Are my allies just for show?

Question

I recently got Battlefield 4, and started playing through the campaign. There's a feature that lets you tell your squad when to "engage" the enemy. The tutorial at the beginning describes this in a way that implies that this will result in my allies helping me kill the enemies.

I see my allies shooting, but there doesn't appear to be any effect. This also seems to be the case when not "engaging". I don't know how many times I've shot someone a couple times, saw that my allies were right behind me, and moved up, expecting them to finish him. I turn around, and there are three guys shooting him, and nothing is happening. Not only does he not die, he ignores them and turns and continues to shoot at me.

Do my allies actually do anything?

PhoenixFieryn · Accepted Answer

Not exactly. They do do something:

Act as target dummies
Deal little bits of damage to your enemy
Look cool

So kind of: they just soak up damage for you (which is helpful in my opinion)

Ivan Solntsev · Answer

They passively engage every enemy that shoot at them.

If you aim at high score, you need to kill enemies yourself. If your ally kill enemy, you only get half of points.

You can use "Q" button to give them order to engage enemies.

Later in plot you will have tank under your command, that also will follow your orders same way.

user101016 · Answer

Simply put, it is a game mechanic that puts the effort on you.  It is reasonable to suggest that the outcome is by design.  You shouldn't be able to get through the game without firing a shot.  It takes away effort, skill and enjoyment.

I found that during Battlefield 3 you could hang back and allow your allies to clear out most enemies for you during many parts of the game.  This isn't the case in Battlefield 4.  Your allies don't do anything but shoot aimlessly unless you instruct them to engage enemies.

I agree that your allies don't kill enemies quickly, but from my experience they will pick off enemies during a reasonable time frame.  Enemies out of cover appear to get killed a lot quicker, as do enemies at a closer range.

Near the end of the first level you can also use the helicopter to engage enemies.  This usually brings down enemies very quickly.

Overall, I found that the way the allies work is balanced enough to allow you to obtain high scores (as mentioned in other answers, you get more points for taking the kills yourself).  Over the course of a gun battle your allies will drop enemies one by one to keep things moving along.  Although the outcome isn't completely realistic, it is balanced in such a way to allow you to play the game as intended.

Izaac · Answer

A.I squads in battlefield 4 are useless they're just there for show

Are my allies just for show?

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