Squad Mates

Squad Mates is the official name of a squad-based high-intensity war game that was created by a consortium of military top brass in order to train civilians and law enforcement in advanced infantry tactics, communications, weapons handling and other squad-based military skills that would typically be taught to soldiers in basic training and throughout their career. The prime purpose of this was to prepare for oncoming future wars and to help cut down on training costs and times. The game caught on with immense popularity among male youth but eventually drew in females and adults too. The game quickly evolved from isolated arenas to a full on sport complete with many venues of different locales, divisions, teams, fanfare, CommNET streams, merchandise and sponsorships.

Players are referred to as Squaddies.

The most important piece of equipment any Squaddie uses is the Training and Colored Marking Round, otherwise known as a TRAC Round. These are rounds that use a plastic and gelatin compound mix that is filled with a number of colors that can withstand the pressures of firing from a rifle in order to strike at targets. Upon impact the round bursts leaving a visible, and painful, hit indicator on their body. Depending on where they are hit it can count as an injury or a kill shot. The official color of the Squad Mates Consortium is blood red and you can only use this color during SMC sanctioned matches. Other colors are available for purchase for unofficial games however no variant of the color red can be purchased. This is to appease politicians who raised concerns about the public and law enforcement being able to readily identify players of the game with real shooters. The weapons also have distinct markings to differentiate game weapons against real weapons.

The weapons used are a wide combination of Rifles, pistols, SMGs, LMGs and long rifles. The rounds have reduced powder charges which typically keeps them below lethal velocity however serious injury can still occur during play. Shotguns are rare as TRAC Shotgun shells are expensive and not always reliable.

Game Modes
Squad Mates has several modes of play which are officially recognized in the player handbook. These games fall into two categories: Official Ranked and Official Unranked.

Official Ranked Game Modes
Official Ranked game modes are played in SMC sanctioned tournament settings. These matches typically count for prestige, or points, which also advance teams up a ladder towards a top ranking spot. Prestige can be gained or lost during official events.


 * Operations: This is the main game mode of Squad Mates.  In this mode, teams of players (2 or more teams of 4 - 8 players) take to the Field with a series of objectives to fight over.  The objectives are generated in real time, giving the teams no time to prepare for them which means they will need to rely on improvisation and communication to overcome the battle.  This is because the nature of warfare is fluid and what you trained to do and are good at may not necessarily prepare you for rapidly and dynamically changing operations.  Objectives can also change mid-game based on battlefield conditions.  For example, a game with 3 teams of 8 players could have an objective be to capture a downed helicopter and as two teams approach and get into a large gun battle, an objective may dynamically generate nearby for the third team to secure a nearby vantage point over the battle so that they can fire on the two teams fighting over the wreck while at the same time the helo objective may disappear for them as trying to run into a capture zone that two teams are fighting over would incur casualties.  Likewise, if someone on either of the fighting teams happens to catch the third team moving into that position and they relay the info to their squad's command group, a dynamic optional objective to intercept or repel that team might come up.  Each completed objective, whatever it is, awards points.  Theoretically there are unlimited objectives but in order to keep the games from going on forever, they last 2 hours, until all enemies are eliminated or until one team has scored 100 points over the enemy team.  The mercy rule goes into effect at that point and the team with 100+ points over the next team wins.  This prevents a trounce and also prevents a team from turtling an objective and making an impregnable defense.
 * Grand Operations: This game mode is similar to operations except the games last longer, are on much larger battlefields and have more teams participating.  While an operations match may have between 2 - 4 teams of 4 - 8 players at any given time, Grand Operations can have up to 16 teams of up to 16 players per team.  This mode is usually played as the first mode of a championship tournament as this is a great mode to weed out the bottom teams where then other game modes would come into play after the advancing teams move on.  This mode also tends to have special objectives that give teams advantages in other game modes further down the line such as extra respawns (lives), different or better weapons, machine gun turrets, extra defensive items, etc.  There is no mercy rule in Grand Operations.  It's not unheard of for tentative alliances to form in Grand Ops as well as large scale firefights to break out that can take up to an hour to resolve.
 * Ambush: This game mode is split into 2 rounds with attacking and defending teams.  This game mode is typically played with 2 teams fighting over a convoy.  The team riding with the Convoy, or the defending team, must repel the attacking team and defend the convoy itself.  The game is lost for the defenders if the item of interest is captured even if the defending team still has living members or if all members of the defending team are defeated.  The game is lost for attackers if the defenders can extract the item and escape with it, taking it to a drop zone or if the attacking team is defeated.  After a round ends, the teams switch and the game restarts.
 * Annihilation: This is a standard deathmatch game mode.  The objective here is to eliminate the enemy team.  There are no respawn waves in official ranked games.  These are played best 3 out of 5.
 * Elimination: This is a twist on the annihilation game mode where the goal is to eliminate a specific member of the enemy team, selected at random.  The teams can keep respawning until the marked target is eliminated.  At that point, the rest of the team still needs to be eliminated as they can no longer respawn
 * Siege: Attack and defend game mode.  One team defends an objective such as a computer while another team attacks the objective.  Defenders win if they can eliminate the enemy team. Attackers win if they can defeat the enemy team or complete the objective.

Official Unranked Game Modes
Official unranked game modes are modes that are only played out of tournaments or championships. They are official modes however created by the SMC. They don't count for prestige, tournament or seed standing however they do often contain prize money of some kind.


 * Free For All: As the name implies, there are no teams.  While alliances can form, eventually those alliances must break.  These matches last for up to 30 minuets or until there's only one person standing; whichever comes first.  This is a common game mode used by tournament teams to scout potential new players.
 * Chaos: This is essentially an Operation game mode with a twist.  It takes the teams and shuffles them up, meaning players from different teams may end up on the same team. This mode is meant to simulate the battlefield chaos of entire squads and companies being wiped out and different squads reconsolidating and working together to press an objective.  All other Operation rules still apply.
 * Endless War: This game mode is unique in that it basically is a game mode that lasts for a long period of time, usually over 6 hours.  It is a special form of the Operations. game mode  It's typically done for charity but also at random times through the year.  This mode simulates a long standing battle where fresh troops come in to relieve battle weary troops.  It can result in wildly changing game planes and major shifts in the front lines as teams swap in and out.  Teams can enter and leave the war at will.  Prize money is given out based on performance.  This is one of the few game modes where it isn't uncommon to see professional teams going up against civilians or non-tournament teams but due to the nature of the game mode there are far fewer chances to trounce the enemy due to skill.

Unofficial Games
Unofficial games are games that are not played with SMC backing. These are done in private arenas which result in private rule sets most likely being introduced. The actual games played in these events can range from any of the official types to bastardized types that are made up by the venue hosts on the spot. Since there is no prize money these kinds of games can be expensive. There may or may not be paramedics or security on standby incase of emergencies depending on the venue.

Rules, Regulations and Precedents
Squad Mates is, at it's heart, a war sport. Because of this, there are obviously rules and regulations that need to be followed to keep players as safe as they can and to avoid any unnecessary injuries. Injuries are expected in any sport however. There are rules pertaining to general play or "surrendered or dead", otherwise known as SOD players

General Rules

 * 1) Players may not shoot SOD players intentionally.
 * 2) SOD players may not shoot back at other players
 * 3) SOD players may not speak to anyone on the field
 * 4) Radios are immediately disabled once the system registers the player enters SOD state
 * 5) Players may not shoot other players in the head or face within arms reach
 * 6) Shooting the helmet is allowed as in some cases this is the way to get around body armor
 * 7) No real ammunition or weapons are allowed
 * 8) All weapons and ammunition must be checked by SMC officials and signed off on
 * 9) All equipment must be signed off on by SMC officials
 * 10) No equipment can be used that will cause intentional damage, permanent or otherwise, to other players
 * 11) Items that are guided are not permitted
 * 12) Use of aerial surveillance is only permitted to drones and special circumstances
 * 13) No items can be used that interfere with emergency responders
 * 14) This includes radio jammers that target wide ranges of frequencies
 * 15) Players are not permitted to remove their helmets or protective gear while on any part of the active field unless in a sheltered safe area or receiving actual medical treatment

Regulations

 * 1) All weapons must have a distinguishable blue color to the bolt/charging handles/reloading mechanism in order to differentiate them from real weapons
 * 2) All weapons must have blue markings on the barrel to indicate it is a barrel that cannot fire real ammunition of it's caliber
 * 3) Artillery or other indirect explosives are not allowed in the war games
 * 4) Players can still use TRAC Grenades and TRAC 40mm grenades
 * 5) No missiles or rockets are permitted

Surrendering
Over the course of a Squad Mates game, a player or team may need to surrender. There are several ways to do this. Surrendering is generally considered a bad tactic in a fight as in a war surrendering is not a good thing to do. Because of that, it carries a substantial hit to tournament standing under most circumstances. There are a few exceptions to this point loss.


 * 1) Official:  To officially surrender, a team would contact their command element and let them know that they wish to surrender.  At that point the command element would inquire as to why.  After they receive the reason, the command element would then relay the request to the officials overseeing the tournament which will then stop the game and mark the surrender on the team that called it, put it on their record and give the win to the other team.  Teams who surrender in this way are usually removed from the championship circuit if they are in it or are capable of joining it and must regain their status by winning 3 league games in a row or performing well enough in 3 games, win or lose, that they're deemed worth to rejoin.  The team will also lose any championship seeds they have.
 * 2) Unofficial:  This is a strange occurrence but this can happen when communication from command is unable to be established.  Normally if there is a situation that breaks that communication then the game will be stopped by SMC officials and the game will be put on hold but if a team can't contact their command then they have the option, as a team, to come to a consensus of whether to continue the game or not.  It isn't advised to continue as the team will no longer be able to get updated objectives however if the game has a clear objective they can still play.  The option to surrender only comes up if the SMC can't be contacted and the situation can't be explained.  After 5 minutes, the surrender can be called.  This method carries a penalty like an official surrender however it isn't as bad.  The team won't be removed from any championship standings as this is the preferred course of action by SMC officials.  This surrender does carry a slight tournament penalty because as the saying goes, "In the absence of orders, run toward the gunfire".  Normally the SMC will set up a rematch date in this case between the teams as the issue was most likely an SMC problem and not a team problem.
 * 3) Emergency:  While it's generally against the rules to do so, Squads can surrender by removing their helmets and waving them above their head back and forth.  Teams are to automatically stop the match whenever they see this occur.  Any team that fires at someone who's surrendering in this manner automatically loses the match and the surrendering team will then win.   This method of surrendering is only acceptable if the reason involves the personal safety of the players or officials.  If determined to be a correct surrender, no points or tournament standing is lost and a rematch is scheduled.  This method of surrendering is immediate and to the point; meaning the command elements generally have no input in this decision.  These types of surrenders are initiated by the highest ranking member of the team that can make the call based on field judgements.