Hans Fitzgerald's Guide: "Squad Defence" [CENTRAL POWERS]

Hey, you!
Do you want to level up quickly but not want to grind through the painful frontlines that is Frontline?
Do you want to kill people but not want to get out-sniped over and over again in Rifle Deathmatch?
Do you want to work with a team but still be coordinated similar to Frontline outside of Attrition?
Do you still want to have the fun of Attrition without playing against other players?
Do you want to have squads and abilities that you can use to help coordinate a successful defense/offense against the enemy without being in Frontlines?
Then Squad Defence (hereby referred to as Defense because I am an amerikaner) is a perfect game mode for you and your squad!
A player-versus-enemy game mode, you can find endless (literally!) fun (probably not) in defending against hordes of enemies that will never stop coming! Hold the line, gott mit uns, and grab your tea, because we'll be diving straight into the mechanics and tips and tricks I have learned over my 26 hours of game play for:
SQUAD DEFENSE!

"What is Squad Defense?"

Squad Defense is essentially a Player-versus-enemy game mode where you defend against an endless onslaught of hostiles that will want your head!
Player-versus-enemy (PVE) means that instead of fighting a horde of endless players similar to Frontline, you are instead fighting against AI or NPCs. These NPCs aren't hard, but similar to the Flood, its not their strength that makes them hard, its their overwhelming numbers that will get to you once you get too cocky.
Squad Defense is not too hard, but it can be a time killer once you really get into a good game. Strap your boots, because this guide will get very analytical!

"What squad do I choose?"

Because this is a Central Powers guide, this will ONLY focus on the Central Powers squads. We will briefly go over each one.
Each squad has been carefully looked over by a Level 42 (as of 6/2/2019) with 26 hours of gameplay over 3 days.

Alpenjäger

"In treue fest!"
"The Alpenkorps was the elite of the German Army. As a lightweight unit, the Alpenjäger advance to close proximity of the enemy using the "Scharfschütze" as cover and the recon plane as guidance. The "Aufklärer" scout will then take care of the nearby enemies as the "Überwacher" observes their positions."
- Verdun's actual description of the Alpenjager.
The Alpenjäger (hereby referred to as Alpenjager) are essentially the elites of the German Army. They are lightweight units based around recon and sniping play styles. They are based around an aggressive offensive play style, however, because this is a DEFENSE game, this won't help us too much, but they still have their place.

Landser

"Gott mit uns!"
The "Landser" were the standard German infantry soldiers. They have the ability to rapidly lock down sectors with accurate rifle fire and machine gun support from the MG08/15. They can also count on their Minenwerfer and the 7.7cm Feldkanone for artillery support.
- Verdun's actual description of the Landser.
The Landser are a regular rifle squad, and thus bring almost nothing new to the table. However, they DO have a MG08/15 which can be extremely useful for locking down an area in the trenches. However, they are slightly based around an offensive role. This wont be very useful to the team to say the least. Creeping Bombardment won't help a lot because it goes to TWO sectors, yet the enemy will only be coming from ONE, and you definitely do NOT want to barrage your own sector with artillery. Therefore, the Landser can be quite effective, although the NCO's artillery won't be of much help.

Stoßtrupp

[IMAGE CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE]
"Providentiae Memor!"
"Formed in response to trench warfare, elite lightweight units fought using infiltration tactics, grenades and experimental weapons. They can count on increasingly powerful chemical agents to harass the enemy and cover their infiltration."
- Verdun's actual description on the Stoßtrupp
Despite them being based all around assault and being on the offensive, they do surprisingly good on the defensive! This is mainly because of the Waffenspezialist's MP18i on close quarters maps, but I digress. The gas shells used by the NCO have saved me on many, MANY occasions and is extremely useful when you're about to be overrun! The rest still are quite useful, and with rifles, SMGs and grenades, you can easily lock down the whole trench and make it to Wave 12 without losing any sectors!

Schutzen

"Furchtlos und treu!"
"Based on rear-line and static units such as the Landwehr, the Schützen can deploy an array of siege weapons to counter enemy resistance. They can hold onto their sectors using equipment such as body armor to give them a defensive edge."
- Verdun's actual description on the Schutzen
Despite being based around defense, in my opinion, they are quite BAD at defending. This is because they are based around the Frontline game mode and NOT squad defense. Your body armor is merely cosmetic, as it does almost nothing to protect you against bullets. Forget about trying to get abilities, because you'll have to do a lot of grinding with friends in order to get even just one tier of body armor! Its ridiculous! The Schutzen are not very good for defense, although get a good machinegun, the MG15NA for defense. You also get a scope for your rifleman and adequate enough NCO abilities.
EDIT:
Credit to Yuithgf for adding this:
The Schutzen DO get a sniper rifle scope, and also a Gewehr 98 with a Grabenmagazin. This increases your magazine capacity by a LOT, meaning you won't die whilst reloading any time soon. This is extremely useful in Squad Defense, and even ups the amount of total ammo you have. With this however comes a slow reload speed(?) as the grabenmagazin is not a detachable box magazine. Regardless, with high ammo capacity and great stopping power, it perhaps makes a great weapon in defending your trench.

And finally, the best for last!:

PIONIERE

"Anker-Wirf!"
"An elite German formation, the German Garde-Reserve-Pioniere became infamous for their use of the flamethrower. They are also equipped with heavy explosives and can count on smoke barrages to close in on strongpoints."
They are both an offensive and a defensive sort of squad. HOWEVER! The thing that is the BEST for squad defense is the Wechelsparrat M1917 "Wex!" The Wex is powerful in close quarters maps, and can immediately mop up any incoming hostiles that are grouped up! The NCO has adequate enough abilities, although begins with a smokescreen, and best of all, you still retain a machine-gunner! Truly one of the best squads in my opinion just because of a flamethrower!
EDIT:
Credit to Yuithgf for adding this:
The Pioneers also have access to the Madsen machine gun. Its apparently one of the most accurate machine guns, and was actually one of the first machine guns made. Produced in 1902 in Denmark(?) it was also used during World War 1. It resembles a BAR in my opinion, and the BAR was potentially based off of this weapon. Regardless, from my knowledge, it can either use 30 to 40 box round magazines. This means you won't run out of ammo too fast assuming you still have a lot in reserve.

"So what am I gonna be up against?"

To tell you quite honestly:
Not a lot.
You'll mainly be fighting against filthy french frogs and British Bastards Colonial (BBC) and the Yanks from the west. However, that doesn't mean they can kick your ass up and down the front!
You will be mainly fighting against riflemen, NCOs with pistols, bayonets, melee users, grenades, and hell, sometimes a shot gunner. (Damned barbarians![owlcation.com])
However, don't get discouraged! You can still kick THEIR asses up and down the front sending them back home to the king/queen/president/elected leader of the nation crying for their mothers! The next section will cover mechanics of Squad Defense!

"How does it work?" [SQUAD DEFENSE EXPLAINED!]

WARNING! THIS IS A VERY LONG SECTION!
Now, lets start things off!
On the first wave, things will be fairly simple. Riflemen and pistols.
You will now notice that the NPCs have Stoßtruppen aim and cant hit for scheiße. (Literally!) However, don't get too cocky, as sometimes they can get a lucky hit on you! If you hear a sound of your helmet getting shot at, chances are, you have been shot, "No scheiße, Hans! This game mode doesn't sound challenging at all then!"
False. This game can still be challenging if your team doesn't coordinate well enough. There are other mechanics and secret things that can and will kick your ass back to the Kaiser if you don't keep reading, dummkopf!

Ahem, anyways:
Getting shot is no problem, just wait in cover, reload if you need to, and peek your head over the parapets or any cover and shoot. However, if you're fighting against THREE or MORE enemies, easier said than done. Which is why I will now tell you about the MOST important controls and keybindings used in Squad Defense!

IMPORTANT KEY BINDINGS

ALPHA 4: This equips your gas mask. The 4 key is not on the number pad if you don't have one, but rather is literally on the top of your keyboard next to the R and E if you are using a QWERTY typewriter to play. Your gas mask may restrict your view because of how the German Model 17 gas mask was designed.
Heres a picture of your gas mask if you were curious.


Q KEY: The Q key is used for the COMMAND menu. It seriously annoys me when players play as the NCO, but NEVER place down an order! Even if they do, its OUT of the trench! Heres a quick reminder: players have to be INSIDE the white circle IN ORDER to gain BONUS experience points for following orders! It drives me nuts when people place it far outside the trench, and I have to tell them or silently accept the fact they're new to the game! So please, place down orders, but don't place them 100 meters away from the trench!

R KEY: This reloads your gun. "No Scheiße, Hans!" slowly pulls out reichsrevolver However, not ALL German guns can be reloaded one bullet at the time. Guns such as the C96 cannot be reloaded one bullet at a time, and the whole magazine (Clip?) has to be depleted in order to load a fresh clip in. However, you get a powerful and high capacity pistol that will serve you well. Ah, the marvels of German Engineering!

F KEY: This key does more than pay respects to Adolf Hitler, who was nearly killed in WW1 by a British soldier![www.bbc.com] This key ALSO uses your MELEE! Seriously, If I had a Goldmark(?) for every time I had someone be the last on our team and get their pickelhaubes bashed in by a British Broadcasting Corporation™, I would have enough to help fuel a second world war! (Whoops.[en.wikipedia.org]) USE YOUR MELEE! If you're stuck in a bad spot and you have a bayonet, USE YOUR MELEE! I cannot stress this enough, if you're toe to toe with a doughboy and you're reloading yet you have a pointy piece of metal on the end of your rifle, USE YOUR MELEE! Bayonet kills, feldspaten and trench maces will instant kill, but if you dont have any knife on you, a bash with your rifle will kill in two hits. However, don't just stand there and stab them, attempt to circle around them (or circumvent) in order to force them to miss a melee attack. This also applies to game modes OUTSIDE of Verdun, the more you know!

Anyways, those are the most IMPORTANT key bindings. Keep them in the back of your head, because now its time to get into the basics of Squad Defense!

WAVES & WHAT THEY BRING

THE FIRST WAVE!

Upon looking at your mini map, you may notice that there is a shield on the map. This is the area of which the enemies will be headed to to capture your trench. And yes, they CAN capture it. You don't just have to die, you can also fail to kill all enemies in a certain span of time, so you can't just camp in the dug outs, Fritz! You must go out and hunt them down, not just stay in a bunker like Hitler did in World War 2! like a coward!
In short, hunt down the enemy near the shield icon on the map. Always defend the area around it, as they will NOT be attacking anywhere else. Position yourself accordingly and prepare to mount a defense!
AMMO BOXES!
You heard me, you are able to RESUPPLY YOUR MUNITIONS in Squad Defense!
Simply look on the map for an ammo box icon, which will have a bullet and a box. Walk towards it, and press F on it to grab ammo. Make sure you're really low on ammo, but never wait until its too late! Once used, it will be empty. Try not to be too selfish, you have 3 other team mates that use and need ammo too!

WAVE 2: ARTILLERY BOOGALOO!

On the second wave, you may notice that you will be barraged by artillery. Don't panic! Depending on where the shield is, there is something vital I must say:

STAY AWAY FROM THE SHIELD DURING ARTILLERY!

If you walk into that shield during the barrage, you WILL get blown the hell up! I repeat, walking into the shield during a barrage CAN and WILL get you killed! I've seen entire squads get wiped out by THREE well placed shells, so I'll say this again:

STAY AWAY FROM THE SHIELD DURING ARTILLERY!

You can also predict how far away you need to run by looking at your map. You can look at your map, as mentioned prior, with the M key. This will enlarge the map. Search for a red target crosshair thing on the map, which will indicate where the artillery will strike. However, it will always be directly on or near the shield.
However, prepare to mount a defense after you run away! if you feel as if the artillery is dwindling down, proceed to defend but do so with EXTREME caution! You'll never know if a stray shell will kill both you and the enemy!

As a quick note, ARTILLERY will strike every two waves. So on every even numbered wave, prepare for artillery strikes and run away from the shield! But never run too far away, as you still have a trench to defend!

Also, you may notice that you have your OWN artillery to use! This is awarded to the player who had achieved the most score in the game or have done the most performance. It is advised that you ONLY use the artillery when everyone else is dead, and you're close to being overwhelmed and overrun. However, don't use it too often, leave at least ONE artillery call for emergency usage when that situation comes. You'll be glad you did! Take EXTREME Caution of when you use it! If the enemy is in your trench and you use it, you might find yourself without limbs and six feet under, because you CAN kill yourself with your own artillery!

WAVE 3: THE SEQUEL NO ONE ASKED FOR

Nothing special can be said about Wave 3, although you may encounter that the enemy will use smoke bombs to cover their advance. Trust me, this is irritating, especially when you're in the heat of battle. However, nothing that a little bit of blind fire can do.
Also, you should be aware that the NPCs can throw grenades! Trust me, I've died SEVERAL times to grenades from NPCs!
You will also notice that there are Machine Gunner NPCs. They are literally almost no threat, because they hipfire their MGs and never full auto it from my experiences. They don't even set it up, they simply just hipfire. However, they can easily keep you pinned if you don't deal with them.

WAVE 4: GAS, GAS, GAS!

On Wave 4, instead of artillery, you'll be up against Phosgene Gas! If you chose Stosstruppen as your squad, your chlorine shells won't do much as they'll have gas masks. This will heavily restrict your view, so if you need to, grab your rifles and walk out of the cloud and wait for the enemies to run in and snipe them. I find it easy to get overrun just because of your view being blocked.

[WAVES AND WHAT THEY BRING] PART 2.

WAVE 5: INSERT CLEVER JOKE HERE

With wave 5, you should have the gist of things. Nothing too special happens here, except that HQ will send a Recon Plane to fly over your trenches. This recon plane will mark any enemies on your minimap, which you can open by holding M. The enemies are red dots, and this useful for showing where the guys are coming from and where they're going. The recon plane comes every 5 waves.

So, this is basically ALL you need to know about the waves, now lets talk about some general advice to help you get through!

NOT ONE STEP BACK! (okay, maybe sometimes)

You're overrun and you're the last guy alive. Here's one thing you don't do: DO NOT RUN. Yes, you CAN run, but do NOT run all the way back to the first trench. Your trench can and WILL get captured if you don't kill all the enemies. Your top priority is staying alive and killing as much as possible with as few rounds as possible. If you run too far back, you're too focused on staying alive rather than making a final stand to kill them and try again with your team later. This really agitates me when my team mate only keeps running and barely gets any kills in because they're scared to get shot at. Take some hits, get to cover, but do NOT run away from the shield.

Kill them all!

Remember, to pass a wave you must KILL all enemies in your trench. If they're in your trench and you haven't killed them, go do it right now. If your trench is being captured and you're just standing around like a lemon, look for the enemy near the shield, and kill them. Beware of enemies on the parapets, which brings us to our next advice:

STAY AWARE!

Enemies can and will flank you in the trenches. As a quote from Murphy's Laws of War,
"Fortify your front, and you'll get your rear all shot up."
Essentially, make sure you never focus too much on one side. An enemy CAN and WILL sneak up on you, and before you know it, it'll be too late and you'll be dead. Always check behind you. If your character flinches, that means you've been shot at. And if you don't see anyone infront of you and you've double checked, try turning around.

[npc]

4th role? You mean the Gale(?) I'm unsure what its called. GEW 98 with a grabenmagazin is sort of disappointing for me because I sort of expected an actual detachable box magazine, but I guess that wasn't really thought about for rifles.
I do think that in my opinion the Madsen is sort of forgetable because I don't know my weapons that well. Thanks for your additions, they will soonly be added to the guide.

[Yuithgf]

great guide. however im just gonna add 2 things:
-another advantage the pionere have is the madsen, which is the most accurate MG the germans can get (which doesnt say much, ill give it to you). as you end up facing a lot of ennemies, having an MG that runs out of ammo less easily is always appreciated.

-you should retry the schutzens, but take the 4th role and get a gew 98 with a grabenmagazin. its near perfect for this gamemode, and i personally think its the 2nd best non-MG weapon for squad defense.