Issue order

"I don't gripe to *you*, Reiben. I'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on."

— Capt. John Miller, Saving Private Ryan

In a command structure, superiors issue orders to subordinates, who are compelled to follow them. The supposition is that superiors have access to knowledge not available to everyone, and that their orders will fulfill some goal related to this knowledge.

Though there are no penalties imposed on Battlefield players who do not follow orders, there are plenty of incentives for players to follow through. The ability to issue and follow orders adds a layer of depth to Battlefield games not seen in many team-based FPSes. Players can test their leadership skills as a commander or squad leader, or join a squad and find how they can best support their teammates.

An objective is the target of an order.

Issuing orders in-game

In games featuring a command structure, squad leaders can issue the following commands:

Attack

Placed on enemy or neutral control points.

Defend

Placed on friendly control points.

Move

Placed outside of control points. In some games, players may not earn success points for a move order.

Repair

Placed on team-controlled strategic objects such as commander assets or bridges.

Destroy

Placed on enemy-controlled strategic objects.

Though control point ownership may change, players still earn success points for killing attackers at a friendly control point even if the Attack order is still active, for example.

Orders by game title

Battlefield 1942 era

Though Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam do not feature a command structure, players can still earn points by capturing a control point.

Battlefield 2 era

Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 allow certain players to issue orders to others via the Commo rose or Map view. Kills and support actions performed near an objective earn Success Points for the squad leader. Support actions performed on squad mates also earn Squad Member Assist points for the player giving them. Commanders earn points only in relation to success points earned by players under their command.

• Attack objectives are represented by a sword icon.
• Defend objectives are represented by a shield icon.
• Move objectives are represented by a down arrow.
• Repair objectives are represented by a wrench icon.

Bad Company era

Battlefield: Bad Company and its sequel do not feature order issuing, but still provides players with bonus points related to objectives automatically set by the game mode, and to squad cohesion.

• Attack or Destroy objectives are represented by a red diamond.
• Defend objectives are represented by a blue square.

Battlefield 3

The squad leader role returns to Battlefield 3, with squadmates being able to spawn only on the squad leader (but not on other squadmates), and the squad leader possessing the ability to spawn on any squadmate.