Project Reality Forums

Well, this is really a thing which has been bugging me. My attitude towards commanders.

I really think their all noobs. Which is wrong. They take the hard job of being a commander. But i just... I cant get comfortable with it. Why? Is it cause they constantly make decisions that are stupid? Or i think they are stupid?

I know the Commander thing has been discussed to death. But i want people to start respecting the commander again, instead of "Oh damn, we have a commander" I need a "Yes, we have a commander" Attitude.

I know im going to try and change, who is with me?!

Yeah, I'd appreciate this attitude as well.. I do try to be a good commander, but most of the time when I try to talk to a squad I hit a brick wall. Most don't use voip back and when I try to use text to communicate they just ignore it. A few times I've got a lot of grief over global/team chat for picking up the commander position. Other times I get grief when we're not winning - it's not really my fault if squads aren't listening to me..

-_-;

I'm always FOR having a commander ( ofc if he's a good one. Not some kind of a retard or a vBF2 like ). So i guess i'm with you!

A lot of commanders seem to be 30 minutes behind and on another map. It goes both ways, really, with squadleaders not keeping the commander up to date on what's going on Because of that, commanders often try to implement elaborate plans that don't take into consideration the situation on the ground. That is the main reason why squad leaders get pissed at commanders. If you're engaged in a firefight and suddenly the commander chimes in to tell you to capture a flag on the other side of the map, you're not gonna be too happy.

So, yeah, the attitude towards commanders needs to improve, but at the same time commander-SL coordination needs to improve. Without it, there's always going to be frustration.

E4$Y wrote:I'm always FOR having a commander ( ofc if he's a good one. Not some kind of a retard or a vBF2 like ). So i guess i'm with you!

he/she

Nowadays we don't need crappy commanders anymore and only the good commanders shall have my will to cooperate.

I think it's fair to use 'he' to describe players in PR considering the infinitesimal chances that they will not be male, but using 'they' would probably be better.

Anyway with mumble SL-SL communication I have found Commanders to be pretty much unnecessary at best and damned annoying at worst.

I'm commander sometimes. Only on insurgency mode though.

Jedimushroom wrote:I think it's fair to use 'he' to describe players in PR considering the infinitesimal chances that they will not be male, but using 'they' would probably be better.

Anyway with mumble SL-SL communication I have found Commanders to be pretty much unnecessary at best and damned annoying at worst.

._.

I'm out of a job then.

Unless the squad leaders inform the commander on what is going and what they plan to do, The commander can not help you. So tell the CO and he will tell you what he can do to help you.

No actually, having a commander, and having mumble, increases your effectivness as a team alot more!

Then you have both BF2 VoIP and Mumble working for you.

Things that the Commander doesnt need to know, goes through mumble and what the commander needs to know, contacts etc, gets plotted on the map.

I mean, the biggest weapons you have in real life, is your eyes and your mouth, without both, your a retard on a field, dead in a few seconds.

So, Commanders are very much necessary with mumble.

CO's usualy don't know what's going on out on the field because the officers don't give sitreps. That's the problem.

The problem is that mumble is ten times more efficient. On quinling me and Gazz talked over mumble and since he had an APC/tank/AA and I was SLing infantery we worked together, but on the otehr side teh comm was goood relying info to the attack choppers that took out both a challenger and a warrior. That we lazed.

I always try to be comm friendly aslong as I know he is atleast trying to make the most use of his position.

Oddsodz wrote:Unless the squad leaders inform the commander on what is going and what they plan to do, The commander can not help you. So tell the CO and he will tell you what he can do to help you.

This, along with the last Wicca's and Fark's replies, are my answer. Unfortunately, the only instances I've seen the commander at all have been on a part-time job type, either waiting to deploy an area attack or just using it to grab the Officer kit. Isn't that sad?

There are a few other things you can do to attract the commander, such as give him more area attack options and advantages, but otherwise there's never really been a hierarchy of power in any game. I've played as commander in a few games, and I can say there are 4 types of squads:

1) The well organized squad with the SL that communicates with you
2) The disorganized squad that only speaks to you if spoken to, and often with short replies.
3) The squad that completely ignores your orders and doesn't communicate.
4) The squad that always argues with every decision you make because they'd like the round to be run differently.

Because of this, it's often very hard to properly coordinate a team where only 1/2 at most will follow your orders. On the receiving end, however, I can understand many SL's frustrations, because the CO might question some of their decisions ("Why is that APC not going to pick sq 2 up?" when you're RTBing). Of course, the key is not to get irritated, but to answer why you made that decision, and report what you'll try and do to work out in the plan. With 9 potential squads in very different situations, the CO's guidelines aren't set in stone, but their what he/she wants to happen with the battle. Don't simply rush by a tank if the CO buts a marker passing it

Hmmm.... those things might just work! I think its nice if you only see flags with or from (command post) a CO. Might hurt the lesser populated servers tho.

Jonny Speaks exactly what I want implemented. The insurgent team is FUBARed by a commander, they're real only teamwork should be intra squad collaboration, or intersquad enemy reports, no need for a friggen 3 squad convoy, or dedicated transport squads, or supporting/assaulting squads. Those all work against their advantages. And the "insurgent commander" is just a BS position held for 3 minutes at most in order to call in an arty strike. For the insurgents (not Taliban, they could/should have a commander for it), SLs should be able to call in mortars without a CO.

For every other maini stream faction, the CO needs to play the bigger part in seting up defenses (not bob the builder of 0.75, but as Jonny says, should open the posibilities of better assets to use). He should also get more area attacks, such as a combination of arty, JDAMs, and mortars, depending on the map, with lower respawn times. In fact, I'd go as far to say that they should have no respawn times for the JDAM lets say, but calling it in can use tickets (3 for mortars, 5 for artillery, and 8-10 for JDAMs?).

You give him those options, and you watch more and more productive commanders become big advantages for the team. To the point that their use can change the swing of the battle.

Part of having a bad commander is having bad squad leaders who don't communicate with him or her. A commander has to sit back at base so he can have the ability to command which is a very boring job so you can atleast have respect for that.

He doesn't have the scan tool like in vBF2 so he relies on squads to feed him intel on enemy locations and other information so he can make edits to his strategy and tactics. If for instance a squad was under heavy APC fire and hes got a tank squad near there. He could easily order the tank squad to move there and rape the APC's but he wouldn't know to do that if that squad doesn't communicate where the APC's are located to the commander.

When I go commander I have to constantly make guesses and make strategies based on a guess because nobody ever relays intel to me. If it works than I get high praises however if it fails all everybody seems to do is complain and insult the commander. No good sportsman ship in PR.

If you want to get a good attitude towards a commander, trying walking a mile in his shoes via by trying out commander for a week. Than go back to your previous roles and remember what it was like to be commander whenever you get a new commander.

By learning to obey you know how to command

The bug in the VOIP system which means the squad-talk button doesn't let you speak to individual squads as commander (Yes, I know how it is supposed to work, and I know that it DOESN'T work for me and many others) makes squad co-ordination more challenging that it needs to be (being forced to spam all SLs, yuck).

Also, RE: Area attacks - increase the frequency, give it a STEEP ticket cost (Roughly equal to the number of kills you'd achieve with it, so that the TACTICAL value of clearing an area is what makes it worth using, not the ticket-penalty to the enemy!).

Incorporate that with charging tickets for vehicles, VALUABLE limited kits (Sniper, HAT, AA), maybe some of the more powerful firebase paraphenalia (IE the firebase is free, as is wire, foxholes, etc. AA / HMG costs per emplacement) although they'd prolly be neglected if they cost due to the effort of manning them being a cost all of its own, as is them revealed the proximity of a firebase.

Remove (or HEAVILY reduce) ticket-bleed altogether, to prevent "going rambo" and give people more incentive for protecting tickets (their lives, their assets) without the threat of wasting tickets through bleed if they aren't constantly trying to take flags, etc.

Introduce another, tactical, incentive for wanting to secure flags, for example limiting the available assets to a force that has a small presence, or spawning *free* assets (IE not the commander's) as a reward for holding flags. IE Bluefor only hold uncappable, the CO spawns them a selection of transport vehicles, but can't spawn APCs / Tanks / Attack Choppers, etc. They take a flag, that activates the normal (long) spawn timer for an asset (tank / attack chopper) at main or other position as a reward; also allows the commander to spawn valuable assets (tanks, choppers, etc) but they cost more. Maybe give the CO discounts for his guys taking flags (to replace the extra faith put in him by the higher-ups for prudent campaigns).

RE: Intel. Make it so grunts see their SL on the map, SLs see their squad and other SLs; COs see all friendlies.
Make it so that snipers, scouts, civs (MAYBE SLs too) can use binocs at the "contact report" to make enemies appear on the COs map temporarily in REAL TIME, so that the CO isn't just putting out of date push-tacks on the map that no-one cares about because the only person who is in a position to care about the contacts is the person who reported it. This would also make these classes ACTUALLY useful for recon, instead of being as good as ANYONE who has binocs, IE redundant.
Make the CO a little more mobile so he isn't a sitting duck for area-attacks, rockets, incendiaries, whatever when he's helpless in his shed.

And here's my favourite - let COs change the current AAS target (and thus change the enemy's defence target, obv) once every 20 - 30 minutes to TRULY control the flow of battle, and allow tactics such as diversions, feints, counter-attacks, etc etc.