removed vehicle respawn time estimates from the Ticket Legend in lieu of having more specific ticket info in the Vehicle Legend.

Removed the SL override for FTL markers: when SL places a marker, it will no longer auto-delete all FTL markers.

Updated FTL to allow placement of enemy markers.

Updated FTL to allow deletion of FTL markers only.

Updated FTL markers to be visible for all squad members.

Updated the Request Pickup icon: when this icon is placed on the map, any Helicopter Pilot or APC/IFV Driver will get a notification to pick up the Squad Leader that placed it.

Increased the length of time that the Adminwarn command stays on a player’s HUD.

Improved widescreen support in the deployment and command menu.

Fixed “No Respawn” Vehicles displaying a spawn time on the Vehicle List on the Command Map: they will now be listed with no respawn time.

Map Layers

We’ve created a layer spreadsheet for server owners here.

Al Basrah Insurgency v1: Removed a cache that spawned inside an un-enterable building near gas station.

Al Basrah Skirmish v1: Fixed missing map borders.

Chora AAS v2: Adjusted US and RU Vehicle spawn start locations to give a more balanced timing to arrive at the middle objective.

Chora Invasion v1: Night renamed to Choara Invasion v2.

Chora Skirmish v1: Fixed missing map borders.

Fools Road AAS v3: Renamed to AAS v2.

Fool’s Road Invasion v1: New map layer with GB vs MIL.

Fools Road Skirmish v1: Fixed missing map borders.

Jensens Range v1 v2 v3: Replaced old killhouse targets with static Insurgent AI bots and put in basic logic to reset the bots via in-world button.

Jensens Range v1 v2 v3: Added a contact call audio for the bots when they engage the player.

Jensen’s Range v1 v2 v3: Added Vehicle Bay spawner pads for helicopters.

Kamdesh RAAS v1: Changed factions to MIL vs INS.

Logar Insurgency v1: Fixed INS main spawn points disappearing after 5 minutes.

Mestia TC v1: Updated hex zone locations, swapping MIL to RUS.

Mutaha Skirmish v1: Decreased global storm wind sound on.

Mutaha TC v1: Fixed map boundary.

Narva RAAS v1: Removed Go Kart Track CP.

Narva Invasion v1: Updated layer for balancing strong defenders, including: Staging phase timer reduced. Set M1126 to delayed spawn. Added more initial randomized CPs: Narva Castle, Narva Heights, Kiriku, so that the first CP is not always an extremely fortified position.

Sumari AAS v1, AAS v2, RAAS v1, Skirmish v1, TC v1: Fixed the expiring pain volumes during staging phase, occasionally killing players unintentionally after ending.

Sumari AAS v1: Added a test of a “Ultra Dynamic Sky” for randomized real time day/night cycles.

Sumari Invasion v1: New map layer USA vs INS.

Sumari RAAS v1: Fixed INS Logistics starting locations.

Tallil RAAS v2: Fixed Eridu CP text being off center.

Tallil Tanks v1/v2 Experimental: Shortened name to just Tanks v1/v2 Increased number of CPs to 5 from 3.

Tutorial (Infantry): Fixed the flow of the Logistics truck section where the truck was already loaded with supplies before needing to drive off.

Tutorial (Infantry): Added in Engine highlights to the MI8 and Grouse to the vehicle ID board.

Tutorial (Infantry): Fixed Infantry Tutorial Killhouse wall collision at the front door to prevent grenades from bouncing back at the thrower.

Tutorial (Infantry): Removed top barriers in the prone section of the Infantry Tutorial to prevent players from getting blocked in this segment.

Tutorial (Infantry): Updated soldier and vehicle recognition billboards with the CAF.

Environments

Al Basrah: Updated lighting for several layers.

Al Basrah: Updated Basrah Airport POI to use the new Hescos and tweaked the layout.

Belaya: Updated lighting for several layers.

Belaya: Fixed the terrain Physmats to allow for much better offroad traction.

Belaya: Fixed glitched tractor in Babenki.

Belaya: Fixed Road Spline in grid K3, J3.

Belaya: Fixed Factory support beams having no collision.

Belaya: Fixed Hole in the landscape near Tunnel POI.

Belaya: Fixed floating water plane in grid E7.

Chora: Updated lighting for several layers.

Chora: Fixed bridge spline/landscape not leaving at the gap at bridge south of the lavender estate.

Chora: Fixed floating grass grid G8.

Chora: Fixed Chora rubble foliage not having collisions.

Fool’s Road: Updated with new surround terrain, new lighting along with an optimization pass.

Fool’s Road: Fixed locations player can get stuck in the underground Fortress POI.

Gorodok: Fixed several lighting errors and anomalies.

Jensen’s Range: Updated the lookout tower models to use the newer metal guard towers instead of the old hesco towers.

Kohat: Fixed floating road splines east of Radio Tower.

Kohat: Adjusted surround mountains to cast shadows.

Kokan: Updated lighting for several layers.

Logar: Updated lighting for several layers.

Logar: Fixed various floating rocks/debris.

Mestia: Updated lighting for several layers.

Mutaha: Fixed “T Building” collision tp prevent spawns underneath stairs.

Mutaha: Fixed minimap to include missing warehouses and other buildings.

Mutaha: Fixed floating compound in the south edge of map, west of the highway

Mutaha: Fixed mud physmat in rivers.

Narva: Fixed various buggy LOD’s.

Narva: Fixed collisions on dead trees at US Main.

Narva: Fixed Floating Road grid G6-6-6.

Sumari: Updated lighting for several layers.

Skorpo: Updated lighting for several layers and updated Landscape rock texture.

Skorpo: Fixed floating rock near Uskedalen Radio Station.

Skorpo: Fixed grass growing on highway near Haugland south.

Skorpo: Fixed glitchy rocks near waterfall grid L14-6-7.

Skorpo: Fixed hole in landscape in grid O12-7-5.

Yehorvika: Updated lighting for several layers and adjusted tree colour saturation.

Yehorivka: Adjusted brightness of the autumn trees on yeho to be less vibrant.

Yehorivka: Fixed small errors on minimap and removed helipads off minimap. (H icon indicates Helipad.)

Fixed Workshop building collisions so players can no longer vault through the windows.

Fixed Industrial Offices collision so players can no longer vault through the windows.

Fixed lighting error on metal wall and corrugated fence statics.

Fixed incorrect collisions on concrete rubble piles.

Fixed incorrect collisions on Pinyon Pines.

Fixed pine tree collisions.

Fixed lighting issues with the wheat fields.

Fixed bad texture on dead pine logs.

Fixed Skorpo Norwegian Building collisions with Rallypoint glitching.

Modder Improvements

Added physmat mud_light as a driveable physmat. Renamed old mud physmat mud_deep for riverbeds and areas that are hard to pass for vehicles.

Removed vehicle resource weapons and added resources to SQVehicleResorceWeaponInventoryComponent: modders will need to update their custom vehicles to migrate to the new “SQVehicleResorceWeaponInventoryComponent” to replace the old ResourceWeaponInventoryComponent.

Updated the SQMapBoundary to automatically generate its boundary on the minimap, so modders no longer have to manually paint the Map Boundary onto the minimap. Its use can be seen on Tallil or Kohat, otherwise where helicopters are featured.

Updated BP_Vehicle_Spawner to have an auto alignment to help automate placing vehicles on map layers and auto fixing vehicle spawner glitches. This can be adjusted or turned off.

Misc

Added the ability to join another server via server browser while currently in a server or in local training range.

Added the ability to queue up to another server while currently in a server or in local training range. The HUD will show a small queue widget to let the player know their current queue status.

Added a clamp for gamma. Only apply Gamma changes immediately while not in match.

Added a Listmaps admin command.

Improved the ability for servers to log commands through RCON.

Fixed a bug on the Server Browser that prevented the Enter key from being able to confirm a server password when enter is pressed.

Laying the groundwork for whitelisting.

Known Issues

Commander: Map icon for Commander shows up on the Map as the SL’s Squad number, instead of a Star. This will be fixed in a future update to align the map CO icon with all the other icons for CO, which is a star.

Commander: A-10 gun run & SU25 rocket strike sometimes lands way off-target. Work is in progress.

Commander: UAV camera view experiences dramatic z-fighting, especially at high levels of zoom. Work in progress.

Helicopter Tail Rotor component currently can only take damage from collisions with ground, statics and other vehicles. Projectile damage to tail rotors will come in a future update.

Helicopters have various handling tweaks, damage values, and small bugs that will be addressed in a future update.

Vehicle Reset Feature does not currently work with Helicopters.

Clients frequently crash at the end of a round, upon map switch due to a UE4 Particle Crash bug upon seamless map travel. Actively pursuing a fix for this crash.

When clients get a crash to desktop and the Crash Reporter appears, pressing “Send and Restart Squad” will restart Squad without EAC, which will prevent players from joining most public servers. Workaround solution for the time being is to press “Send and Close”. A proper fix for this issue is under investigation.

Occasional client crashes in various circumstances. Detailed crash reports help us fix things faster and we truly appreciate those that have filled out and sent crash reports.

Players will occasionally spawn without full ammo on their first spawn on a server. This occurs if a player was in the match during map switch but did not spawn in during the staging phase. Work in progress.

Occasionally a player will not spawn at a Rally Point. This often happens when numerous players are spawning in at the exact same time. Actively investigating a fix for this bug.

Server performance may periodically dip when a server has a high population and high load. We are continuously working to improve server performance and optimization.

Occasionally Self-bandaging fails. Actively investigating a fix for this issue.

The CP Icon (Capture Point / Flag) will sometimes not show up on a client’s HUD in the RAAS game mode. This is related to the RAAS “Lanes” feature. Investigating a fix for this issue.

Insurgent HAB still has a spawning issue where there’s a chance the player will spawn on top of the model instead of inside it. Actively investigating a fix for this bug.

ATGM projectiles desync for other players that are not the gunner, however, what the gunner sees should be the true synced projectile. This is an inherent problem, and the solution will be in the long term.

Vehicles parking brake will get stuck “On” if a player exits the vehicle while holding the parking brake (Default Spacebar). When encountering a vehicle that appears healthy but is not able to move, try hitting Spacebar to turn the parking brake “Off’.

Alt-tabbing out of Squad during a loading screen will freeze the client. The recommended solution, for now, is to run in “Borderless” mode.

Ammo rack component (on IFVs and Tanks) takes a very long time to repair.

Audio module for Squad is initialised at the game start. If a Player does not have a microphone plugged in at launch, or accidentally unplug their microphone and then plug it back in, Squad will need to be restarted to get the microphone to work again.

SFX bug while Firing in full auto. If the player presses the fire button for a short period of time, the sound effect gives the impression that you fired more rounds then you actually did.

Localization for most language translations is currently out of date. Our plan is to push a full localization pass when we are much closer to full release and are locking down all the text that will need to be translated for the game.

Local/Offline Bug with Vehicles: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Tracks, Wheels, and other components are not destructible while on the Jensen’s Range in Local play.

Local/Offline Bug with Weapon damages: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range, Weapon damages with both Infantry and Vehicle weapons are not accurately replicated.

Local/Offline Bug with Scoped Emplacements: When playing offline on Jensen’s Range,if a player exits an Emplacement while looking thru the scope, the Scope will remain on the Player’s

HUD until they get back in the Emplacement and then Scope out.

Commander – When the commander changes to the UAV camera, he cannot hear local audio anymore, even though he still sees local audio transmissions in the bottom left corner. Others can still hear him when he talks. Additionally, when leaving the UAV camera, he will then hear all of the local audio broadcasts at the same time, originating from the point where they were originally transmitted from – even if the person doing the transmission has moved afterward.

Local/Offline Bug with Commander – Insurgent / Militia Handheld Drone does not move in local.

Local/Offline Bug with Commander – UAV hovers in one position instead of moving along the flight path in local.

Local/Offline Bug with Commander – CAS does not do damage in local.

CAF soldiers are unable to use the radial menu to access the commander Air Strike abilities. A fix is in progress.

Offworld out.